innovation.net

The Turbo-Encabulator: How Inventors Speak to Marketers

This is an old video (click here) recently forwarded to me (thanks Bob Birkenes at Pinpoint Communications).  It reminds me of the way too many entrepreneurs and inventors explain their technologies and inventions to marketers and business types!  Enjoy.

 

What's a BUG?

As I was watching one of the Big Idea CES shows, I saw an interview with Peter Semmelhack, the CEO of Bug Labs.

Bug Labs is the result of the thinking that goes something like this: all of us are inventors to some degree and within the brains and hearts of all of us inventors live some potentially-great-but-still-unborn ideas and inventions.

Bug Labs offers a platform for all of the would-be inventors out there to create and then modify and customize their favorite gadget. Without getting too technical, BUG refers to a variety of open source hardware modules. Each module, which is meant to connect to something called the BUGbase, can physically connect to others and to various web-based services in a quest to create and share new applications and gadgets. There are, for instance, snap-on modules for GPS devices and digital cameras.

The folks at Bug Labs are doing their best to create a whole new way of creating. They are putting the tools, capabilities and responsibilities of inventing and modifying and re-inventing in the hands of the people themselves. Certainly this user-generated means of invention is more representative of the new way of giving everyone both access to and control over the means of invention and innovation.

This is a company and an idea I will be following over time. It is also one whose time has come and which, I am sure, is being replicated in many ways.

Share your innovation-related challenges

Chuck Frey at InnovationTools.com has asked me help spread the word on the upcoming launch of an online community for CIOs (Chief Innovation Officers) and innovation managers.

They're requesting that you share your insights and challenges related to innovation within your organization. They plan to gather and interview experts like you and then disseminate this information online and through newsletters. These experts will represent various Fortune 500s including Motorola, Merck, Cadbury Schweppes, Natura and CVS, as well as academic institutions like Harvard and Hult.

It sounds like a very worthwhile effort, so I hope you can take a moment or two to answer a couple questions, click here. (And while you are at it, feel free to share these insights and challenges with me so that I may address them through this blog.)

When being trigger happy is a good thing

An article in the current issue of Fast Company written by the Made to Stick guys, Dan Heath and Chip Heath, talks about environmental triggers and how they have a rightful -- though not always well-used -- place in business.

What's a trigger? If you know you need to take something, like a book or a folder, with you to work tomorrow, you might leave it by the door so that in the morning you will see it and be immediately reminded that you need to grab it and bring it with you. So what if we planned our time or our ideas to take advantage of the inevitable triggers that pop up during the day?

Triggers, they say, could and should be used in marketing, but aren't enough. The Heaths call triggers the "secret weapon of the underdog" if and when the "little guy" uses the bigger guys' triggers to their own advantage. When done well, these ad campaigns are "turned into triggers for rebellious ideas."

And as we all know by now, it is from rebellious ideas that some of the best technologies and products are born! So take a look at what you are trying to do and say and get others to do and say. Where can you use idea triggers to help you get the job done?   

Kissing frogs ... Part 2

In the previous post, I was discussing not totally closing your mind to the “frogs” out there and to being open to those ideas, people and resources that, upon first glance, may not look like winners or princes.

Of course, you need to balance this openness with the very real need to “budget your bandwidth.” It’s like a well-known saying in the advertising world, usually attributed to John Wanamaker, the man considered to be the father of modern advertising:

"I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half," he reportedly said. We know we spend time and resources on things that may be, well, wastes of time and resources, but without knowing beforehand what will be the waste and what could be the potential smashing success, how can we reject right off-the-bat?

So what is the takeaway here? Keep an open mind, yes. Be prepared to be surprised by those you think at first may be frogs. Be protective of your time but not so much so that you protect yourself out of a great idea. And, yes, pucker up even if it feels a lot like kissing a frog.

Kissing frogs ... Part 1

You know the old fable...you need to kiss some frogs before you get to your Prince(ss) Charming.

Can we relate this back to innovation and technology? You bet! Consider this:

In looking for innovation partners and for new technologies, it’s easy to dismiss certain opportunities and ideas that come our way as “useless” or “irrelevant.”

But the truth is that you can’t predict when something -- an idea, a technology, a solution -- might turn out to "The One" (i.e., your prince) or, at the very least, the next "big thing."

I build in mechanisms to shield me from wacky inventors monopolizing my time, while still providing them with the opportunity, albeit a limited one, to pitch me on their ideas. I make it a point to not cut off or cut out anyone completely, because you just never know.

So many cliches ring very true here, the one that comes to mind right now is about not judging a book by its cover. Give everyone and everything, even the frogs, a chance!

More on frogs and princes in my next post...

Crowdsourcing and the community

Another community, located at CrowdSpirit.org, promises to help users and community members to find, contribute to and benefit from the best ideas for electronic products.

CrowdSpirit focuses on users in what it calls the "sweet spot" of the community. This is the place where Partners, Customers and Supply Chain folks intersect.

The step-by-step process works something like this:

• Members of the community submit ideas and vote on the best ideas
• The most-voted ideas are opened up to investors
• A prototype is tested and fine-tuned
• Customers begin to buy products which come with built-in support and recommendations

My take? "Crowdsourcing" is a very natural next step and intersection in the process that brings ideas, communities and innovation together. Anything that adds to the process in a positive and productive way, that doesn't happen in a vacuum but rather in full view of the community, is a good thing in my book.

Sharing business models

As you have read from me and maybe heard me say in one of my workshops that collaboration, sharing and co-developing are all key parts of innovation. To that end, I wanted to share an interesting website that is focused on open business models.

OpenBusiness, an online community whose tagline is: "let's share business models," is a great place to meet, share and discover ideas, best practices and like-minded entreprenuers and people in business. You can contribute your ideas or comments on business models and trends. You can also publish your own model(s) and ask for feedback.

It's open, collaborative and pretty interesting. One recent post under the 'New Ideas' page asks this:

I’m interested in finding an open business model which would directly compete with the franchised business model - i.e., a model which would have a central distribution point and guidance point but without the franchisee & royalty fees.

It's like having a virtual advisory board and mastermind group all-in-one.  What's more, there is a real international (i.e., non-U.S.) feel as the people entities behind the site are based in the U.K., South Africa and Brazil. All this and an international approach to boot.

Just one example of a great way to reach out globally and get the feedback and brainstorming you need to move forward. 

The role of contention in co-development (it’s a good thing!)

When it comes to open innovation, the larger effort is not just about finding ideas, but also about partnering with others to co-develop. Sometimes, as is the case when more than one human being has an idea and a goal, this is an area where things start to fall apart. Ideas, creativity, driven people…you get the idea.

But…before you lament contention and disagreement, I am here to tell you that these things are not just inevitable, they are also powerful and productive parts of the process.

At a minimum, contention is not a bad thing, and at best, it’s a good thing.

When it comes to contention:

You will be testing your assumptions, sometimes vigorously.When everyone is getting along great, sometimes problems are hidden or swept under the rug. This may be more pleasant, but it doesn't help the process.

Resolving problems before milestone may be uncomfortable but they benefit the team and the project at the end of the day. There’s more to a launch than looking good to the project manager(s) or senior management. To be resolved, and they will need to be sooner or later, issues need to be out in the open and on the table.

Contention needs to be allowable and explorable. Openness and honesty necessary for a long-term productive relationship.

And at the risk of getting too far into the areas of human resources and people management, I will leave it at that.

Everyday Edisons

This is a great program and website. The premise is simple: Everybody has a great idea that could change the way we work, the way we live or the way we play.

From the site:
“Everyday Edisons documents the development process of 14 inventions and the parallel stories of the people who invented them. Selected from thousands, the 14 Everyday Edisons learn how their extraordinary ideas are taken from a sketch on a napkin to a store shelf…

The average person is unaware of the multi-step process by which a raw concept is transformed into a tangible product. The goal of Everyday Edisons is to introduce viewers to the process of invention and help them understand how to take their own ideas to the next level.”

What is the greatest invention you can invent or use? The one that is the most profound in its simplicity, and the most relevant in addressing a problem or challenge we all (or many of us) face in everyday life. 

Even if the show isn’t airing any time soon in your area (you can put in your zip code and check), the website offers great info, including state-by-state resources for would-be inventors.