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June 23, 2006

June 23 innovation linkage

New innovation-related PowerPoint slides [Tom Peters]
GE embraces style and design to sell more appliances [Virginia Postrel]
What does Time magazine really think of India? [Niti Bhan]
Evolutionary change and adaptive innovation [Economist's View]
Honda's double top-secret R&D lab [Bloomberg Japan]
Thoughts and musings from Bruce Sterling [Functioning Form]
Ray Ozzie: Visionary or Liability? [Josh's Windows weblog]
Innovations in pervasive computing [IBM]
Microsoft's new life sciences and pharmaceutical innovation awards [What is New]

[image: 3D virtual football replay]

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Global innovation networks take off

Navi Radjou of Forrester Research has just released a new report on global innovation networks. Despite the challenges of assembling these innovation networks, it looks like collaborative innovation ecosystems are forever replacing the traditional models of innovation:

"Across industries and regions, firms are abandoning vertically integrated innovation approaches in favor of Innovation Networks — global partner ecosystems that co-develop and co-market new products, services, and business models — and reaping big benefits. Senior executives must help their CEOs address the internal and external challenges that early adopters of Innovation Networks face, including adapting the organization, managing partnerships, and engaging customers. CIOs can drive and accelerate Innovation Network adoption by deploying a secure and scalable collaboration infrastructure and investing in new skills to broker and orchestrate cross-firm innovation partnerships."

Anyway, the innovation networks report contains detailed case studies on twenty companies - including BT, BP, Best Buy, IBM, Caterpillar and Whirlpool - that have successfully implemented Global Innovation Networks. The report identifies key hurdles these pioneering organizations faced when implementing collaborative innovation and describes the solutions they employed to overcome the challenges.

Tags: innovation networks

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Social innovation for the LGBT community

Meet the social innovators who are coming up with legal and housing solutions for LGBT couples. In the process, these innovators are redefining notions of family, community and aging. About a week ago, for example, Yahoo! News ran an article called Aging Gays Fuel Specialized Housing Market that touched on two critical issues - the greying of America and the lack of specialized housing options for same sex couples. Responding to these issues, the just-completed Rainbow Vision senior community in Santa Fe, New Mexico now offers living options specifically for LGBT couples:

"From the private dining room named after Truman Capote to the cabaret where '60s teen icon Lesley "It's My Party" Gore was scheduled to appear this weekend, everything about the 146-unit retirement village was designed with the comfort of graying gays and lesbians in mind. As the generation of gay men and lesbians who came out in the 1960s and '70s reaches retirement age, about a dozen specialized senior developments across the country are either up and running or in the works.

In such senior-heavy locales as California, Arizona and Florida, as well as less traditionally gay-friendly places like North Carolina and Texas, builders have found a market in a segment of the gay population that worries getting old will mean going back in the closet. "In a retirement community, you want to be with people of like minds and like interests, whether it's a golf community or a religious community," said Bonnie McGowan, who is spearheading Birds of a Feather, a second gay senior complex in New Mexico.

A number of other organizations are also getting into the mix. The American Society on Aging has set up a Lesbian and Gay Aging Issues Network. In addition, Muses Legal Products, founded by Deb Dillon, offers a legal product to address the needs of unmarried couples, straight or gay. The Legal Guide to Living Together is a software package of custom created legal agreements specifically created to enable unmarried, committed partners - both gay and straight - to pick and choose which rights and protections to share with each other to better protect the people and things that are important to them.

Along the way, Muses Legal Products has officially partnered with Greg Louganis, Olympic Gold Medalist, who's promoting the product specifically to the LGBT audience. Based on his earlier experiences, Greg believes that Muses Legal Products has come up with an "innovation that matters":

"Today in the United States, committed gay and lesbian couples, in particular, face a complex maze of hurdles in establishing legal protections for their relationships. Because we cannot currently marry legally, committed gay and lesbian couples need to ensure appropriate legal documents are in place that provide clarity and ensure protection for their relationships.

I found this legal guide also becomes a great guide for building a solid relationship by addressing difficult topics of discussion. After using it, there is no question as to each partner’s future goals… and this knowledge naturally helps to nurture a lasting relationship. It gives you the freedom to agree to disagree on certain matters and assures your wishes will be carried out… keeping the lines of communication open. “True” relationships are living, breathing and ever changing."

[image: LGBT marriage via Flickr]

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The long tail of the alcohol distribution curve

For those familiar with Chris Anderson's Long Tail theory and eagerly awaiting his new book (The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More), it's interesting to note that beer giant Anheuser-Busch recently created a new division called Long Tail Libations. The goal? To find more "niche" alcohol products to supplement the company's "hits". I stumbled across Long Tail Libations in the Wall Street Journal (sorry, no link available), which explained Anheuser-Busch's foray into new markets:

"Anheuser-Busch, battling industry market-share losses to purveyors of wine and liquor, is hinting that it will make an effort to enter the liquor industry... Anheuser has made some tentative moves into the liquor business. Last year, it formed a separate division, Long Tail Libations, to develop, test and market distilled spirits. Its first product, Jekyll & Hyde, a liqueur, is being test marketed in a handful of places. Over the past few years, the St. Louis-based brewer also has joined forces with Bacardi to produce flavored malt beverages, so-called malternatives, under the Bacardi Silver label."

As the president of Anheuser-Busch's U.S. beer operations pointed out, "We will have to re-evaluate our business model going forward in terms of expanding beyond beer and broadening our position within the total alcohol industry." Does that sound like a Long Tail strategy or what? As the Liquor Snob points out, the new Jekyll & Hyde drink is about the furthest thing from good ol' Budweiser beer:

"The company is currently dipping its toe in the hard liquor pond, testing out a new liquor it's developed called Jekyll and Hyde, which comes as two liquors designed to be mixed together. The product comprises of two liqueur bottles. Jekyll is a scarlet red, sweet spirit tasting of wild berries, while Hyde is an herbal tasting, black spirit that floats on top when poured over the red-colored Jekyll. The two products are meant to be served together, although consumers can drink them separately as well, the company said.

We're not quite sure about the idea of mixing wild berries and an "herbal" taste, but we're not in the early-20s demographic this stuff is aimed at, either. Jekyll and Hyde will be made by Long Tail Libations, a subsidiary of the beer giant, and if it is a success Busch will probably continue pursuing its hard liquor dreams. No announcement has been made yet about a national release of Jekyll and Hyde, and the jury's still out on whether it will give you split personalities, one good and one evil."

Tags: longtail Budweiser Anheuser Busch innovation

[image: Anheuser-Busch's distribution]

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June 22, 2006

A whirlpool of innovation

At the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit in New York, executives from Whirlpool talked up the company's new innovation strategy: "Innovation is changing the game and we think that makes us less sensitive to some of these fluctuations that you see in the market around interest rates." From the comments made by the head of the company's North American operations, it sounds like Whirlpool is trying to speed up the product replacement cycle by introducing a variety of innovative new products, thereby driving sales:

"David Swift, Whirlpool's president for North America, said products that offer new features were helping to speed up the pace at which consumers buy appliances. New Whirlpool products this year include a smaller version of the Duet front-loading washer-dryer pair and a top-loading washer, the Cabrio. Both washing machines use less water and energy. About five years ago, Swift said, consumers were replacing appliances about once every 12 years. But today, that replacement cycle is closer to 7 or 8 years, he added."

Anyway, if you click on the Reuters article, there's a link to an interview with a top Whirlpool executive, who talks about the "Exciting Times in Laundry." It's about a 4-minute video, and it gives a clearer picture of how Whirlpool is positioning its innovation strategy.

Tags: innovation strategy Whirlpool

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The Apple Imagination Contest

Apple-Discounts.com is running "The Apple Imagination" contest as it solicits ideas for cool new Apple products over the next few days. If you know how to use Photoshop and can come up with an innovative new idea for Apple between now and Monday (June 26), here's your chance to win $250:

"The Apple rumor mill is abuzz with talk of iPhones, iTablets, wireless iPods, "ultra-portable" computers and more. Given the devout Mac fans that we are, we're just drooling for the next innovation – the next big thing, that "insanely" great idea. So what's it going to be?!? We want YOU to tell us!

Put together your best Photoshop mockups of what you think Apple's next jaw-dropping product will be and email your entries to contest@apple-discounts.com. We'll create a rich gallery of the absolute best entries and, on June 27th, will announce the winners."

This image, for example, is of the MacBook Nano. A 10-inch screen and a sleek Nano casing makes this the most portable Mac ever.

Tags: innovation Apple nano Mac

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The next best thing to being an astronaut

The next best thing to actually being an astronaut: being part of an invitation-only launch event for the next mission to the International Space Station. For the low, low price of $14,995, you can now travel to Kazakhstan, get an inside look at the secret cosmonaut training center in Moscow, and hang out with fellow space travel fans from around the world. It's all being brought to you by U.S.-based Space Adventures, which has just released details of its innovative VIP Launch Tour:

"Experience sights and sounds more powerful than you can imagine - five liquid-fuelled engines igniting, and blasting a 162-foot tall rocket to speeds in excess of 1,000 mph in less than 70 seconds. This coming September, you can be part of a select group that will watch the launch of the next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station. Launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz will be transporting a crew including Japanese entrepreneur, Daisuke "Dice-K" Enomoto.

Space Adventures has put together a week long experience, where you will tour Baikonur and observe the pre-launch activities, culminating in witnessing the spectacular launch from a distance of less than one mile. Also included is a tour of the Gagarin Training Center in Star City, outside Moscow, where cosmonauts have trained for space travel since the dawn of the Space Age. Both of these sites remain largely inaccessible to the general public."

Hanging out in Kazakhstan is cool (yo, is Da Ali G coming?), but I think the real treat is getting to tour the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center outside Moscow. Up until a few years ago, this place was sealed shut - a top-secret installation that foreigners only heard of from afar. It's not like you can bribe your way inside with a bottle of vodka and a pack of cheap smokes - you need some serious blat to get inside.

[image: Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center]

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Gifts of innovation and simplicity

In a kick-off event showcasing its newest and shiniest gadgets for the upcoming holiday season, Philips recently hosted a "Holidays in June" event in New York. (I know, I know - it's way too early to be thinking about the holiday shopping season, but let's cut Philips a little slack because of its renewed focus on design and innovation.) Philips is blurring the distinction between a consumer products company and a technology company. Just like P&G, the company has realized that design and innovation are the keys to avoiding commodity hell.

It's perhaps no surprise, then, that Philips tied the NYC event together nicely with its focus on design and innovation and a simple tagline: "Gifts of Simplicity." This three-minute YouTube.com video features a number of these gifts of simplicity: Blu-Ray disk technology, the amBX environment for immersive surround-sound and surround-light experiences, digital photo displays, digital baby monitors, portable media centers, and giggle-inducing items like the Norelco all-over body groomer.

Tags: Philips innovation design simplicity

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Soviet innovation, the perestroika years

Boing Boing points to a new book about the desperate inventions of post-Soviet Russia:

"Home-Made: Contemporary Russian Folk Artifacts is a brilliant book about the ingenious creations of Soviet and post-Soviet inventors in Russia who improvised the industrial rubbish around them into a startling variety of useful and gorgeous items. Part Make Magazine, part Prisoners' Inventions, Home-Made showcases a brand of uniquely Russian invention. Where other developing nations are thin on industrial equipment and expertise, Soviet Russia brimmed with factories and tools and trained labor, but was crippled by political ideology and corruption. The resulting tools are the creation of people who seem to be refugees from a lost civilization -- people who know much, have much, but are in steady decline. Each artifact is photographed, with notes from its creator on the process of its creation."

Oh, in case you're wondering - the picture on the cover of the book is of a radio aerial made from forks "so that the reception would be better... There wasn't anything else but forks to buy in the shops then. They weren't even very good forks, in the practical sense. But they went well with that aerial."

Tags: innovation Russia invention

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June 21, 2006

Creating a culture of constant innovation

According to Canadian futurist and innovation expert Peter de Jager, companies need to create a culture of constant innovation if they hope to remain globally competitive. That means a willingness to try out new ideas and new technologies to see what works. As he explains in this piece for IT Business Canada, just take three under-exploited technologies that are receiving a lot of buzz (e.g. RFID, podcasting, MySpace) and think up new ways to use them within your organization. Granted, not all of the ideas may work - but that's the idea:

"It’s never about whether one idea succeeds or fails; it’s about creating a culture of innovation, a culture that compels us to constantly re-evaluate all business processes in light of new capabilities. Creating a culture where ideas are nurtured can be difficult...

If you pooh-poohed the ideas I presented (i.e. RFID, MySpace, podcasting), you’ve got some work ahead of you. Creativity requires — make that, demands — an open mind and a willingness to search for what might work, rather than pointing out what will obviously fail. So, what new, untested, unexplored, unexploited technology will you examine in your next meeting?"

Tags: innovation IT strategy

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Innovation in peril

Yesterday, BoingBoing pointed to a pool of over 3,700 photos on Flickr that are part of the "stick figures in peril" photostream. It's definitely worth a look. Take this photo from Flickr, for example, simply labeled Danger Everywhere. The comments attached to the photo are hilarious: "You are in danger of having money in your pocket?" and "Let's see...no Clark Kent glasses; no Secret Service earpieces or giant beak-noses; no fifteen-year-old Nokia analog mobile phones; no giant metal things in your ears or giant beak-noses; no cameras with portable light bulbs attached; and, of course, no money with pictures of weird bird-people permitted."

With that in mind, what would a "stick figure in peril" sign look like for a company deeply involved in the innovation process? Below, I've selected a few "stick figures in peril" that are open to, ahem, a bit of re-interpretation:

Ack! The brainpower of this company could kill you.

Don't mention the pink elephant in the corner - it will only cause a lot of problems later on. (Companies that have a lot of elephants in the corner usually are not that successful.)

The arrows bounce off like superman - this is perfect for a department of the company with employees who ignore just about everything about innovation.

Tags: innovation

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What would Rube Goldberg do?

Innovation shouldn't be this complex, yet it often is. Matt Vance of the MineZone blog has assembled a group of entertaining Rube Goldberg videos that are worth checking out:

"I watched a lot of Tom and Jerry cartoons as a kid. Some of my favorites were the ones where Tom would build his own version of the Mousetrap game. I’ve been fascinated by Rube Goldberg machines ever since. I happened to run across three great Rube Goldberg Videos over the weekend on various sites. I wasn’t on the lookout for them and I’m not sure if they’re connected somehow. Maybe Rube Goldberg is on people’s minds because the National Rube Goldberg Contest was held recently."

Tags: invention RubeGoldberg innovation

[Video: YouTube.com]

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Top 10 ways to prevent innovation

In an extended blog post about what companies do - and don't do - to encourage innovation, Tyner Blain has put together a playful, tongue-in-cheek look at the Top 10 ways that companies unwittingly stifle innovation:

* Hire employees looking for safety in their roles.

* Hire incompetent employees

* Keep salaries below the 75th percentile.

* Treat employees like garbage

* Reward conservative and marginal successes.

* Micromanage

* Only create customer-requested features

* Make performance reviews easy

* Build mini-kingdoms so that people can't find information and contacts

Wait a second, you're probably thinking, that's only 9 items. Didn't you promise us 10 items? OK, here's the 10th way that companies stifle innovation - it doesn't really lend itself to a pithy one-line summary, but here goes:

"Read The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley of IDEO. He focuses on the types of people and organizational behavior that encourage innovation. The writing style is very clever - Mr. Kelley writes as if he were trying to encourage innovation - what a riot! He identifies ten personas that contribute to innovation. Put those ten faces on the wall in HR like an FBI most-wanted poster and coach HR to screen those people out."

Tags: innovation management

[image: Bozo's Lament on Flickr]

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Virtual stores that make real money

Trendspotting newsletter Springwise describes a Brave New Retail World, in which real-world retailers set up virtual stores within videogaming worlds:

"Yet another fashion/lifestyle brand has discovered the promise of virtual worlds and virtual retail, in this case dressing virtual inhabitants: American Apparel (the sweatshop-free apparel phenomenon) will open its virtual doors on June 17. The store, set on a private island within Second Life, was designed by Aimee Weber, a Second Life resident and designer, in conjunction with American Apparel's own architect. The store will sell 20 familiar American Apparel items for avatars, including the women's jersey polo dress. The company will charge a token sum of about USD 1 per item. It's (surprisingly!) the first 'real world' retailer to set up shop in Second Life."

Apparently, this is more than just a fad. Trendwatching, the companion site to Springwise, is putting together a full-scale briefing on the "myriad of new branding and e-commerce initiatives in virtual worlds." Within these virtual worlds, there's an increasingly significant shadow economy emerging, where people buy virtual things like cars, homes, and furniture.

This is gonna cause havoc for Wall Street analysts, who like retailers to break out "same store" sales, so that they can monitor how well a retailer is doing, quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year. What's going to happen when a big retailer starts adding a new category like "virtual sales"? As in: "Yeah, same store sales are down in meatspace, but our virtual world sales are way up."

Tags: retailer virtual innovation SecondLife AmericanApparel

[image: Springwise]

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June 20, 2006

50 ways to become a better designer

Computer Arts has put together a list of 50 tips that can help anyone become a better designer. In assembling this list of 50 design tips, Computer Arts picked the brains of 17 leading designers working in print, video and on the web, in order to obtain their insights into every stage of the design process. As principles from design become increasingly embedded into everyday business, it's interesting to see how many of these design tips can be applied to the world of business innovation. Below, I've picked out five ideas that you might want to share with your favorite MBA:

(1) METAPHORS. Themes and metaphors are great platforms for ideas and I try to develop them both from a holistic perspective (ie, basing a site around a playground metaphor) as well as a design perspective (colour schemes and layout styles, for example). If you can hit a decent theme that allows you to convey and house the content, it’s a good place to be.”

(2) BRAND THINKING. Brand thinking is essential; it encourages you to develop a visual way of thinking and helps you develop keywords to hang everything off – the essence of the idea. Above all else, keep it simple. If it gets complicated it isn’t going to work.

(3) KEEP YOUR BRAINSTORMS REALLY SHORT. When coming up with ideas it’s essential to bounce ideas around with a colleague, but the secret is to keep the brainstorms as short as possible, otherwise they’ll get stale. It’s better to have a couple of smaller sessions than a single mammoth session.

(4) GET AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER. The worst thing is to sit staring at a blank canvas on screen. Get out of your chair and take a ten-minute walk in the fresh air. If you can’t do that, grab a Thesaurus and look up synonyms for the key words in the design brief.

(5) THINK ON PAPER. Use often-ignored tools called a felt-tip pen and sketchbook first, then a scanner, then various applications – the usual suspects. Think with a pen and paper first, then use computers. It will lead to a stronger, more original voice.

Tags: design innovation

[image: Computer Arts]

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June 20 innovation linkage

The virtuous cycle of open innovation [Michael Osofsky]
Google, the false innovator [Open Sources]
"Creativity with a conscience" exhibit [Museum of Scotland]
Wells Fargo and innovation in banking [Athena Alliance]
Top 5 car technology innovations [NewLaunches.com]
Rap star 50 Cent and Apple: a new PC for urban youth [AllHipHop.com]
Those innovative Hooters girls [Idea Sandbox blog]
Mass-produced, bio-engineered pets [GenPets.com]

[video: Pimp my rims]

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Yahoo! Hack Day: 24 hours of innovation

What if your company had one day a year when the best and brightest (and even the not-so-bright) could show off their cool inventions and half-baked ideas about new products and services to other members of the organization? As Tech Crunch explains, that's the idea behind Yahoo! Hack Day, which took place at Yahoo! HQ last week:

"Yahoo has had a couple of regional “Hack Days”, which are day long events where engineers stop everything they are doing and just build stuff that they think is cool. The idea was first popularized by Jot last year, and a number of companies have picked up on the idea as a great way to stoke innovation and creativity in a semi-organized way. The goal? Take something from idea to prototype in 24 hours.

Today at noon, however, Yahoo got serious about Hack Days by making it Yahoo-wide. Every Yahoo engineer is invited to participate, and other employees are joining in as well. Anyone with an idea is encouraged to gather a team up and spend a day coding. Tomorrow (Friday) at noon, the hacking stops and everyone will get together to review what’s been built."

As Michael Arrington of Tech Crunch explains in a follow-up post, the idea of a Hack Day is an exciting way to channel the creative and innovative power of a company's employees and generate some real momentum for future product launches. Over the weekend, Tech Crunch posted a fairly comprehensive review of Yahoo Hack Day, complete with a list of winners in various categories:

Yahoo Hack Day, held on Friday in Building C of Yahoo Headquarters (and remotely from other Yahoo offices worldwide), helped me remember why so many of us are excited about what’s happening on the web today. After you peel away all of the extraneous layers, the core of innovation is five or six people building something they think is cool. And there certainly was a lot of that going on at Yahoo at the end of last week.

I walked into a room full of Yahoo employees patiently waiting their turn to show the project they’d just spent 24 hours building. There were a total of 102 projects submitted, and each team (ranging from one to seven Yahoo’ers) had a minute and a half to show off their stuff. In the end, trophies were given and pizza was eaten.

The tropies weren’t the only award, though, or even the most important incentive. Each project is carefully documented and tracked, and a few will evolve into Yahoo products or product features in the future. There’s big bragging rights associated with this, and it’s a sure way to make a name for yourself among your peers..."

Tags: Yahoo innovation HackDay

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What the Beatles can teach you about creativity and teamwork

The Creative Generalist blog points to an interesting strategy + business article by Andrew Sobel called The Beatles Principles. In the article, Sobel explains four lessons about teamwork and creativity (the so-called "Beatles Principles") that he's learned from the most famous band in history:

(1) Invest in and build face time between team members long before they are required to appear together;

(2) Evolve your “songs” and bring the same level of ideas, new perspectives, excitement, and enthusiasm to your hundredth meeting with a client that you brought to the first;

(3) Help team members become brands-within-a-brand by giving them a song — an idea or proposal — that will help them to shine;

(4) Put exceedingly diverse professionals on the same team, mix specialists with generalists, and foster friendly competition to produce the best ideas.

Tags: Beatles creativity teamwork

[image: The Beatles]

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June 19, 2006

June 19 innovation linkage

An interactive map of alternative energy innovation [Popular Science]
Bill Gates goes part time at Microsoft [Newsweek]
The art and science of managing the global corporation [MIT World video]
Sustaining creativity [Management Issues]
Canadian innovation comes up short [Toronto Star]
Some tech companies cut R&D budgets [USA Today]
A large federal research database to spur innovation [Technology Review]
Was Abraham Lincoln a patent troll? [CNET News.com]

[image: Alternative energy innovation]

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Video presentation from the Swiss Innovation Forum

Futurist and innovation expert Jim Carroll has uploaded a 35-minute video of his keynote presentation from the Swiss Innovation Forum that took place earlier this year. In the video, Carroll covers innovation methodologies, the global innovation loop, and the rapid pace of change within business. There's also a priceless quote comparing Toronto and New York: "Toronto is like New York, run by the Swiss."

Anyway, it's also worth checking out some of the other presentations from the Swiss Innovation Forum, where the list of guest speakers included Dr. Oliver Schusser (iTunes/Apple), Nicholas Negroponte (MIT) and E. Rudolf Vontobel (IBM).

Tags: innovation Swiss

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China, the nation of innovation?

Over the weekend, Edward Cody of the Washington Post took a closer look at Chinese innovation, which is now being encouraged by the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party:

Instead of millions of Chinese youths assembling somebody else's inventions, the party leadership has concluded, the time is right for China to come up with its own ideas and sell them to everyone else. The question of whether China can pull off this transformation -- from workshop of the world to cradle of invention -- is key to the giant country's future. The answer will help determine whether a government anchored in 150-year-old Marxist ideology can pursue economic expansion, satisfy the needs of 1.3 billion people and take a place among global powers in an age when knowledge is the highest-earning product.

Although political dogma here seems stuck in the past, economic innovation has become a new Communist Party catchword. Even while they enforce political conformity, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao rarely let a speech go by these days without urging their countrymen to think up new products. Most recently, Hu told scientists and engineers they must make China "a nation of innovation."

These ideas are illustrated with a steady stream of examples from the world of Chinese fashion, which makes the article a bit choppy to read at times. Little nuggets about Chinese business innovation are interlaced with the tales of up-and-coming Chinese fashion designers. Several times, Shanghai fashion designers are offered up as paradigms of Chinese innovation, even while the article is ostensibly about business and economic innovation. Plus, the photo gallery ("A Nation of Innovation") attached to the article is full of photos of new Chinese fashion designs, and not photos of technology or business innovators. The attached pic, for example, is of fashion designer Wang Wei, who "dreams up swishy dresses for rich women abroad."

This emphasis on fashion leads to a lot of forced comparisons throughout the article - "difficulty in attracting R&D funding" is equated to "the difficulty for Chinese fashion designers in winning fame on the world's runways." Or, the "conformity of Chinese schoolchildren" is compared to the "conformity of Chinese fashion tastes." Finally, the article hints strongly that fashion designers are leading the great leap forward for innovation within the country: "In the end, China's originality may arise from the crude fashions in vogue with country girls who come to the big city sporting spangles on their jeans and sharp points on their shoes..."

Memo to self: that sounds like a great follow-up to The Devil Wears Prada: "Chinese CEOs In Their Star-Spangled Jeans and Sharp-Pointed Shoes." Contact literary agent about this.

Tags: China innovation

[image: Washington Post]

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The principles of customer anthropology

Chuck Frey of the Innovation Weblog points to a great post by Dave Pollard of the How to Save the World blog on the growth of customer anthropology. According to Dave Pollard, a number of cutting-edge companies have already embraced the discipline of customer anthropology as a way to gain a competitive advantage on their rivals:

"One of the fastest-growing disciplines in business goes by several names, but it's all about observing customers (and potential customers) at work as a means of discovering unmet needs that your organization can fill. You won't read much about it on the Web because it's still competitive-advantage stuff: What I know about the science of it I cannot disclose under a confidentiality agreement, and most of the companies doing it (Steelcase, Intel, Volkswagen, Microsoft -- that's Bill Gates in the pith helmet at left, from a recent Fortune Small Business magazine article on the subject) aren't talking about it much. Mostly it's called cultural or corporate anthropology or ethnology, but I prefer the term Customer Anthropology -- the study of your customers' people and behaviours in their natural habitat."

As companies begin to observe customers using their products using principles from anthropology, they should be looking to identify five key areas:

(1) Workarounds - things people do that the existing product, process, tool or facility was never designed to accommodate, but which helps them to get the job done that they need to do;

(2) User torture - Evidence of obvious customer discomfort, either physical or psychological;

(3) Obstacles and barriers - Signs that people can't do their job because of a physical or procedural barrier;

(4) Repurposed objects - Tools designed for one thing have been appropriated to do something else;

(5) Wear patterns - Evidence of stress or overuse in the product.

Scott Anthony of Innosight made some of these same points in last week's Webinar on disruptive innovation. It turns out that customer anthropology can play an important role in the innovation process, especially as companies begin to search out new market niches. By watching and observing customers at play, it's possible to gain new insights about what the primary "pain points" are for customers. Moreover, companies can understand how they have "overshot" some of the needs of customers.

Tags: ethnography anthropology customer innovation

[image: Bill Gates, the anthropologist]

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Do-it-yourself creativity posters

Texas-based blogger Matt Vance of the MineZone Blog ("Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first") explains how he came up with the concept of a DIY creativity poster using images from Flickr:

"Michael Michalko has written some great books on creativity. His book Thinkertoys contains a chapter on a technique called Brutethink, where random words are used to generate ideas by forcing you to associate the words with the problem at hand. Thinkertoys includes a three page list of words intended to be used in generating ideas...

After seeing Mike Matas’ post about creating a Life Poster, I decided to create a poster to use for a visual spin on “Brutethink” problem solving. Since Flickr has a great stock of photos licensed under the Creative Commons, there was a lot of source material to pull from.

I searched Flickr for photos tagged with some of the terms from Michalko’s Thinkertoys list and compiled them into a single poster-sized image. Not all the photos will necessarily evoke the words that got me to them, but I think the end product will still prove useful for generating ideas. There are also a couple of words duplicated, in cases where I couldn’t decide between photos I liked... The beauty of Creative Commons is that I can make the poster available for download from Flickr under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License."

According to Matt, this same Brutethink concept can be applied to fortune cookies, visual films (e.g. Winged Migration) and comics.

Tags: creativity" Flickr"

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