Innovation before breakfast

The Economist is renowned for its insightful views of the ever changing world of Technology. The newspaper has an upcoming ‘Information Technology’ special report and the regular Technology Quarterly special report. 

Last week I had the opportunity to have sneak preview of their Technology Quarterly when @TomStandage Online and Digital Editor presented his view on the Top Ten Technologies to watch. Some are very much in sync with our thinking others are a little wacky and will take more time, all will have profound change on the way we and our clients live their lives.

Ten Technologies To Watch:

1 - Mobile Payments

2 - 3d printing

3 - Driver-less cars

4 - Nano pod sequencing

5 - Phase-change memory

6 - Wireless charging

7 - Drones

8 - Flexible solar lights

9 - Augmented Reality

10 - Private space travel

Do you agree? What got missed out? There were various discussions on desalination and wave technology on the day.  I'm looking at the whole mobile payments and 3d printing areas. 

Open Innovation credentials called out

As part of our partnership with The Big Innovation Centre (BIC) a research centre within The Work Foundation, I took part and contributed to a report that looks into our practices of Open Innovation, the benefits we are realising and the barriers we are experiencing. Co-authored by leading Innovation Academics, the research focuses on developing insight and advice for business leaders on the practical realities of adopting a more open approach to innovation.

Covering the diverse range of BIC partners made up of the Sponsor Group and organisations from the wider innovation community the research high-lights that we are not the best, yet equally not the worst. Our GIVP and Aspire vehicles are called out as a commendable ways forward.

Here be dragons

One of the many ways I keep the Innovation Ecosystem fresh is to proactively involve ourselves in the Information Technology community and trade associations. I recently was a dragon at the Intellect Innovation Den –Harnessing web 2.0 for the public sector event.

The format followed very closely to the BBC Dragon Den concept with each SME presenting for a strict 10 minutes followed by 10 minutes Q&A with the panel. The presentations came from a diverse range of innovative SMEs that included a company that has software has developed an innovative and unique solution which enables an organisation to deliver any windows application or desktop to any device via a compatible web browser with no need to alter the original application or install any client-side software to a ‘universal hub’ that enables any organisation to streamline and automate all inbound information streams.

The event is a great way to meet a concentrated number of partners whilst being constructive and supportive to the technology industry. 

Black Ties and Innovation Award Winners

I recently dugout my black tie and dinner jacket for an awards evening. Scarily, after more than 10 years I was able to find it, get into to it and it not be too out of date. A bit tight mind, but I impressed myself that it even partially fitted.

The main reason for having to explore the depths of the wardrobe was to attend the Frost & Sullivan European Industry Best-in-Class Performers banquet.  We were receiving recognition for our “Internet of things” work or Machine tom Machine Platform.

A total of twenty nine awards were presented with recipients honoured for showcasing leading ideas and innovation across a variety of sectors including healthcare, energy and power supplies, environment and building technologies, chemicals, materials and foods and information communication technologies.

Some very interesting award categories, which I’m not sure would make it to  Oscar night but some incredible stuff happening out there and a great opportunity for people to come together to call it out. 

Innovators of the future

I recently had an incredibly interesting and intellectually challenging morning as a judge at the Science, Engineering and Technology Student of the Year Awards. We sponsored this year’s Information Technology category.  The awards are established as Europe’s most important awards for science and engineering undergraduates and are open to all students who at the time of entry, are studying for an undergraduate degree at a university located within Europe.

This year’s winner came from Philip Kingsley, University of Bristol for his haptic elastic table for 3D multi-touch interactions, which effectively takes the Kinect concept to 3D multi touch with incredible visualisations that could enable surgeons to model and explore the human brain.

If the calibre of the finalists is anything to go by Europe’s innovation future is in safe hands, although what struck me was the limited insight on the value of IP and the challenges involved in its commercialisation. Is there not a case to include some entrepreneurial and innovation management options?