Operating on a different level

I’m bigging up the Economist again. Just got in from an insightful and inspiring evening to recognise global innovation champions at this year’s Economist Innovation awards Over the past ten years the awards have gone to some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs, thinkers, creators, scientists and innovators. Previous winners include Hernando De Soto, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs, no slouches in there then.

I liked the innovative slant on this year’s awards as they called out the idea that formed the groundbreaking transformation or product or service we know today. We learnt that Garmin can be traced back to a conversation about the not yet completed satellite navigation constellation and consumer product. The whole lithium ion batteries phenomenon came from one man’s thinking in the shower but the winner for me was Elon Musk’s thinking about extending life beyond Earth when he was 19.

The event was blessed with some the brightest people on the planet but Elon winning the no boundaries category, but with his Space X, Tesla Solar panels and something called Hyperloop was on, another level. Hyperloop a cross between concord and rail gun so you can travel from LA to San Francisco in 30 mins. I’d certainly travel on it but it was great to hear how innovations and thinking in one world is cross pollinated to another. 

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 Scarily, after more than 10 years I was able to find it, get into to it and it not be too out of date.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?