GIF Portal - Gen IV Reactor Design. The system is failing, hack the system | Guardian Professional | Guardian Professional. We live in an unsustainable world. Our climate is warming. Our food system is failing. Our clean water sources are drying up. But fear not, social entrepreneurs are here to the rescue! But wait ... Carbon emissions rose at a slower rate in 2012, but they are still rising. The reality is that our global economy and society are unsustainable at their core. Many social entrepreneurs have their hearts in the right place but are not going far enough to create systemic change. What we need are social entrepreneurs who hack the hell out of the current system, destroy it and create new systems where the externalities are regenerative, sustainable, just and happy. So what is social hacking?
Two of my favorite social hackers are Ela Bhatt and Reema Nanavaty of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA). Social hackers like Bhatt are not afraid of the dirty secret that no one wants to admit – that we have over-developed. Who is your favourite social hacker? Social innovation, systemic change and societal transformation. | European Social Innovation Research.
What’s the link between social innovation, systemic change and societal transformation? This blog has been written by Julie Simon. Over the course of the two days of the Social Frontiers conference, the issue of scaling up was discussed repeatedly. We were able to examine some of the issues in much greater depth in the session entitled ‘what’s the link between social innovation, systemic change and societal transformation?’ We had three presentations. The first, from Jürgen Howaldt from the Technical University of Dortmund on ‘Social innovations as drivers of social change – Tarde’s disregarded contribution to social innovation theory building’. Howaldt argues that while the concept of social innovation is gaining momentum, it still lacks a strong theoretical basis. In her presentation, Antadze drew a distinction between ‘scaling out’ (replication) and ‘scaling up’ (system change). All three papers and presentations will be available shortly.
Systemic - Tool/Concept/Definition. Systemic means affecting most or all of a system rather than a small portion of the system. in medicine, systemic means affecting the entire body, rather than a single organ or body part. In systems thinking, systemic means arising from the structure of the system and affecting the general behavior of the entire system. In social problems systemic means originating from the structure of the system in such a manner as to affect the behavior of most or all social agents of certain types, as opposed to originating from individual agents. The last of these definitions it the one that applies the most to the sustainability problem. Why this is important From the definition we see that a problem is systemic if the behavior of most or all of its important social agents is affected.
Systemic problems arise from the structure of the system. Systemic problems require systemic solutions. Systemic solutions resolve root causes. Another reason why this is important Application example. Systemic change. The most transformative innovations have been the ones that combine many elements in a new way. The car for example can be thought of as a combination of many innovations – from combustion engines, tyres and electrical systems, to road traffic management and driving schools. The mobile phone combines microprocessors, transmitters, networks of masts, payment models and so on. The welfare state combines legal rights, service delivery systems, assessment tools and tax collection models. Systemic innovation is very different from innovation in products or services, and usually very different from innovation in business. Systemic innovations can be suddenly pushed forward by a crisis, or a disruptive technology.
In this section we look at more fundamental innovations that are systemic in nature. Teams Can’t Innovate If They’re Too Comfortable - Nilofer Merchant. By Nilofer Merchant | 11:00 AM August 14, 2014 On a warm afternoon in June, a few dozen people gathered on a sun-dappled spot of lawn in Cambridge to discuss the very broad topic of modern leadership. The head of a famous museum debated a senior exec from Google about what constitutes great design. A Broadway choreographer shared his hiring process with the mayor of a Midwestern city. A philanthropist and a magazine editor discussed new business models for publishing. 30 minutes of a 50-minute discussion were spent reformulating the questions, rather than searching for answers.
How often does this kind of deep conversation happen where you work? But this venue – Spark Camp – is designed for just such a thing. Funded by grant money and generous donors, with the luxury of inviting people to sit around on a grassy lawn for a whole weekend, you might think it’s easy for them to spark such conversations, to find such a diverse array of interesting people. Decide difference matters. Home - Quora. UNLEASHING INNOVATION. Breakout Sessions Participants of The Wall Street Journal's Unleashing Innovation may sign up for one of the breakout sessions listed below. Topics are as follows: Driving Innovation in Large Companies Large companies inevitably build up bureaucratic systems that are resistant to innovation and change. How do you create a corporate culture that counters those inevitable tendencies, and allows innovation to flourish?
Moderated by Andrew Browne, China Editor, The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Co-chairs: Scott Anthony, Managing Partner, Innosight Duncan Clark, Chairman, BDA China Hal Gregersen, Professor of Innovation and Leadership, INSEAD Ya-Qin Zhang, Chairman, Microsoft Asia-Pacific R&D Group and Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Public Policies to Encourage Innovation Government's around the world are eager to adopt policies that will allow innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish.
Moderated by Geeta Anand, News Editor, The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones. Executive Program. Program Overview Singularity University’s unique take on the accelerating technologies of our age will prepare you to mitigate new challenges in our converging world, and capture the innovative spirit that we foster here in Silicon Valley. Discover How artificial intelligence and machine learning will complement human jobs.How the next generation of “digital natives” will leverage their skills in a new labor market.How automation will affect our labor markets.How we will design cities when cars are autonomous.Who owns the rights to your DNA.How our policies can keep pace with accelerating change.And much, much, much more...
"The Executive Program was a truly mind-expanding experience which should help prepare me for the extraordinary changes to come. "—Dan Cobley, VP of Marketing, Europe, Google Exponential Technologies Humanity’s most powerful tools for innovation. They demonstrate sustained doubling of price performance. "The nature of technological progress is exponential. Practical Tools. Ten Ways Connected Devices Will Impact Every Organization » Techonomy. Forget Lean and Agile – It’s Time to be Anticipatory | Daniel Burrus. We are all good at reacting and responding, putting out fires, and crisis management. In addition, organizations large and small have learned how to be lean and agile, and how to best execute a strategy at a high level.
However, despite these skills, General Motors still declared bankruptcy, Blockbuster closed its last store, and Blackberry quickly moved from leading to bleeding. And let’s not forget Hewlett-Packard, Sony, Dell, and a host of other companies who failed to thrive despite its leaders and workers being constantly busy. To thrive in this new age of hyper-change and growing uncertainty, it is now an imperative to learn a new competency—how to accurately anticipate the future.
That may seem impossible, but it’s not. The future is there for you to see when you know where and how to look for it. And when you and your employees master this skill, you’ll be able to create what I call an “anticipatory organization.” What is the science of certainty? Those are technical examples. Feng Zhang: The Midas of Methods. Core Member, Broad Institute; Investigator, McGovern Institute; Assistant Professor, MIT.
Age: 32 © PORTER GIFFORDAs a teen in Iowa, Feng Zhang spent five hours every weekday after school volunteering in a lab at the Human Gene Therapy Research Institute in Des Moines. Zhang remembers fondly the “crazy ideas” his mentor would come up with, like whether green fluorescent protein (GFP) could act as sunscreen (it absorbs UV light). Zhang purified GFP, slathered it onto a layer of DNA, and found that it did, in fact, prevent DNA damage. Zhang’s project earned the first of many science fair top prizes, winnings that later helped pay his tuition at Harvard University. But despite his success in molecular biology, Zhang opted to major in chemistry and physics.
“I wanted to get a solid foundation in areas of science that don’t change as quickly,” Zhang says. His undergraduate degree initially hampered him when he joined Stanford University as a graduate student in 2004. References E.S. 5 Project Management Tips for Innovation Initiatives. On Tuesday April 8th, GovLoop hosted our third annual Government Innovators Virtual Summit. This year we focused on "Innovations that Matter" and how to make innovation stick at your agency.
Read this recap of our session on project management and head here for the full recordings. More blog coverage of the Summit can be found here. A good idea without a tangible execution plan is just that – an idea. Winnie Liem (PMP), Community Manager at the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Government Community of Practice, spoke at the Government Innovators Virtual Summit on April 8th specifically to address the gap between the idea stage and the final product.
“As you prepare for challenges in government, project management skills enables us to manage our triple constraints, understand our requirements, set the right expectations and engage the right stakeholders in order to set us up for success,” Liem explained. 1. First, implement high risk items early (using the Rational Unified Process). Was Windows 8 a Mistake? Microsoft Seems to Think So. Microsoft showed off the future of Windows this week at its 2014 Build developer conference, and it looks pretty retro. In fact, it looks a lot like Windows 7. During a tease of some possible new features in a future update, Microsoft's executive vice-president of operating systems Terry Myerson revealed a tool that users will recognize from previous versions of Windows: a Start menu. He also showed that users would soon be able to run Modern — aka "Metro" — apps (those apps you buy in the Windows Store with touch-oriented full-screen interfaces) within individual windows on the desktop.
In other words, it's exactly how Windows used to work. "Honestly I'm not really surprised," said one Build attendee, a developer from a major software company who didn't want to be named. "The new UI hadn't really caught on. Microsoft was going in this direction already. A new Start menu, along with windows for Modern apps, takes the Windows 8 retrograde to another level.
Image: Mashable, Pete Pachal. Einstein’s skepticism about quantum mechanics may lead to ultra-secure Internet. Albert Einstein portrait taken in 1935 in Princeton Einstein’s skepticism* about quantum mechanics may lead to an ultra-secure Internet, suggests a new paper by researchers from Swinburne University of Technology and Peking University. Associate Professor Margaret Reid from Swinburne’s Center for Quantum and Optical Science said Einstein’s reservations about quantum mechanics were highlighted in a phenomenon known as “spooky action at a distance,” which is the strange way entangled particles stay connected even when separated by large distances.
“Until now the real application of this has been for messages being shared between two people securely without interception, regardless of the spatial separation between them,” Reid said. “In this paper, we give theoretical proof that such messages can be shared between more than two people and may provide unprecedented security for a future quantum internet.” * Einstein, A.; Podolsky, B.; Rosen, N. (1935). Abstract of Physical Review Letters paper. The Mason IDEA | Mason Idea | George Mason University. Millenials, Lego, and the Perimeter of Ignorance. Every time I read an article about Gen Y or Millenials I run it through this litmus test: throughout the text, can you replace "Millenial" with "employee" with no loss of meaning? “[Employees] want meaningful work, they want to do things that are making an impact and if they’re not in a good environment where they can do that, they’re always going to be looking for something else" From this piece, which was - sadly - actually about Millenials.
Of course, there are legitimate and meaningful trends and changes occurring, even about Millenials (I'd give more credence to this idea about changing prioritization between work and family life). But it's worth it to be skeptical, to put ideas in broader context, and to look for what's truly meaningful. Baby boomers are retiring, or about to. Over the next decade, we're going to see a demographic shift in key positions throughout the public service. But the question is: does that matter? And why? The Perimeter of Ignorance "It's Like Lego.
" How to Form an Innovation Strategy - Scott Anthony. By Scott Anthony | 9:06 AM August 19, 2008 Companies just starting innovation efforts often begin by getting a group of people together and telling them “It’s innovation time!” I’ve never seen efforts like this succeed in meaningful ways. Instead, we suggest that companies begin innovation efforts by creating an innovation strategy that details clear targets and tactics.
Clear targets help internal innovators know what they’re shooting for. Then think about the sources of growth. Next, look at what’s already in your development pipeline. Now, calculate the gap (it will almost always be a gap) between where your projections suggest you will be and where you want to be. Then think of the tactics that are on and off the table. One way to make the tactical options tangible is to use this “Goals and Boundaries” visual (from Chapter 1 of The Innovator’s Guide to Growth). The figure (download it ) represents the “goals and boundaries” of innovation. Disruptive Innovation. Heart and mind | Yass Tribune. Nielsen Norman Group: UX Research, Training, and Consulting. Empowered. The One Tweet that Explains How Open Innovation Works.
The speed of change in the digital economy. Welcome! | Innovations for Learning. Two Great Innovation Misquotes. How the internet is making us poor. INNOVATION ON THE EDGES. The New Business of Innovation | MIT Sloan Management Review. Stanford Social Innovation Review: Informing and Inspiring Leaders of Social Change. HorizonWatching. The Global Innovation Machine: How P&G, GE, Google, IBM, Sony, 3M, Toyota Run Their Global Innovation Management » The Innovation Machine. Julian Birkinshaw on Management Innovation ~ HR to HR 2.0 and Human Capital (HCM)
440030) Samsung Sets Up $100 Million Fund to Inspire Invention. Open Innovation: The New Imperative. Technology - Cloud. PDF/TimeLineweb_ver2.pdf. TopCoder, Inc. | Home of the world's largest development communityTopCoder, Inc. | Home of the world's largest development community. Open Innovation – platform for innovation professionals » Open Innovation: Comparing Collaborative and Non-Collaborative Idea Sharing in SMEs. Business Model Innovation In PracticeBullet HQ. Blog. Open Innovation Blog. Innovation.