The Droid - No Compromises? How good is the new Droid phone? I can't tell you that - but I CAN tell you that the premise of an ad I found displaying on CNN.com tonight has me intrigued.The ad (shown in the static screen grab here) states plainly "Compromise Deactivated." Being on the search for a new cell phone (no decision yet), I've had trouble making a decision based on the compromise factor.
Posted Tue Nov 24, 2009
On "A Problem-Solver's Guide" "A Probl
Posted Wed Oct 21, 2009
30 Dumb Inventions Life's title, 30 Dumb Inventions, almost says it all.A curved machine gun?Babies in cages hanging outside of windows?Illuminated tires?A good reminder - not all innovation is good!
Posted Wed Oct 21, 2009
Value of an Innovation Strategy Does your company have an innovation strategy? If so, how was it first presented to you? Is it like a mission statement – detailed in an employee handbook and highlighted on a company website? Do you have to search high and low, thinking you might have seen one somewhere? Are you sure one doesn’t exist? If you have one, how detailed is it? Does it say “we are innovative” but then offer no details for how that innovation is achieved? Does it say something about “creative employees” but not acknowledge any way for an employee to innovate?
Posted Thu Jul 16, 2009
Innovation in a Tough Economy
InnovationLabs has released the results of a survey, "Innovation in a Tough Economy."
Although I do have some questions about those surveyed (How many? Who are they?), the results do share the answers to the survey's open-ended questions that I always find contain hidden jewels. For example:
Posted Thu May 14, 2009
HP Talks TRIZ
Phil McKinney, the chief technology officer of Hewlett-Packard's personal systems group, may not be familiar with the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) - an innovation methodology - but he is talking about a key TRIZ tool in a new interview: the ideal final result.
Posted Mon Mar 30, 2009
Benchmarking EU & U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness
The Information Technology and and Innovation Foundation - with the European-American Business Council - has released the report, The Atlantic Century: Benchmarking EU & U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness.
Posted Thu Feb 26, 2009
Sir Ken Robinson in Seattle Last week I had the opportunity to see creativity and innovation expert Sir Ken Robinson speak in Seattle. His new book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, talks about how adults (in his experience) don't know what their talents are - they don't know their "element."
Why is our element important? Three reasons:
Posted Wed Feb 4, 2009
Innovation at a Six Sigma Conference Last week I was in Miami for iSixSigma Live! Summit & Awards. Innovation made its way into the agenda in a breakout and a workshop, and it was also a topic for the first day's general session – David Silverstein, President and CEO, Breakthrough Management Group International – spoke about "Six Sigma and Innovation: A Distinction Without a Difference."
A few key points from his presentation include:
Posted Tue Jan 20, 2009
The Secret of TRIZ You could say it doesn't take much to make me happy, because I was thrilled to see TRIZ (the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving), an innovation methodology, featured in an article by BusinessWeek just before the end of 2008.
Posted Sun Jan 4, 2009
The X-Prize of Innovation Contests My last post was about the lack of innovation involved in innovation contests (at least by the contest sponsors).
I'm not the only one thinking about innovation contests - it's also the subject of a story in Business Week, "Can X Prizes Spur Innovation?" Their focus is whether or not the contests produce innovative results.
Posted Mon Dec 1, 2008
Is an Innovation Contest Innovative? I read a news item today promoting yet another contest/open innovation/co-innovation website a company has developed to draw ideas from the general public. Is an innovation contest innovative?
No. An emphatic no, in fact – No!
I think that companies going the contest/open innovation route are cheating themselves – and their customers – out of their own innovative potential. It’s passive. Companies waiting and hoping someone will come to their website and submit the next big thing is not innovative.
Posted Tue Nov 11, 2008
Solve the Economic Crisis
If you thought innovation wasn’t applicable to a problem as large as the global economic crisis, you thought wrong.
Creating a new product, process or service is all about solving a need – giving your customer what they want, whether they know it or not. Solving a need means you’re fixing a problem. And the economic crisis is nothing if not a problem.
Posted Tue Nov 4, 2008
Booz & Company's Global Innovation 1000
Each year, Booz & Company analyzes R&D spending and determines the top 1000 spenders who are named their “Global Innovation 1000.”
This year’s analysis takes a different look at the R&D spending and reveals that 91 percent of those top 1000 spend that money in countries other than where their headquarters are located.
Posted Fri Oct 24, 2008
Genrich Altshuller - The Father of TRIZ
TRIZ (pronounced “trees”) is the (Russian) acronym for the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving – a methodology for systematic innovation.
Posted Sun Oct 19, 2008
Innovation Is a Science
It would make life so much simpler if everyone agreed as to what innovation means. Is it invention? Is it an invention that is sold? Is it the extension of a product line or the development of a new product line completely?
Posted Sun Oct 12, 2008
