Innovation Man

Innovative Hybrid Corn

Breeding Techniques For Vit. A-Rich Corn: "The innovation and discovery made by scientists from four different universities, Boyce Thompson Institute, DuPont Crop Genetics Research, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture can solve the problem of vitamin A deficiency of corn-eating populations ... "

Innovative Lens

Bionic Lens: "The lenses were tested on rabbits for 20 minutes and the animals showed no adverse effects. The research was funded with a grant from the National Science Foundation and Technology Gap Innovation Fund from UW."

Robotics Innovation

Robots: "These games are also aimed at encouraging innovation in design among people of all ages and type."

CEO Sets Innovation Agenda

New CEO plans to transform bakery through innovation. ...

... "Interstate's most immediate challenge is financial, followed by lack of innovation. He outlined four priorities - fix the cost structure, accelerate innovation, drive productivity and create a performance culture. " ...

Via Kansas City Star: CEO Perspective on Company Transformation

Measurement Systems: Innovation Accelerator

NIST studies measurement systems in the US and makes recommendations to support increased innovation. ...

... "To meet the changing requirements of our economy and to respond rapidly to technical challenges, the USMS must become a more agile and versatile system, capable of sustaining technological innovation at a world-leading pace. Improving the effectiveness of the USMS requires both immediate action and a strategic, long-term approach.

Sample of Recommendations:

Foster collaboration to accelerate measurement breakthroughs.

Encourage industrial sectors to identify and prioritize measurement needs.

Identify shared measurement needs and opportunities for synergy across industries and research areas.

Foster strategic public-sector investments in measurement R&D to accelerate technological innovation. " ...

Via NIST: An Assessment of the United States Measurement System: Addressing Measurement Barriers to Accelerate Innovation ...

Innovation at Google Powered by NYC

Google has created a talent base in NYC to create innovations in a different environment that its California offices. ...

... "Unlike Silicon Valley, where Stanford-bred entrepreneurs hatch new ideas in search of buyers or IPOs, New York's tech culture is rooted in the business-user community. " ...

Via ITNews: Google in NYC

Innovation Mindset: Investment Leverage

Attendees of NASSCOM explore innovation and agree that mindset is as important as the investment level for research and development. ...

... "Employees will be critical to organisational innovation and should be encouraged to come forward with ideas without fear of comeback if they don't always succeed ... " ...

Via ITPro: Read

Innovation: Design Best Practice Leaders

Recent research by Aberdeen Group shows best practice leaders in electronic design are better than peers in time-to-market performance. These design innovation leaders tend to use product lifecycle management systems and business processes in the design lifecycle to shorten cycle times. ...

... "50% more likely than other companies to use product data management (PDM) and PLM solutions to integrate people, processes, and technology - especially to integrate design processes across departments and integrate design into their new product development process. " ...

Via Aberdeen Group: Top Performers in Electronic Design Hit Engineering Design Deadlines 50% More Frequently Than Average Companies ...

Chief Creative Officer: Product Innovation Champion

Liz Claiborne fills the position of Chief Creative Officer with Tim Gunn, who will be a champion of product innovation. ...

... "Rather, Tim will be a spokesperson for the creative community, a champion of product innovation, integrity and exceptional price-value and a catalyst for the creation of the irresistible product our consumers want and deserve. He is also charged with creating systems to further develop our creative community and scouting the market for great talent. " ...

Via Liz Claiborne Inc.: Liz Claiborne Inc. Names Tim Gunn Chief Creative Officer

Growth through New Product Development at Caterpillar

Caterpillar sees strong growth and earnings enabling investment to accelerate innovation through new product development. ...

... "What Team Caterpillar was able to accomplish in 2006 is a reflection of the diversity of the industries we serve, the global need for our products and services and the strength of our partnership with our dealers and suppliers, commented Owens. We took advantage of our financial success - including strong cash flow - to fund growth in capacity, continue aggressive new product development, complete the strategic acquisition of Progress Rail, increase the dividend rate by 20 percent and buy back more than $3 billion in stock. These actions will deliver long-term benefits for our customers, employees and stockholders. " ...

Via Caterpillar: Caterpillar Inc. announces 4Q 2006 results ...

Technology Innovation in Healthcare Market: Growth Opportunity

Matria Healthcare provides guidance for 2007. It has completed divestiture work in 2006 and is positioned to focus on innovation and growth in the wellness and disease management market. It expects technology to spur innovation in its markets and will make capital investments to sustain its leadership. ...

... "It has been readily acknowledged that future improvements in the effectiveness of the U.S. healthcare system will come through technology innovation. Matria has clearly emerged as a technology leader in the wellness and disease management market. In 2007, we will significantly exceed our previous annual technology capital expenditures, primarily related to product innovation. We will escalate our efforts to maintain our technology leadership, commented Petit. The wellness and disease management market continues to evolve and new revenue sources continue to develop. One of the most significant growth opportunities includes certain sales channels that are quickly embracing the positive impact that wellness and disease management can have on their business sectors. " ...

Via Matria Healthcare: Matria Healthcare Announces 2007 Guidance ...

Innovation Patents Not Correlated

Innovation and the volume of patents are not correlated according to new study by Booz Allen. The count of patents can be a simple measure of the production of a research and development organization and provides protection for a discovery in the marketplace. However, speed-to-market is another form of differentiation that can have a powerful effect - competitors cannot replicate - which results in a strong market performance. ...

... "They point out that few patents actually have any real impact on innovation, and often the most innovative things have no patents at all. " ...

Via Techdirt: Read

Chrysler Innovation: Minivan Market

The market leader should never rest on its laurels. And, Chrysler does not, as it readies new innovations in the minivan market segment, which it originally created. ...

... "I applaud them for innovation. If you don't innovate, you'll fall behind, Libby said. They're innovating to remain leaders. They're showing that they're not going to go back into second place in terms of innovation. " ...

Via Spokesman Review: Chrysler Minivan

Leverage Innovation

Booz Allen Hamilton thought leaders, Barry Jaruzelski and Frank Jones, offer their predictions on business success, including the innovation space where they see growth leaders who consistently underspend their peers on research and development, yet consistently out-perform the pack. ...

... "They accomplished this feat by treating innovation as an enterprise-wide, cross-functional process. For them, each of the four stages in this chain—ideation, project selection, product development, and commercialization—becomes a platform on which the next stage is built and to which it is tightly integrated. " ...

Via The Manufacturer: Read Booz Allen Predictions ...

Innovation Motivation

Sean Parker discusses entrepreneurship and innovation ...

... "Moreover, while the desire for financial independence is a fine motivation, for the best entrepreneurs this isn't their only motivation. We try to back entrepreneurs who are motivated by changing the world, creating something innovative, or building a lasting institution. " ...

Via Red Herring: Read

Measure Innovation: Understand Impact

Committee seeks to understand the impact of innovation on growth and productivity. Mike Eskew, the chairman and CEO of UPS, is asked to serve on the innovation panel. ...

... "The Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy Advisory Committee will help develop better ways to measure innovation so that the public and policy makers can understand better its impact on economic growth and productivity. The committee will study metrics on effectiveness of innovation in various businesses and sectors, and work to identify which data can be used to develop a broader measure of innovation's impact on the economy.

The panel selection follows an extensive three-month public outreach to business and academic associations, institutions and think tanks to find qualified CEOs and academic experts representing the diversity of the American economy. The Secretary received an overwhelming response representing every major sector of the U.S. economy. The Advisory Committee will hold its first meeting on February 22, 2007 in Washington, D.C. " ...

Via UPS: Eskew Named to Commerce Panel on Measuring Innovation ...

RPD Relational Product Development: Organizational Framework for PLM Solutions

IBM develops the RPD methodology, which is supported by performance assessments, ironclad development methods, best-practice PLM solutions, and implementation services. Relational product design is built into the RPD framework through the organization work streams that support new production introductions.

... "Known as relational product development (RPD), this approach supports accelerated product delivery at optimised costs, with improved quality. Investment in RPD technologies alone is insufficient to achieve innovation, and ultimately world-class product lifecycle management (PLM) capability. The technologies are purely the enablers. Realising the full potential of an RPD investment demands fundamental organisational, process and cultural changes, made cohesively to support the enhanced technology level. " ...

Via IBM: IBM PLM Relational Product Development (RPD) PDF

Product Design: Simulate Real World Performance

Finite element analysis is helpful to understanding the performance of new products being designed. Training workshop is held to share FEL knowledge and its application. ...

... "ABAQUS is the world's leading advanced FEA software and the foundation of DS's SIMULIA brand. The software is used by engineers at major manufactures to simulate and validate real-world performance of their products during the design phase. ABAQUS FEA software has been recently introduced as a part of the M.Tech curriculum in the mechanical engineering stream. The aim of the workshop, hosted by ABAQUS Engineering India, was to train the faculty members of various engineering colleges on state-of-the-art FEA methods using ABAQUS. " ...

Via Dassault Systems: Dassault Systemes Subsidiary Provides Real-World Finite Element Analysis Training at Sinhagad College ...

Microsoft Innovation: Presence or Absence?

Microsoft's ability to innovate is debated by Dave Winer and Robert Scoble. There is not doubt that Microsoft is large and its ability to innovate can be weighed down by its size. However, innovation can be accomplished by small team and it is possible that there are pockets of innovation inside Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft can use its cash and cash flow to grow innovation through acquisition. ...

... "Innovation comes from individuals, and with Microsoft the big old stodgy giant that it is, it can't handle the rugged individualism that real innovators bring to the party. " ...

Via Wall Street Journal: Can Microsoft Innovate?