innovationguy.com

Originally this was posted over at Roland Piquequaille’s Emerging Trends Blog. (Link) 

U.S. researchers have used a new technique named cryo-EM (short for ‘Electron cryomicroscopy) to capture images of a virus at a resolution of 4.5 angstroms — less than half of a nanometer. As said the lead researcher, ‘This is the highest resolution ever achieved for a living organism of this size.’ The team thinks this should help to develop new disease treatments. Of course, this kind of research has a cost. It requires high-end electron microscopes and powerful computing resources. The next microscope used for this project will be installed in 2009 for a cool $2 million. And in order to generate the 3-D images at this very high resolution with their current microscope, the research team used the power of 7,000 computers at Purdue University. But read more…

You can see above an image of the bacteriophage Epsilon15 studied by Wen Jiang. On the left, the bacteriophage which has approximative diameter of 700 angstroms is shown at a resolution of 4.5 angstroms — the highest resolution achieved for a living organism of this size. On the right are shown “seven subunits in an asymmetric unit, annotated in different colours. Each subunit contains one copy of [baseplate proteins gp7 and gp10? (Credit: Wen Jiang lab, via Nature). Here is a link to a larger and better version of the image on the top left.

This research project has been led by Wen Jiang, an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Purdue University, and members of
his research group. “In addition to Jiang, Matthew L. Baker, Joanita Jakana and Wah Chiu from Baylor College of Medicine, and Peter R. Weigele and Jonathan King from Massachusetts Institute of Technology worked on the project.”

Now, let’s look at the advantages brought by the cryo-EM imaging technique. “The imaging technique, called cryo-EM, has the added benefit of maintaining the sample being studied in a state very similar to its natural environment. Other imaging techniques used regularly, such as X-ray crystallography, require the sample be manipulated. ‘This method offers a new approach for modeling the structure of proteins in other macromolecular assemblies, such as DNA, at near-native states,’ Jiang said. ‘The sample is purified in a solution that is very similar to the environment that would be found in a host cell. It is as if the virus is frozen in glass and it is alive and infectious while we examine it.’”

And why is this imaging technique different from other ones currently used? “In electron microscopy, a beam of electrons takes the place of the light beam used in a conventional microscope. The use of electrons instead of light allows the microscope to “see” in much greater detail. Cryo-EM cools specimens to temperatures well below the freezing point of water. This decreases damage from the electron beam and allows the specimens to be examined for a longer period of time. Longer exposure time allows for sharper, more detailed images.”

For more information, this research work has been published in a recent issue of Nature under the title “Backbone structure of the infectious 15 virus capsid revealed by electron cryomicroscopy” (Volume 451, Number 7182, Pages 1130-1134, February 28, 2008). Here is a link to
the abstract. The images above have been extracted from this page.

Sources: Purdue University News, March 5, 2008; and various websites

I was browsing around google images today. I always enjoy seeing what comes up visually with certain search terms. I was looking at “innovation” this time. Actually a word a do a lot of searching about and thinking about. I ran across this image below at loosetech.com .

This image caught my eye as I have always been a fan of mind-mapping type concepts. This particular image is by Brandy Agerbeck, a Chicago artist and graphic facilitator. Here is the specific link to her gallery of graphic facilitation. The except describing this work is:

This is a drawing summarizing 3 speakers talking about Innovation: Craig Sampson of IDEO, David Ormesher of Closerlook and Robin Cook, participant in the Innovation University. I drew this in real time during the talk using black pens in a variety of line widths, a silver pen and two oranges.

One thing I really like about this type of work is how it captures the essence of a subject talks. You can really see the relatedness of the conversation that went on that day. Compared to what I usually use for capturing the contents of a talk/presentation/meeting, this type of real-time graphic captures ten times the data and meaning. Below two other examples of graphic facilitation by the same artist: a talk by Tom Friedman of “The world is Flat“, and a talk by Tim Hurson about “Think Better”

If you are interested in mind-mapping or topic-mapping or more information on this, I ran across this link that give some great examples.

I was checking up on one of my grad school friends today (he writes for Nobel Intent over on ArsTechnica)  as I like reading his articles.  Next to one of his articles was another post on Mount St. Helens and the changes over time in the magma dome there.   Quite interesting especially when you take a look at this link that shows a time lapse aerial view of the volcano crater from 2004 to 2007.   I started considering how different this looks in time lapse compared to what it would have looked like if one had visited the volcano rim once every month in person for that same time frame.  You wouldn’t have even noticed any change from a monthly view, but in the time lapse view you see rock and glacial ice move more like water.  What a dramatic difference time scale  makes to perception.

While looking at the time lapse movie linked above I starting thinking about how concept is fairly universal and might apply to business and innovation projects.  Anyone that has worked on a work  project of any length whether related to innovation or not has encountered the situation where program progress takes longer than someone thinks it should.  I was thinking about this today especially as it relates to time-scale expectation for a programs with larger impacts and time horizon.    Those longer term projects that are expected to pay off in 2 years seem to be an eternity  when business performance of your organization is measured on a quarterly type basis.

Then I started thinking about what project timing expectations are associated with where you are in an organization.    The sales person whose salary is based on short term sales has a drastically different tolerance to project time than an Executive whose main concern is steering a business to strategic position for long term success.   So the theory of relativity says your program or project will be looked upon dramatically different depending on the time horizon of those viewing it.

I finally had a few minuted to breath and think today and what a timely arrival was the latest email from TEDTalks in my inbox. I have heard a great number of mentions on “cradle to cradle” design over the past couple of years. Most of this in a negative or absurd light as what some people consider a knee jerk reaction and unrealistic for a real manufacturing society. As I am almost never dissapointed by TED, I listened to the embedded talk below. (Click Here if your corporation blocks embedded video)

For those of you that may not be familiar with William McDonough here is an introduction from the TEDTalk site that might give you a little insight.

“Architect and designer William McDonough asks what our buildings and products would look like if designers took into account “All children, all species, for all time.” A tireless proponent of absolute sustainability (with a deadpan sense of humor), he explains his philosophy of “cradle to cradle” design, which bridge the needs of ecology and economics. He also shares some of his most inspiring work, including the world’s largest green roof (at the Ford plant in Dearborn, Michigan), and the entire sustainable cities he’s designing in China.”

Here is a link to the website for his book “Cradle to Cradle“.

For those of you interested in design, lifecycle, and how to couple the two, you are in luck. Check out the TEDTalk topic of “Design Like You Give a Damn“.

I have visited slideshare quite a few times in the past, but really didn’t capture it’s full potential until today. I was originally linked into this presentation on “Death by Powepoint” by Alexi Kapterev.

I then looked at the associated links ala youtube style. It was interesting to see the wealth of presentations when you search for innovation. This is really a way you can cross-pollinate and get outside what you are used to without leaving you computer. For those of you on LinkedIN check out “leveraging Social Networks for Results below”

• Word of Mouth Marketing, WOMM
• Outside Innovation
• Leveraging Social Networks for Results (Interesting)
• CX Innovation Summit 2007, Miami
• Speeding Up Innovation
• BusinessSummaries.com summary of the book Seeds of Innovation
• Finding Innovation in the 500lb Gorilla
• The Art of Innovation by Guy Kawasaki
• 10 Lessons of Innovation - Idris Mootee Keynote

I was reading over at endless innovation this post which points to a presentation by Amy Smith at TED.

I found the presentation to be quite refreshing and eye-opening. She specializes in designing solutions for the other 90% of the world. Engineering solutions to common, but life-threatening problems in developing countries. Highlighted in the talk are designs for cleaner burning cooking fuels made from local resources that achieve equivalent performance to wood based charcoal.

For those of us that develop products or design something for a living, it was a kick in the teeth. Many of us work very hard to solve difficult problems (sometimes very niche I must admit) with some of the very latest technology at our disposal. This is a reminder of:

#1 Try to solve those problems that are important.

#2 Get your head up out of “the way” things are done and look at what works.

#3 Look at how to match your resources, methods, and economics with the environment and situation at hand.

TEDTalk - Ideas worth spreading.

I was reading Endless Innovation (I find myself a regular reader lately) and read this post on Nokia’s Brand and Design Priorities.

If you don’t see the embedded slideshow the direct link is Here on Slideshare.net.I thought some of the excerpts were quite succinct and powerful.

Seth Godin has an interesting post called “One, a few, most or all” where he discusses about what he calls the 4 situations in marketing. He makes this distinction based on who you need to influence. As the un-initiated (aka, not a marketing guy) I know that you have to be aware of your audience and potential customer, but after reading this post it makes it completely clear that you have to approach each situation differently in order to succeed. Here are the situations:

1. One. When you need to fill a job or sell a house you only need to convince one person.
2. Few. When you want to be the hot local restaurant, or sell many copies of a book, or be a popular TV show you have to convince quite a few people.
3. Most. Some businesses only work when a large number of people participate: LinkedIN, Ebay, Paypal, YouTube for example, or a telephone company or the mail service.
4. All. When you need to convince all of a panel or group in order to win, for example to specific your product as an industry requirement, or you need the support of 51 senators to pass your bill, or you need a town council to approve your building permit.

Thinking more about this specific grouping, it is very evident that you need to know which situation you are in before you develop your strategy. Sometimes this situation will be determined by business model economics, while in other cases this might be determined be product maturity, % market share, or legislative situation. In all cases knowing your situation will help you to develop a strategy that is more aligned with your goal.

• C an you identify which of your potential product or service offerings might fall into these categories?
• How does your strategy for approaching and intereacting with a customer change with respect to what situation you are in?
• Do certain market segments always fall into the same marketing situations?

It was unfortunate that I found this great example of innovation through through a tradegy. Engadet has a post on the unfortunate death of a man while operating this piece of equipment. The piece of equipment is the Spider radio controller slope mower. made by Dvorak Machine Division.

First let me point out that this particular unit is a radio controlled unit and not a robot per se, but a remote controlled machine (more like an RC car).

What caught my eye was the innovative nature of this piece of equipment and how it is an interesting solution to a well-defined niche market in the lawn care world. It is very common to find steep embandments and slopes around roadways, overpasses, dams, reseviors, lakes, or other municipal areas. If you look at what are the alternatives and current incumbents in the area mowing slopes, you will see the uniqueness of this offering by Dvorak.

Although I can’t quote direct prices, the spider looks like it could have a significantly lower cost of ownership than the usual tractor-swing arm or standard ride-on slope mowers. The productivity for the spider versus the hand held trimmer was approximately 6-1 from the spider commercial video at their site. It really changes the user expectation in terms of mode of interface, capital investment, and operator safety (in the long term). It is also interesting in that it might be much more successful than other remote controlled mowers (examples of few robotic lawnmowers). The key here is that most people initially think to replace the largest volume of mower on the market which is the home user base. In this setting the concept of a remote controlled mower is a luxury and feature overkill. Where in the specific market of slope mowing The Spider offers a unique value proposition when you compare the Spider Slope Mower to the rest of the market. This is an example of a disruptive technology to this particular sub-segment the lawn care market.

The team over at iinnovate.com always surprise me with the quality of their guests for their interviews. This latest interview with Carly Fiorina formerly CEO of HP is no exception.  Min Li Chan and Min Liu ask some very good questions which dig out some great answers and advise from Carly.

Carly gives some really great perspectives in this interview.  Here are a couple of my favorite questions:

When asked asked what element of being a CEO was most challenging at HP she Carly stated:

“The most challenging part about being CEO of HP was that we had to transform the company. It was a great company with a great history, but it was also a company that was lagging further and further behind when I arrived. ….. <stats on missed financials, lack of innovation , etc>… We had a great deal of change that needed to be done, and change is always very difficult.  It [change] is always resisted and particularly difficult with a large, tradition-bound company like HP was.   But that is also frankly the challenge and joy of leadership. Leadership is always about changing things. ….”

When asked how to preserve innovation and a sense of entrepreneurship in corporate America as companies  grow above 10,000 employees mark she stated:

“… So it is a challenge for every company.  The pressure for Corporate America boils down to the fact that the  focus on profitability sometimes causes people to cut costs as opposed to investing in innovation.  This is where leadership is so imporatant.  If the leadership doesn’t decide that innovation is a value worth celebrating then eventually it will whither.   If leadership doesn’t decide that instead of cutting that expense, they will make that investment in the future, then the investments won’t get made…..   I think it is about the culture of a place. Whether risk-taking is really celebrated and rewarded, and if you are going to celebrate and reward risk taking, you have to let people make mistakes.  Not every bet is goign to pay off and you have to deal with that…. There is no silver bullet, but it starts with a believe that innovation is the life-blood of a technology company….”

When asked about the trend of startup aquiring as the major source of innovation for a tech company and whether this was dangerous she replied.

“I think it is a trend which offers some advantaeges to startups…. It is dangerous when taken to extreme…. Every company gets to a place where the old answers don’t work anymore and then the only thing that works is for people to be creative and try new approaches to old problems. If you have outsources all your creativity, all your ability to take risk, all your ability to think about a new idea, then you are not going to be able to solve the problem you need to solve….”

Her talk on how medieval studies (college major) helped her and what a CEO is suppose to do she stated:

“That set of studies, more than anything, taught me how to think…. It [particular class in her major where she was required to read thousands of pages and condense them to 2 pages every week] taught me that to really undestand something you really have to go through all the detail of it, but then to be able to communicate something, to be able to prioritize action around something,  you have to get it down to the essence.   It taught me how you distringuish between the truly important and the merely interesting….”

When asked why she thought that anyone wanting to be a CEO should take on a sales role as some point in their career she stated:

” I think the human dimension of business is really important…. but beyond that, what selling is really about, if it is done well, is talking to people in a language they understand, that is meaningful to them.   If you are going to be successful in selling something to someone else, you have to speak to them in language that is familiar to them and in terms of things that are important to them….. Those are skills that any executive needs to have: How do communicate effectively. How do  speak to people in language they understand.  How tp speak to them in terms that are important to them….”

Interesting insights on some relevent topics to anyone in business. There is much, much more in the interview, well worth the listen.