Here at the Business Innovation Factory, we're fortunate to have opportunities, like our recent BIF-2 Collaborative Innovation Summit, to bring our innovation community together for face-to-face interaction. But we're equally as committed to capturing these experiences so others who cannot join us in person can still benefit from the experience. To that end, we just launched our Innovation Story Studio which includes most of the stories from BIF-2 as well as BIF-1 and a few other mini-features we've developed. The... ›››
BIF-2 co-host Richard Saul Wurman was right when he told us that if we brought interesting people together under one roof to share very personal stories, magic would happen. "At my conferences,” he said, “the best speeches were always by brilliant, vulnerable individuals who could tell a fresh story about their passions, ideas and failures. They don't spoon-feed information or talk down to the audience. They let people taste and experience their ideas for themselves. And the audience creates its... ›››
After digesting all the stories from BIF-2, there seems that innovators have one trait in common: they look at gnawing problems -- whether it's how to get more kids invovled in science and engineering like Dean Kamen's First program or how to get more innovative ideas from teams really fast like Ivy Ross at Old Navy -- and then figure out the problem. With two parts logic and analytical thinking and eight parts passion, determination and relenetlessness. If organizations want... ›››
BIF-2 reflections... The last two days and 34 presentations about innovation (in all sorts of forms) were, as expected very inspiring. The conference had its wrinkles to be sure - most notably ongoing audio troubles and rather ambivalent introductions by the co-hosts - but on the whole it was a very well organized event featuring a top-tier line-up of talented, ambitious and accomplished people. All but a few of the presenters were great, which is not an easy thing to... ›››
Renee Callahan already blogged about this yesterday but I feel compelled to do it again. (It's just that good.) Honestly, I don't know how he did it, but visualization artist extraordinaire Peter Durand of Alphachimp Studio managed to capture each storyteller through our 2-day Collaborative Innovation Summit. Frankly, my arm would have off mid-way through day one, but Peter continued, and created dozens of visual profiles from each session. The good news is that he's sharing his work and... ›››
BIF-2 is over and from my humble vantage point, I believe we succeeded in our goal to let great people tell great stories. Throughout the summit, innovators from across sectors and disciplines took center stage to share their own personal experience in creating innovation and driving change. The bad news is that all good things must come to end. The good news is that video transcripts will be available in just a few days. Stay tuned and check back to... ›››
Okay everybody, even though BIF-2 is over, that doesn't mean we can't post one more podcast for your listening pleasure. As with the others, click on the bold "Interview" link for the podcast and on the storyteller's name for more information on him. Interview with Alph Bingham (9:19) Enjoy!... ›››
Day 2 at BIF-2... Another great day here in Providence at the BIF-2 Collaborative Innovation Summit. Today's host was WSJ columnist Walt Mossberg and the presentations seemed to swing more widely in terms of subject material. It started with Dean Kamen, who is of course the well-known inventor of the Segway and other technological marvels. In a soft-spoken and steady manner he extolled the benefits of innovation to companies and to America in general. "Not every company and organization needs... ›››
Bob Ballard was yesterday's final speaker at BIF 2 and my guess is that he has told the same anecdotes about his career and experiences a thousand times. Even the sharpest blade dulls over time, but Ballard's blade seemed sharp as ever. My assumption is that he is an exceptional fundraiser -- a necessary skill for a true explorer. In only 15 minutes he got us all jazzed about everything from the Titanic, to 12 foot worms at the bottom... ›››
Here are two more podcasts with BIF-2 storytellers. Please click the bold "Interview" link to access the podcast and the name to access more information about the storyteller. Interview with Frans Johansson (14:56) Interview with Jim Lavoie (11:11) Finding quiet spots at this conference is really tough, but I think you will be able to hear everything okay. Enjoy!... ›››
Hugh Herr's story of extreme innovation started when he lost both of his legs from the knee down in a mountain climbing accident. Told by his doctor that he would never climb again, Herr took to the machine shop. He perfected prostheses for his own use that not only allowed him to climb again, but to do things with his engineered feet that the human body couldn't do. Herr's extreme engineering allow him to wedge his "foot" into a narrow... ›››
As much blogging is happening here with the BIF Blogjam, it is not the only place where BIF-2 is being covered real time. O'Reilly editor Brian Jepson is blogging up the proverbial storm over at his Jepstone blog, including images of each speaker. To see Brian's coverage, go here. If there's anyone else out there blogging BIF-2, mail me at renee.callahan -at- gmail.com, and I'll make sure we link to you.... ›››
I just finished Paul Allen Smethers and Alastair France's new book Five Myths of Consumer Behavior: Create Technology Products Consumers Will Love. It's been required reading at the office and for good reason. It's a superb book! Something every... ›››
What does a local pizza shop and retailers who insist on clamshell packaging have in common? They both are ignoring their customers. In the first case the local pizza shop had a sign in the window that said, “Tables... ›››
I already have an Ultra-Mobile PC: It's called a Newton - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) I have an Apple Newton 2100. It still works. Maybe I should try to update it, and see if it'll work and play... ›››
It&rsquos been two years since The Art of the Start hit the streets, and I&rsquom ready to write another book. I have some ideas, but I'd like to tap the &ldquowisdom of the crowd&rdquo in order to ensure that... ›››
Smashing The Clock No schedules. No mandatory meetings. Inside Best Buy's radical reshaping of the workplace (tags: future_work scheduling) Swivel: Playing with Data for Fun and Profit I see that word is out of Brian Mulloy and Dmitry Dimov's... ›››
Check out this great article in the San Jose Mercury News entitled &ldquoVenture Capitalists Switch to Startups&mdashMany Are Surprised By Type of Work.&rdquoMy two favorite lines from the story are:&ldquoI had no idea of the number of details that... ›››
Technology Review: Ultrastrong Carbon-Nanotube MusclesBy spinning carbon nanotubes into yarn a fraction of the width of a human hair, researchers have developed artificial muscles that exert 100 times the force, per area, of natural muscle. This is according to... ›››
From Steve Talbott's very stimulating essay "Where We Have Come To:" During 1994-1995 I wrote a book suggesting that the emerging culture of the Internet was infected by a massive and potentially disastrous confusion between our full human capacities... ›››
Actually given its brevity, less a story than an anecdote from the Times Online: After a lifetime of rowing in club boats, I recently started building my own. Before the internet, it was difficult to get information or plans... ›››
A brief scenario on the revival of localism in Britain in the coming decade, from Times Online:Climate change will be one of the main drivers for change in the workplace over the next decade, restricting the freedom to travel... ›››
Jon Udell is leaving InfoWorld and joining Microsoft. He will join the same group (Channel 9) where Robert Scoble worked. I met Jon 5 years ago when I was at Groove Networks and Jon was writing for InfoWorld. Jon... ›››
In his Thinking Faster blog, Jeffrey Phillips recently tackled the issue of being wrong, and the fear it causes, can be a significant innovation killer within many organizations. Interestingly, he makes a connection between this fear and Six Sigma,... ›››
Copyright 2006Last summer I got involved in a big discusion at the Corante Innovative Marketing Conference about exactly where the responsibility should lie at companies for involving customers in innovation. Our consensus was in the marketing department. We are... ›››
Copyright 2006Chuck Frey of Innovation Tools fame, also author of the Mind Mapping Software Weblog and the ebook Power Tips & Strategies for Mind Mapping Software, has a new ebook out on mindmapping software. This one's about choosing mindmapping... ›››
Del.icio.us is just about the coolest bookmarking app ever. Bookmark, tag, and share with the world, and your friends. A recently updated utility for Mac OS X's Spotlight desktop search engine, delimport, automatically indexes your del.icio.us account every half... ›››
I was reading Fast Company or Business 2.0 recently and came across this statement from an "expert" who went on to explain that innovation can't be put into a process or managed like a business process. If we assume... ›››
At this time of year, many people often reflect on the past year, including their successes, failures and lessons learned. Here is an opportunity to share what you have learned, and gain new insights from the experiences of other... ›››
via Langreiter,a commentary at the Journal of Neuroscience speculates on the future of research journals and peer-review:Research studies appear on databases, not in journals First, I don't think that it makes any sense to continue with paper copies of... ›››
Pretty soon everyone on the planet will have an iPod. My buddy John Hawbaker of Clarity (part of Plantronics) pointed out this study to me. It&rsquos probably a good thing to read for iPod owners. I have significant hearing... ›››
Reminiscent of Gaping Void's novel concept of cartoons drawn on the back of business cards, indexed is a series of irreverent charts and graphs scribbled on index cards. These are seriously brilliant sketches, many of them representing peculiar and... ›››
You're out in the front lines in Iraq and you don't have anything that helps you spot trip wires. What do you do? You make your own solution to the problem. This article tells the story about how soldiers... ›››
Over at the Business Innovation Insider Blog, Dominic Basulto has published a summary of Tom Wujec's opening presentation from the recent Fortune Innovation Forum on using images to think, innovate and drive business. Wujec is the author of one... ›››
Copyright 2006My favorite trendspotting source, trendwatching.com, reports on what they see as the latest facet in the consumer-generated content trend: Generation C (for content) turns to Generation C (for cash): If consumers produce the content, if they are the... ›››
How do you take a negative situation and see it for it's value versus dwelling on the potential harm?That's what asset-based thinking is all about... Shift your thinking to focus on the assets of a situation (what you have)... ›››
I've been busy with Testament, my Discover column, a bit of travel, and a new book proposal. In the meantime, here's a taste of what's been coming back at me from the Internet:The Big Mashup from SunBy John Musser... ›››
Reinventing the Biomedical Journal -- Smith 26 (39): 9837 -- Journal of Neuroscience [sub req] "Despite the arrival of the internet and multimedia, the scientific paper looks remarkably like it did 50 years ago.... We are still at the... ›››
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Corante Innovation Hub
The Corante Innovation Hub is your starting point for keeping abreast of the best writing and thinking on innovation across the blogosphere and beyond. Here you'll find the field's most insightful observers and commentators tracking and reporting on its latest developments as well as weighing in on its future. For a full description of the Innovation Hub and the Corante Network in general, visit this page.
Click here for a full list of the Innovation Hub contributors. Your editors are Renee Hopkins Callahan and Paul Williams, about whom more here. We encourage you to provide ideas and suggestions as we work to make this hub and the extended network ever more useful - email us at hubfeedback@gmail.com.
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