Welcome to “Innovation at the Verge”

Organizes and generates creativity and innovation opportunities suggested by and for FSEHS and our stakeholders

In the works…

Workshops, including “Identifying Your Personal Innovation Quotient” with Training Office

(April)

First-ever IDEABlast on a critical topic (TBD)

Brainstorm sessions

- Homeschooling

- Substitute teaching

Webinars on innovation for educators

NOT!

Creativity vs. Innovation

Creativity - The ability to create something new through imaginative action … -- Britannica

Innovation - Putting ideas into valuable action -- OVO

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Innovations at the Verge

What do you see?

Training Story Questions:

What two ideas come together at the Verge?

What are the strengths of each of the ideas?

What is the new territory created that did not exist before?

Innovation at the Verge

Great Innovations in HistoryWireless radioElectricityEscapement movement

(clock)Air conditioningElevatorsX-raysPenicillinCoat hangersBand-AidsBread slicer (1928)Electric battery

Coffee potToilet paperRoll filmHot air balloonFranklin stoveCotton ginTelescopeMicrobiologyPrinting pressStirrupsSpinning wheelIntegrated circuit

Innovation’s Role

“Innovation is the only method to

generate new organic sales

growth, yet many firms treat

innovation as if it’s accidental and

something done by a select few.” -- Peter Drucker

Numerous Types of Innovation

OpenClosedIncrementalBreakthrough Disruptive

ProductProcessFinancialOrganizational… and more

Strategies for Innovating

Look furtherAsk questions; probeStudy; analyze and synthesize informationReflectRevisitConnect

"This economic crisis doesn't represent a cycle. It represents a reset.

It's an emotional, social, economic reset. People who understand that will prosper. Those who don't will be left behind."

Immelt's challenge to his peers:

Reinvent your business, or go home.

-- GE Chairman Jeffrey Immelt

Partners Over There

Target Corporation+

Minnesota Department of Public Safety+

Hard-core repeat criminals

Solution:Apply features of Target’s inventory program

to track felons and parolees statewide

Partners Over There – What Can We Learn?

FSEHS Partners:BrainSmartPearsonBlackboardUS D.O.E.Aventura Marketing

CouncilCommunity collegesBCPS and MDPS________________

Potential Innovations:ProductsAudiences/marketsCustomer serviceSalesMarketingCompetitionDeliveryOrganization_________________?

Adaptation is Quicker Than Invention

General Motors Corporation+

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention+

Vehicle problems

Solution:Apply elements of CDCP’s food poison analysis process to find/solve problems more quickly

eBayPayPaliTunesAmazonPersonal computersEmail

E-booksFax machinesFedExOnline coursewareWebinars_______________

Adaptation is Quicker Than Invention- What Can We Learn?

Innovation? Or Invention?

Innovation Education?

Innovation In (on?) Education?

Education /school “reform” vs. “innovation”

“What’s wrong” vs.

“Putting ideas into valuable action”

21 Great Ways to Spur Innovation

1. Copy someone else’s idea. 2. Ask customers. 3. Observe customers. 4. Use difficulties and complaints. 5. Eliminate elements or features. 6. Ask your staff. 7. Combine with other products or features. 8. Plan for innovation. 9. Run brainstorms. 10. Examine patents. 11. Collaborate with other departments or other organizations.

21 Great Ways to Spur Innovation

12. Minimize or maximize. 13. Run a contest. 14. Ask – what if? 15. Watch the competition. 16. Outsource for new ideas. 17. Adapt a product to a new use. 18. Use open innovation, seeking ideas that may not “fit” at

first glance. 19. Try Triz. 20. Go back in time. 21. Use social networks to follow trends and ask questions on

groups like Twitter or Facebook.

Doing things differently – and better!

Thank you for participating!

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Paper BatteriesIt is the revolution of battery technologies. I have written about new kinds of batteries several times. Now, up comes the most interesting one--a battery based on paper!Researchers at Stanford University took regular old copier paper, painted it with a coating that contained carbon nanotubes (nano technology is becoming mainstream!), dipped the combination in lithium solutions and some other chemicals and, eureka! -- a paper battery.The paper’s surface acts as both as a structural element and a collector of the electrical charge. And making batteries this way could reduce their weight by 20%. These paper batteries also have another very important property: they can release their energy rapidly which is a requirement for electric car batteries.Clearly, this is the beginning of a new battery paradigm.

Lotus Leaves and Solar CellsIn my book, Five Regions of the Future , I write about a technology domain I call Nature Tech. It uses technology that Nature has developed to improve human designed technology. Researchers at Stanford University have copied a texture from lotus leaves (nanoscale domes that look like eggs touching one another) and applied it to solar panels. The results are dramatic reductions in solar energy reflected back into the sky by the solar cell (from 35% to only 6%) and, a surface that is self-cleaning. This makes the solar cell more efficient and reduces maintenance at the same time. What a deal!New Scientist, November 28, 2009, p. 25, including photoURL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427366.500-lotus-leaf-solar-cells-soak-up-more-power.htmlVisit Five Regions of the Future self-learning exhibit at the KNOWLEDGE GALLERY at the Global Dialogue Center.

Professional Science Master's DegreesSheila Tobias, a columnist for Science News, presents a powerful argument for the importance of a special kind of science degree for the 21st century, the Professional Science Master's Degree. She believes such a degree will be the equivalent of an MBA in the 20th century. I agree with her. Those who have a firm grasp of science and math will have great advantage in leading technology firms and firms who interface with technology.The heart of this new degree is a combination of graduate level science and math coupled to a new field of science and/or technology with management training. Think about the power of someone educated this way and trained to be a scientist/manager/leader, not just a scientist/technologist.By the way, this is another "verge" where two very different sets of disciplines are coming together to create a new kind of manager/researcher.Google: "Professional Science Master's degree"URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/44373/title/Comment__Professional_Science_Masters_is_21st_ce

Digital Decor for Kid's BedroomsI had been tracking digital clothing which allows you to change the color or pattern of your clothes but I missed an obvious use for digital materials--wallpaper! "Smartbricks" is a material developed in Israel to make wall tiles that display full-color images. The really cool thing is that once you have chosen the image, it stays with no additional power. You only need to add power to change it. The tiles reflect light rather than produce it, so when you turn the lights off, there is nothing to distract you.The company that developed this technology is now working on smart tiles that can show moving images. Smartbricks will debut in Japan by the end of this year thanks to Shimizu, a construction company. Right now it is very expensive--about $2500 per square meter; however, we know that as manufacturing ramps up that price will plummet. A thought: is this the beginning of the "holodeck" from Star Trek?Google: Shimizu, "smartbricks"URL: http://www.screens.tv/article/11643/SmartBricks_will_turn_walls_into_displays.htmlhttp://www.magink.com/page.php?id=7

#62 - Energy for automobilesFrom an unlikely source, MIT engineers have found a way to make electricity to power the electronics and charge the batteries in heavy vehicles. They have combined shock absorbers with electric generation. They call it GenShock. It converts the up and down actions of the shock absorber into electricity thus reducing the work of the alternator. The end result for heavy vehicles is a 10% improvement in gas mileage. For companies like Wal-Mart, Fed Ex, UPS, and Coca Cola, this could be millions of dollars per year in savings while reducing CO2 emissions.

Levant Industries, the company the students started, is producing the shocks under a license with MIT. This is another great example of innovation at the verge!You gotta love those MIT folks. They are really contributing to a better world!

Google: GenShock, MIT electric shock absorberURL: http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/shock-absorbers-0209.html http://nextbigfuture.com/2009/02/power-harvesting-shock-absorbers-can.htmlhttp://www.levantpower.com/genshocksavings.html