Fresh Takes on Innovation

The Internet includes an elusive quantity of information. If we visited each existing URL on the Internet for only 10 seconds, we would be busy doing so for roughly 317,098 years.

Google and Yahoo search engines let you browse through this enormous amount of information as quick as lightning. And by using social bookmarking service providers such as Mister Wong and Delicious clever discoverers can find the information looked for in no time.

Based on a content analysis of social bookmark service providers, I have listed and summarized the most interesting websites on the subject of ideas, trends and future in a Google Custom Search. That is about the same as analyzing how many guests go to which restaurants. The best results however are not compiled in a list but in a search engine based on Google’s technology!

The result is a niche search engine to track trends, future and innovative ideas!

I suggest you begin searching for new business trends right away or start your discovery of exciting ideas from a land faraway.

Niche Search Engine to Track Trends, Future and Innovative Ideas:

Custom Search

For more informations see:
- We knew the web was big…
- Google Custom Search Blog

Have you ever – like I did yesterday – wondered what this organ “brain” is all about? Probably you have… Well, none of the numerous answers is entirely sufficient, as so far neurological scientists haven’t even come close to defining it. However, there are many scientific facts and figures and, of course, one’s own experience with the approximately 3 pounds we carry around in a safe bone shell on top of our spine. (Yes, it weighs about 3 pounds, 85% of which are actually water – amazing, considering that it causes us about 95% of our problems…) These and other interesting facts, brain training programs etc. you find here. Enjoy…

Just read this list provided by the litemind blog if you are looking for ways to improve your brainpower. Some suggestions are obvious for the mind related worker, but others are really new and fun. Enjoy!

Did you know that there is actually an official phobia of ideas, called ideaophobia? There are severals sites that list all fears known to mandkind, mind1st blog is just one example that lists the most unusual fears that can possibly haunt a human, from allodaxaphobia (fear of the opinions of other people) to Uranophobia (fear of heaven).

So, if you encounter these typical nay-sayers using all the killer phrases you have heard so often, just tell them they have ideaophobia. It’s the official term.

After a sunny day filled with work, the Brains (factory workers) decided to raise their glasses on the cosy roof top terrace in Biel.

Here two pictures to give you a little idea.

We all use the yellow sticky notes, known as the Post-it note. This useful and yet so simple invention is not a product of years of R&D but simply emerged from a daydream.

«On a Sunday morning in 1974, Arthur Fry sat in the front pews of a Presbyterian church in north St. Paul, Minn. An engineer at 3M, Fry was also a singer in the church choir. He had gotten into the habit of inserting little scraps of paper into his choir book, so that he could quickly find the right hymns during the service. The problem, however, was that the papers would often fall out, causing Fry to lose his place.

But then, while listening to the Sunday sermon, Fry started to daydream. Instead of focusing on the pastor’s words, he began to mull over his bookmark problem. “It was during the sermon,” Fry remembers, “that I first thought, ‘What I really need is a little bookmark that will stick to the paper but will not tear the paper when I remove it.’ ” That errant thought – the byproduct of a wandering mind – would later become the yellow Post-it note, one of the most successful office products of all time.»

Scientists have discovered that daydreaming is not a habit of lazy people or lack of discipline, daydreaming is a fundamental feature of the human mind and a crucial tool for creativity.

It was also discovered that kids who never experience moments of sensory stimulation (absence of TV, video games etc.) are not able to daydream.

The tricky thing the scientists found out: daydreaming is not as simple as it might seem! Just letting your mind wander is not enough; you also need to remain conscious enough to access your daydream. The good news: you can practice daydreaming!

Read the full Boston Globe article by Johan Lehner here.

Where our hands brought us to
In the course of history, human beings have changed the world as no other species. Apart from our intelligence, our creativity and our mind, human tools are mostly our two hands. They are the ones executing our intellectual superiority!
Dolphins form the cognitive spearhead in the animal kingdom. Where else would be those cute water mammals today if they had been able to use their resources and to craft tools with their hand-like fins?

Handcraft in the computer age
A modern design studio uses a mixture of precise handcraft and modern computer technique. Black-and-white and color sketches still are done by hand with pen and paper. Once scanned, they can be refined and changed on the computer with an electronic stylus before the drawings of front back and side are processed by the modelers. A team of „sculptors“ then starts to create a clay model.

IdeaFinding by hand
If hands are involved in intuitive idea finding methods, they supply our brain with very many inputs. They boost brain associations in search of new ideas. They are construed to the activation of the unconscious, of knowledge you would not think of. This method is supposed to leave dreary routines. Idea finding by hand activates the potential of entire groups and forms the basis of the following compression phase of the handmade ideas.

A new disease is haunting the economic universe… Innovationea! However, just like with many other unknown epidemics nobody knows what they’re actually dealing with, what to do about it or how to get rid of it. It’s Kind of scary, sometimes!

But Swisscom realized that there already exists a recipe on how to deal with that new virus: Keep on innovating – along a structured, focused, simple 8-step-plan – always following the ancient rule “Offense is the best defense”.

Nadja Schnetzler, co-founder of BrainStore, explained in brief how to innovate successfully. So don’t be afraid of the virus – just innovate! Success can be that simple…

Read the full article on page 3 (in German)!

The Swiss retailer Coop just launched a brand with 50 convenience food products for swiss teens. The brand and products were created together with BrainStore. We involved the target audience, convenience food specialists, packaging experts and the people from Coop in several workshops.

We learned a great deal about the habits and needs of swiss teenagers when it comes to food. Food needs to be uncomplicated and fun, can be healthy but should not shout about it, low priced without being completely cheap and have a design you want to show around without being too trendy (it’s only food, ok?).

The 50 products include all-time favourites like the giant brownie, energy drink, toast, pizza and donuts, but also new inventions like “planet salad”, a milkshake called “do me a flavour”, “maccaroni & cheese” (very well known in the US but quite new for the young crowd in Switzerland), sweets, smoothies and yoghurt like the “latte macchiato” mix.

Most meals come with an attached cinnamon chewing gum to chew after eating, and the design is very fashionable indeed. “Plan B” is the food that you eat on the go, when you just want to grab a bite and when you want to have some fun with your friends. read more (in German, French or Italian) on the official web site of Coop.