Fresh Takes on Innovation

The do-it-yourself magazine Make: features an interesting weekend project. Mind machines used to be hip in the early nineties. They used to cost tons of money and promised to make you reach a ruminant state of mind. Back then I tried it once. Didn’t work on me. Anyway: Now you can make your own mind machine. It flashes light into you eyes and sends beeps and white noise into your ear tubes. Your beta, alpha, theta and delta brainwaves start to sync and off you go..! If it works.

A new device by Hitachi enables brainscans outside the laboratories. The portable brain scanner consists of a headset and a controller, that stores the data or sends it to a computer via wifi. A single computer can monitor several brain scanners. So it will be possible to monitor brain activity of subjects interacting with each other. Hitachi is also working on brain-machine interfaces.

In the future we are probably going to see smaller headsets, that might give you the power to control all the gadgets around you by your will. Meanwhile neuromarketing researchers will probably use the scanners to learn more about our shopping habits.

Source: Pink Tentacle

Are you proud of working on several tasks at the same time? You shoudn’t. Science shows, that doing more than one task at a time, or jumping between tasks, takes a heavy toll on productivity.

This article from the Slow Leadership Blog summs it up. Accept it: you can’t concentrate on two things at once.

When we visit clients in our capacity as IdeaFactory, we often hear “it’s not the ideas that are the problem, it’s the execution!”. Of course, execution is key to a successful innovation but (and here it comes, the big,big but): Only ideas that have been developed in a systematic way and also have the buy-in of your team will, in the end, become successful innovations in the market.

The whole thing really starts with the question: “What kind of ideas are we actually looking for?” Or “where do we really need to innovate?” These questions must be generated top-down. The ideas themselves can be generated bottom-up, of course.

Based on that, the process of ideageneration has to emerge with many inspirations (in our opinion and in the research, by the IMD Business school for example, thousands of inspirations are necessary for one successful innovation). It is also key who you involve in your idea development. Do you only rely on internal thinkers? Or do you rely on your clients, partners and even crazy outsiders?

Then, the inspirations have to undergo a rigid and systematic filtration that will find out which ideas still have a chance. And only after a transparent decision making process that also involves the people who will need to execute the idea, can you really call it a success.

Now if you do this right, the process will generate more than one valid and clever idea for your question. Which means, of course, that you have better chances to really implement at least one idea given the fact that the execution is key and you will encounter a few beasty problems along the way. So. Still think you already have enough ideas in your organisation?

I just stumbled upon an article in the RealBusiness Magazine. It’s from 2005, but still a good read.

Once a business grows, the dynamic and agile startup atmosphere tends to fade away. Bureaucracy takes over. Formal structures get in the way of creativity. How can business leaders keep the hunger for new ideas and develop a corporate enviroment that encourages employees to come forward with ideas and suggestions?

RealBusines Magazine 2005: When the ideas dry up.

Over 50 terabyte of brain image data is yours to discover at Brainmaps.org. It’s an interactive zoomable brain atlas not just for the human brain, but other species brains as well.

On IdeaList, people post their dreams for products of the future. The listings are mainly design ideas. When I clicked on “random idea”, I found for instance the sleek new laptop protection case, a beer can cooler, biodegradable business cards or - indeed - the chcolate keyboard. Have a look, post an idea, have some fun. I especially like the design of the site and of course, it’s name, IdeaList, which has a nice double meaning.

Amnesty International’s Switzerland branch and BrainStore have come up with a claim for a campaign to raise awareness about human rights in China during next years Olympic games. The aim was to come up with a catchy phrase that is clear and outspoken, yet does not hurt the feelings of the Chinese population and the Olympic Community. The slogan”Menschenrechte aufs Podest” is used in Switzerland in the main three languages and translates to English as “Human Rights to the podium!”

Searching for a new way to visualize decision making processes? The guys of plays2run have the solution. The guys of plays2run have come up with a great way to visualize the plays of the marketplace, polititcs and all other constellations in society.
Similar to the table of Elements in chemistry, they have visualized the elements of these strategems. One great example is Martin Luther Kings Speech “I have a dream”, which is divided into segments, and each segment is explained with the elements of the “Playmakers Table”. The Playmakers table can be used for decision making, strategic planning, or just plainly to plan your next move in a competitive environment. Have fun!

Look at Slates special issue, april 2007. You will find a lot of interesting articles about Neuroscience and Neuroculture from a bunch of renowned scientists.