Engineering Innovation - web.stanford.edu · appealed to my problem solving skills • Involved in early development of TCP/IP and the Internet with Vint Cerf • First job with a

COPYRIGHT © JLABS, LLC 2015 1

Stanford EE15n January 6, 2015

Judy Estrin, CEO, JLabs

Engineering Innovation

COPYRIGHT © JLABS, LLC 2015

Engineering Innovation

• One engineer's path •  Innovation • Opportunities and challenges


•  Academic/scientific family - strong role models

•  Fell in love with computer science - appealed to my problem solving skills

•  Involved in early development of TCP/IP and the Internet with Vint Cerf

•  First job with a small company: early move into management – interacting with people, applying technology

•  Never thought I would be an entrepreneur, business leader or author

Shaping My Career (and Attitudes)


Range of Experiences

Computer science • UCLA • Stanford • Early networking research Advisory Boards

• Bridge Communications • NCD • Precept • Packet Design • EvntLive • Investor • Mother!

• CTO Cisco Board member of: • Disney • FedEx • Rockwell • Sun Microsystems

Author - Closing the Innovation Gap, McGraw-Hill, 2008 Over 100 interviews with innovators, leaders, educators

Academic Entrepreneurial Corporate


Advances in healthcare

New materials for bikes, clothes, packaging

The Internet, web, facebook, twitter…..

Mobile devices or GPS

Safe buildings or bridges

Imagine Our World Without……

Dustbuster, HDTV, home gyms, video games……

New forms of clean energy and transportation


Engineering:

“Practical application of the knowledge of pure science”

or Building things that solve problems

Engineers truly can change the world


Entrepreneurship is a State of Mind •  Passion, flexibility, intelligent risk, operating lean,

identifying needs and disruptive approaches, discipline and drive

•  Willing to tackle seemingly impossible problems •  Able to balance a strong vision and persistence

with assessment and flexibility •  Comfortable with ambiguity - often need to make

decisions without hard data •  Navigating exits is as hard (and as important) as

the start of a company •  You only hear about the home runs, which are

very rare


Innovation

Copyright © Judy Estrin 2008

•  “Something new or different” – in science, engineering, arts, social sciences, business....or all of the above

•  Needed to drive economic growth and solve the major challenges that we face – energy/environment, healthcare, security, education….

•  But it is also very personal, impacting our lives at home, school and work


Innovation ‘Process’


•  Innovation is about identifying human needs – sometimes before people realize they have them

•  Innovation is messy - you need to be willing to invest without knowing the outcome. It doesn’t just happen, but needs to be nurtured like a garden


Innovation Builds on Innovation


1 Breakthrough Innovation Invention of something completely new (transistor, credit card, packet switching/internet)

2 Incremental Innovation Enhancement of current product or process (social networks, private labeled credit card)

3 Orthogonal Innovation Combination of existing innovations for use in a completely new way (iPod, debit card, Square)

1 & 3 can be “disruptive” creating new markets and industries 2 is necessary, just not sufficient

Only incremental innovation is directly “customer” driven All are “need” driven


Ecosystem For Sustainable Innovation

Ecosystems must be in balance to sustain life


Core Values = Capacity for Change

Values need to be in balance.

Questioning Curiosity, self-assessment, non-judgmental, free flowing

Risk Vulnerability, attitude toward failure, fail early, learn from failure

Trust In oneself, in others, safety net (bankruptcy, healthcare, education)

Tenacity, patient capital Patience

To imagine, new data, sharing, surprise, change Openness


Changing demographics: Age, ethnicity, economic

Many Opportunities

Creation of new industries

Disruption of existing mature industries (edu,

commerce, food, health, transportation,

entertainment…) Technology: Focus on affordability,

security, mobility Intersection of disciplines:

bio, nano, IT, social sciences, design

Energy independence and sustainable

environment

Healthcare: Expanding to include

wellness, delivery of care to sick, elderly or disabled and

additional focus on affordability

Infrastructure upgrade requirements:

Physical and Digital US and Globally


BEWARE OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

DIGITAL EXTREMISM ACCIDENTS SIDE EFFECTS

CARS MEDICINES TECH


BALANCING OUR DIGITAL DIETS www.youtube.com/watch?v=4p-w_te5sGk


FAMILY TOGETHER FAMILY TOGETHER, BUT APART

THE INTERNET THEN AND NOW


[email protected] www.jlabsllc.com

www.theinnovationgap.com

Questions?

Documents

Engineering Innovation - web.stanford.edu · appealed to my problem solving skills • Involved in early development of TCP/IP and the Internet with Vint Cerf • First job with a