Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
An Organic “Human-Like Brain” Gives This LEGO Robot Maze-Solving Smarts
Inspired by nature, this organic robot “brain” links the sensors to the motors as closely as possible.
https://www.hackster.io/news/an-organic-human-like-brain-gives-this-lego-robot-maze-solving-smarts-d4e03d52a700
Tomi Engdahl says:
New IBM and Samsung transistors could be key to super-efficient chips (updated)
Say hello to Vertical Transport Field Effect Transistors.
https://www.engadget.com/ibm-samsung-vtfet-semiconductor-design-announcement-213018254.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tiny “Liquibot” Robots Need No Electricity, But “Feed” on a Solution to Delivery Their Payload
https://www.hackster.io/news/tiny-liquibot-robots-need-no-electricity-but-feed-on-a-solution-to-delivery-their-payload-444b7848d839
Running entirely on chemical reactions, these tiny spheres can dive down to retrieve chemicals and delivery them to the edge of the jar.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ideoitko ideoimisen ilosta vai ratkaisetko oleellisia ongelmia?
https://www.meom.fi/venture/blogi/ideoitko-ideoimisen-ilosta-vai-ratkaisetko-oleellisia-ongelmia/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Introducing The Next Generation Of Scientists And Artists
https://www.haileybury.com/introducing-the-next-generation-of-scientists-and-artists/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Top 4 reasons why you must learn how to use Arduino.
https://operand-tec.blogspot.com/2021/11/top-4-reasons-why-you-must-learn-how-to.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists develop concept for feedback-controlled optical tweezers
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-scientists-concept-feedback-controlled-optical-tweezers.html
Their work demonstrates how several optical tweezers made of highly focused laser light will one day be able to grab cell clusters in a controlled manner and rotate them in any desired direction. This will allow tiny objects like miniature tumors to be studied more specifically under the microscope.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Moore’s Law, AI, and the pace of progress
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/aNAFrGbzXddQBMDqh/moore-s-law-ai-and-the-pace-of-progress
“Moore’s Law used to grow at 10x every five years [and] 100x every 10 years,” Huang said during a Q&A panel with a small group of reporters and analysts at CES 2019. “Right now Moore’s Law is growing a few percent every year. Every 10 years maybe only 2s. … So Moore’s Law has finished.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
29 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2022
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/29-big-ideas-change-our-world-2022-linkedin-news
Are we there yet? The question has been on the tip of the world’s collective tongue for almost two years, as we searched for a moment where we could proclaim the COVID-19 crisis over.
In 2021 — after a year that forced us to reconsider our assumptions and expectations for our lives and careers — we searched for a new path, a way to live and work that felt right and sustainable amid the ongoing pandemic.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Matrix and the sci-fi stories that predicted life in 2021
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20211207-the-matrix-and-the-sci-fi-stories-that-became-a-reality
The dystopian movement known as cyberpunk is bigger than ever. But as the genre’s greatest film franchise returns, is truth stranger than fiction, asks Sam Davies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dogs notice when computer animations violate Newton’s laws of physics
Dogs seem to understand the basic way objects should behave, and stare for longer if animated balls violate expectations by rolling away for no obvious reason
Read more: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2302655-dogs-notice-when-computer-animations-violate-newtons-laws-of-physics/#ixzz7GA9uJnRd
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Webb telescope blasts off successfully — launching a new era in astronomy
Hundreds of engineering steps must now take place as the observatory unfurls and travels to its new home.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03655-4?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=nature&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1640437175
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/25/1065805684/james-webb-space-telescope-livestream-launch
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s Printable, It’s Programmable, It’s E. Coli
https://hackaday.com/2021/12/27/its-printable-its-programmable-its-e-coli/
Well, whaddya know? It seems that E. coli, the bane of Romaine and spinach everywhere, has at least one practical use. Researchers at Harvard have created a kind of 3D-printable ink that is alive and made entirely of microbes produced by E. coli. Although this is not the first so-called living ink, it does hold the title of the first living ink that doesn’t need any additional polymers to provide structure.
Programmable microbial ink for 3D printing of living materials produced from genetically engineered protein nanofibers
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26791-x
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Physics of Magnetic Monopoles – with Felix Flicker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xH97Su-KY
In physics, why is it that things can have an electric charge, but not a magnetic charge? Can you get a magnet with only a north or south pole?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Final Judgement: Electrical Energy Does Not Flow Inside Wires – Is Veritasium Right – RSD Academy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeDlzuygnxc
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Extreme Engineering of ASML’s EUV Light Source
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ge2RcvDlgw
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Japan Won Lithography (& Why America Lost)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjQMcWqLJug
In 1978, 70% of all the world’s lithography equipment came from an American supplier. As late as 1982, Americans still held 62% of the market.
Seven years later in 1989, Japanese firms held 70% share of the market – led by their two lithography giants: Canon and Nikon. The American once-market leaders, rapidly declining. One loses $100 million by 1986. The other withdraws from the market entirely by 1989.
The dominance of the Japanese lithography industry stunned the semiconductor world. Americans back home spilled gallons of ink, trying to figure out where it all went wrong. The answer, as always, is not what you might have expected.
In this video, a prequel to my ASML video, we are going to look at Japan’s famous cross-industry effort to develop an indigenous semiconductor industry and conquer the global lithography market on the side.
How ASML Won Lithography (& Why Japan Lost)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB8qIO6Ti_M
In the mid 1990s, two companies dominated the lithography space. Both of them were Japanese: Nikon and Canon. Together, they held three quarters share of the market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Carl Zeiss, Explained: Germany’s Semiconductor Optics Master
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0teMtLT9XI
Germany-based Carl Zeiss AG is a fascinating company. Fascinating, even if you do not take into account that they make lenses and optics for some of the coolest systems in the world.
When you are etching patterns as wide as a small virus, you have graduated beyond simple lens. Now we refer to them as “optics systems”. These massive multi-component systems are at the very heart of the multi-million dollar photolithography machines that ASML makes. Without them, ASML has no machine to deliver to TSMC, Samsung or Intel.
In this video, we are going to continue with our deep dive into the semiconductor industry’s critical suppliers with a look at one of ASML’s closest partners. The makers of the optics systems that let high-energy UV light etch wafers. And a company with an utterly fascinating history. Carl Zeiss.
Error: The video shows that Zeiss died in 1866. He died in 1888.
We should also note that Carl Zeiss made and still makes amazing quality camera lenses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Archaeologists stunned by ancient Babylonian device: ‘More advanced than we thought’
ARCHAEOLOGISTS were stunned on finding an “advanced” device used by people in the ancient city of Babylon.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1542785/archaeology-news-babylon-ancient-history-bbc-middle-east-bible-spt
Speaking to the BBC’s reel exploring the tablet, titled, ‘Evidence ancient Babylonians were far more advanced than we thought’, he described it as the, “most interesting, most sophisticated mathematical document from the ancient world”.
It tells us that past civilisations understood mathematics a lot better than we thought.
In particular, it shows how the Mesopotamians understood Pythagorean triples at a level of sophistication “that we never expected”, according to Dr Mansfield.
Traditionally, the history of geometry starts in Ancient Greece, where astronomers used the technique to understand the movement of celestial bodies through the night sky.
The most famous relation in geometry is the relation between the sides and the hypotenuse of a right triangle, in modern times known as Pythagoras’ Theorem.
But, as Dr Mansfield noted: “In reality, elements of this understanding are apparent throughout history.”
The tablet proves that about a thousand years before the Greek astronomers were looking at the night sky, Babylonian surveyors had their own unique understanding of right triangles and rectangles.
But, rather than using the technique to look at the night sky, they applied it on the ground in day-to-day life.
They did not have what we today call the theorem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Amazing / Strange Things Scientists Calculated in 2021
https://m.slashdot.org/story/394551
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://scitechdaily.com/novel-magnetic-semiconductor-gives-new-perspective-on-anomalous-hall-effect/
Tomi Engdahl says:
INVENTING THE ATARI 2600
The Atari Video Computer System gave game programmers room to be creative
https://spectrum.ieee.org/atari-2600
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost’
https://www.wsj.com/articles/college-university-fall-higher-education-men-women-enrollment-admissions-back-to-school-11630948233?mod=e2fb&fbclid=IwAR2gStNN8G89TKcR7KKwcs3USGz_Y-6j6NZEnu6S3OiSXfC25ucRc5BtHtM
The number of men enrolled at two- and four-year colleges has fallen behind women by record levels, in a widening education gap across the U.S.
Men are abandoning higher education in such numbers that they now trail female college students by record levels.
At the close of the 2020-21 academic year, women made up 59.5% of college students, an all-time high, and men 40.5%, according to enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit research group. U.S. colleges and universities had 1.5 million fewer students compared with five years ago, and men accounted for 71% of the decline.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/01/01/ski-lift-design-does-the-impossible/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Magnetic Refrigeration the Future of Cooling?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VJWquVvyYo
I show you how magnetic refrigeration works using Gadolinium
Premiere of cutting-edge magnetocaloric cooling appliance
https://www.facebook.com/basf/videos/767806713268866/
This video explains the the functional principle of the prototype of magnetocaloric wine cooler.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Government Threatens Retired Engineer With a Crime for Doing Math
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nwP826RY50
Since his retirement in 2013, Wayne has not done any engineering—he hasn’t designed or built things—but he is still an engineer at heart, and so he talks about engineering a lot: When he spots math errors in public documents, he speaks up. When he thinks people are mischaracterizing engineering reports, he speaks out. And when he can answer a question that he thinks is important, he answers it.
And that is what has gotten him into trouble. Wayne never needed a license to work as an engineer. Because he worked for big manufacturers for his whole career, everything Wayne did (like everything most engineers do) fell under North Carolina’s “industrial exemption” and did not require a license. But according to the North Carolina Board of Examiners for Engineers and Surveyors, talking about the sort of work Wayne did does require a license.
Wayne’s trouble started when he volunteered to testify as an expert witness in a case his son, an attorney, was litigating. The case involved a piping system in a housing development that allegedly caused flooding in nearby areas, and Wayne, who had designed plenty of pipes in his day, volunteered to testify about the volume of fluid that pipe could be expected to carry. Wayne still had a copy of the leading sourcebook on his bookshelf, and the analysis itself seemed pretty easy—at least for Wayne.
But it was also—according to the Board—illegal. After Wayne’s deposition in the case, where he truthfully testified that he was not (and never had been) a licensed engineer, someone complained to the Board that he was practicing engineering without a license, which is a criminal misdemeanor.
It might seem impossible to “practice” engineering by sitting in a conference room answering questions, but, shockingly, the Board seems to think Wayne crossed a line.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Theranos’s invention never would have worked. Here’s why.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoj1tk1xetQ
Elizabeth Holmes has been found guilty of four out of 11 federal charges relating to wire fraud, deceiving investors by making unsubstantiated claims about her revolutionary Edison machine. But that machine never would have worked — at least not in the way Holmes intended. Still, other promising companies are continuing to make progress with blood diagnostics that can do more with smaller volumes of blood,. Here’s what’s really possible.
Why Theranos failed, but other researchers might not
Here’s what’s actually possible
https://www.theverge.com/22858603/theranos-elizabeth-holmes-blood-testing-future
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Humans Are Doomed to Go Extinct
Habitat degradation, low genetic variation and declining fertility are setting Homo sapiens up for collapse
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-are-doomed-to-go-extinct/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steering innovation toward the public good
https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/06/steering-innovation-toward-the-public-good/
At any time in history, and certainly in ours, innovation shapes and reshapes how people and goods move to where they need to be. But in recent years, “innovation” has become such a buzzword that it risks losing its meaning—and policymakers risk losing our focus as we contend with the constantly shifting and rapidly developing world of transportation technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2022-01-topological-acoustic-transistor.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.ign.com/articles/warp-bubble-discovery-real-life-warp-drive-by-accident
Tomi Engdahl says:
Einstein Proven Right Yet Again: Theory of General Relativity Passes a Range of Precise Tests
https://scitechdaily.com/einstein-proven-right-yet-again-theory-of-general-relativity-passes-a-range-of-precise-tests/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What if Math Is a Fundamental Part of Nature, Not Something Humans Came Up With?
CLARE WATSON
2 JANUARY 2022
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-exquisite-beauty-of-nature-reveals-a-world-of-math
Nature is an unstoppable force, and a beautiful one at that. Everywhere you look, the natural world is laced with stunning patterns that can be described with mathematics. From bees to blood vessels, ferns to fangs, math can explain how such beauty emerges.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Uncanny Valley: The Original Essay by Masahiro Mori “The Uncanny Valley” by Masahiro Mori is an influential essay in robotics. This is the first English translation authorized by Mori.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-uncanny-valley
Tomi Engdahl says:
ULTRARAM: A Low-Energy, High-Endurance, Compound-Semiconductor Memory on Silicon
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aelm.202101103
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/13020-ihmemuisti-ultraramin-valmistuksen-ongelma-ratkaistu
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2022/01/12/illuminating-origami-is-just-around-the-corner/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/hugh-laurie-aka-dr-house-makes-a-good-point-about-independent-thinking/
Tomi Engdahl says:
From 2020: Claude Shannon’s masterpiece, a 1948 paper titled “A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” was the first to use the word “bit” — a portmanteau of “binary digit,” either a 1 or a 0 — in reference to information. https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-information-theory-invented-the-future-20201222/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.iflscience.com/brain/being-forgetful-may-mean-your-brain-is-actually-working-properly/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://media.sanoma.fi/kirjoituksia-markkinoinnista/2022-01-04-toiminta-voittaa-aina
Mitä tahansa haluatkin muuttaa elämässäsi tai työssäsi, ole valmis tarttumaan lapioon, kirjoittaa Nesteen Mika Hyötyläinen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.jaksaparemmin.fi/post/asiantuntijan-kylm%C3%A4t-faktat-miksi-unenpuute-lihottaa
Suden hetki ja hälytystila aivoissa – miksi jopa miljoona suomalaista valvoo aamuyöllä?
https://yle.fi/aihe/a/20-10001924
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is The Metric System Actually Better?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hid7EJkwDNk
Imperial and metric have something in common: They’re both incompatible with imperial
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Are There so Many Types of Screws?!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cA9bZRHpZE
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robertson, Phillips, and the History of the Screwdriver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-mDqKtivuI
Most everyone owns at least one screwdriver. But Canadians likely own a screwdriver that few outside Canada would recognize. The differing fates of the Robertson and the Phillips head screwdrivers demonstrates that innovation is intimately tied to historical events. The History Guy remembers the forgotten history of the screwdriver.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Big Misconception About Electricity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIhgxav9LY
The misconception is that electrons carry potential energy around a complete conducting loop, transferring their energy to the load.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Circuit Energy doesn’t FLOW the way you THINK!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7tQJ42nGno
Based on the laws of electrodynamics, energy cannot flow in the same direction as the electric current. According to the Poynting vector, electric power will flow anywhere there is both an electric field and a magnetic field. The consequences may surprise you.
Does Electricity REALLY Flow? (Electrodynamics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKxep82_9b8
When charge moves, we call it electric current, but the word current is usually reserved for things like water flows. Does electric current really work like that? Electrons are quantum particles, so we have to be careful.
Tomi Engdahl says:
8.02x – Lect 28 – Poynting Vector, Oscillating Charges, Polarization, Radiation Pressure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lb040GCs2M
Poynting Vector, Oscillating Charges, Radiation Pressure, Comet Tails, Polarization (Linear, Elliptical, and Circular)
Tomi Engdahl says:
8.02x – Lect 28 – Poynting Vector, Oscillating Charges, Polarization, Radiation Pressure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lb040GCs2M