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Massive Open Online Course: Innovation and Design Thinking

Published date: September 30, 2013 в 3:00 am

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The University of Cincinnati’s first Massive Open Online Course begins next week, October 7th. The course is free and open to all.

You should take this course because 1. you can do it even while you are traveling, and 2. ALL the content is optional. Just surf the content that is most important for your needs.

The course will help you master the tools necessary to generate new ideas and quickly transform those concepts into a viable pipeline of new products and services. Participants will learn the highly effective method of idea generation called Systematic Inventive Thinking used by many global firms across a wide variety of industries. They will also learn a suite of design thinking tools to take new concepts and put “life” into them. Generating ideas is not enough. Design thinking takes new ideas and sculpts them into market-winning products and services. Participants will learn the mechanics of each S.I.T. tool, and practice the use of each on a real product or service. Additionally, they will learn from a panel of seasoned practitioners and experts in the fields of innovation, new product development, and venture start-up.

The course is taught by two industry-practitioners-turned-academics. Drew Boyd is a 30 year industry veteran. He spent seventeen years at Johnson and Johnson in marketing, mergers & acquisitions and international development. He is co-author of Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results. Jim Tappel has over 25 years in industry in the engineering and design. This unique perspective from the commercial/marketing side (Drew) and the engineering/design side (Jim) creates a complete picture of what companies need to do to drive innovation and promote organic growth. Both are now full time faculty members at the University of Cincinnati.

The course features guest videos by practitioners in the field who are
experts in innovation, design, new product development and venture
startup. They are:

  • Cindy Tripp, formerly the Director of
    Global Design Thinking at Procter & Gamble. Cindy led development of
    P&G’s Design Thinking application for business strategy,
    organizational design, commercial and product innovation to generate
    previously unimagined solutions.
  • Doug Ladd, Chief Marketing Officer, EndoChoice, Inc., one of the fastest growing medical device companies in the world.
  • Sally Kay, Principal, Strategic Product Development. Sally has
    extensive experience in innovation as a practitioner (25 years) and a
    consultant with particular focus on the front end of the innovation
    process. She is active in The Product Development & Management
    Association (PDMA) for the last 25 years. She chairs The Outstanding
    Corporate Innovator Award Program.
  • Dr. Michael Clem, Vice
    President R&D – Medical at Kaleidoscope, a leading innovation and
    design firm. Mike is an innovation leader with a successful track record
    of developing and leading teams to deliver winning solutions. He spent
    over 20 years in technology and R&D programs with Johnson &
    Johnson companies.
  • Elizabeth Edwards, CEO at Metro Innovation and
    author of Startup: The Complete Handbook for Launching a Company for
    Less. She is a venture capital and economic development strategist
    focused on helping cities and regions develop stronger entrepreneurial
    ecosystems.

RegisterParticipants who successfully complete the course and enroll as a new student at the University of Cincinnati will receive graduate credits that can be applied toward either an MBA degree from the Lindner College of Business or a Master of Engineering degree through the College of Engineering and Applied Science.

Join us on October 7, 2013 for the start of Innovation and Design Thinking.  Content links will be available approximately one week prior to the course’s start date.  Course will start on October 7 and be completed on November 24.

Inside the Box: The Two Rats

Published date: September 25, 2013 в 1:40 pm

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In June, Jacob Goldenberg and I released our new book, Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results. It has since been featured on the front page of Wall Street Journal and numerous other publications and media outlets.

Recently, we each did live webinars talking about the project. Take a look at both webinars so you can learn why I am called "The Street Rat" and Jacob is called "The Lab Rat."

Both titles are well deserved! We hope you find these useful.

Innovation Sighting: Bookless Public Library

Published date: September 16, 2013 в 3:00 am

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The Subtraction Technique is amazing because of its simplicity and power. It is one of five techniques that form the core of Systematic Inventive Thinking, a method of innovating new products and services. Here is a classic example of how it can completely reframe how we see one of the most familiar of institutions – the Library.

To get the most out of the Subtraction technique, you follow five basic steps:\

  1. List the product’s or service’s internal components.
  2. Select an essential component and imagine removing it. There are two ways: a. Full Subtraction. The entire component is removed. b. Partial Subtraction. Take one of the features or functions of the component away or diminish it in some way.
  3. Visualize the resulting concept (no matter how strange it seems).
  4. What are the potential benefits, markets, and values? Who would want this new product or service, and why would they find it valuable? If you are trying to solve a specific problem, how can it help address that particular challenge? After you’ve considered the concept “as is” (without that essential component), try replacing the function with something from the Closed World (but not with the original component). You can replace the component with either an internal or external component. What are the potential benefits, markets, and values of the revised concept?
  5. If you decide that this new product or service is valuable, then ask: Is it feasible? Can you actually create these new products? Perform these new services? Why or why not? Is there any way to refine or adapt the idea to make it more viable?

Learn how all five techniques can help you innovate – on demand.

Inside the Box: Applying Attribute Dependency to Pinterest

Published date: September 9, 2013 в 9:39 am

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Pinterest has joined the elite group of social apps
along with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, and Google Plus.
Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard that lets you organize and share
all the beautiful things you find on the web.”  How popular is it?  It is the fastest site ever to break through the 10
million unique visitor mark.  A report by Shareaholic claims, “Pinterest drives more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.”  As of May 2013, Pinterest was valued at $2.5 billion.

There are many creative ways to use PinterestNew apps are emerging around it much like what happened with Twitter.  But to maintain growth, Pinterest needs innovation.  Let’s apply Attribute Dependency, one of five techniques of Systematic Inventive Thinking, to Pinterest.

To
use Attribute Dependency, make two lists.  The first is a list of
internal attributes.  The second is a list of external attributes –
those factors that are not under your control, but that vary in the
context of how the product or service is used.  Then, create a matrix
with the internal and external attributes on one axis, and the internal
attributes only on the other axis.  The matrix creates combinations of
internal-to-internal and internal-to-external attributes that we will
use to innovate.  We take these virtual combinations and envision them
in two ways.  If no dependency exists between the attributes, we create
one.  If a dependency exists, we break it.  Using Function Follows Form,
we envision what the benefit or potential value might be from the new
(or broken) dependency between the two attributes.

The attributes of Pinterest are:

PinterestInternal Attributes:

  1. size of board (number of pins)
  2. size of the displayed board
  3. number of boards
  4. description of board
  5. subject of pins
  6. number of likes
  7. number of re-pins
  8. number of guest pinners
  9. who following

External Attributes:

  1. time
  2. followers
  3. boards trending
  4. links to other social networks

The new concepts are:

1.  Push To FriendsPinterest pushes a notification to Facebook friends or Twitter followers based on a keyword in the description of the Pin.  This is a bit like RSS feeds into a reader, but different in that the Pinterest board owner gets to decide what gets pushed to friends.  There are some existing links between Pinterest and the other social networks, but an approach like this could make it much stronger and more valuable.

2.  Pin RecommenderPinterest finds and recommends new Pins to you based on keywords in your Pin or Board description.  It is similar to the “You Might Also Like…” feature on many web applications.  A new app called SpinPicks does something similar, but it does not pull from the inventory of images in Pinterest.

3.  Board CloudThe Boards of a Pinner change size depending on Likes and Followers.  This is similar to a tag cloud where each word varies in size depending on how often it shows up on a website or document.  Tag clouds help the reader quickly understand which words are most prominent or popular.  Twitter has a similar feature called Trendsmap.  Given the highly visual nature of Pinterest, I would expect users to be able to turn features like this on or off in their settings to give a more personalized experience.

4.  Twitter TrenderThe boards displayed on the viewers main page vary depending on what is trending on Twitter.  Twitter has become the “eyes and ears” of the world, and hot topics trend all the time.  Pinterest would read these trends and match them to Boards for display on the front page, perhaps as defined by the viewer.

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Innovation Sighting: Task Unification in a Parking Lot

Published date: September 2, 2013 в 11:49 am

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The Task Unification Technique is one of five in the innovation method called Systematic Inventive Thinking. It is defined as "assiging an additional task to an existing resource." It is such a powerful technique because it often leads to Closed World solutions, or what we like to call "thinking inside the box." It yields innovations that tend to leverage some resource in the immediate vicinity in a clever way. It also tends to yield innovations that have a characteristic known as Ideality – the solution to a problem only appears when needed.  When the problem arises, the solution is also there.

Here is a perfect example. It comes from an oil company in Seoul, Korea that wanted to reduce the wasted driving time looking for open parking slots:

To use Task Unification:

1. List all of the components, both internal and external, that are part of the Closed World of the product, service, or process.

2. Select a component from the list. Assign it an additional task. Consider ways to use each of the three Task Unification methods:

  • Choose an external component and use it to perform a task that the product already accomplishes
  • Choose an internal component and make it do something new or extra
  • Choose an internal component and make it do the function of an external component (effectively “stealing” the external component’s function)

3. If you decide that an idea is valuable, you move on to the next question: Is it feasible? Can you actually create this new product? Perform this new service? Why or why not? Is there any way to refine or adapt the idea to make it more viable?

Launchpad Opens Doors for Great Consumer Product Ideas

Published date: August 26, 2013 в 3:00 am

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Launchpad (www.launchrightnow.com), a product design, development, and collaborative resource hub, wants your ideas.  Founded in January 2013 as a fresh player in the consumer product development industry, Launchpad partners with people whose ideas – from kitchen gadgets to software apps – need help to move along.

“We’re living in a thrilling era of entrepreneurialism, one lit bulbbut even those great ideas that have capital backing don’t have resources like product design, legal support, office space, patent protection or marketing guidance to grow their idea from hatchling to swan. We do, and this is why Launchpad is an essential partner for inventors and startups,” says Launchpad CEO, Ian Boccaccio.

Unlike a venture capital firm that provides only cash resources in exchange for a stake in the startup company, Launchpad brings together years of success and expertise across an array of backgrounds including engineering, software development, capital markets, finance, tax, law, business, media, and logistics which allows them to shepherd a good idea through the entire development process, and take it to market.

“Basically, if you have a good idea, we’ll figure out how to make it, scale it, and sell it,” says Ian Boccaccio; “Venture capital firms invest cash for an equity stake in the potential enterprise, but cash will not buy a sound business plan, nor the guidance or appropriate resources to execute on it.   Launchpad engages throughout the endeavor, from prototype to IPO, shepherding entrepreneurs through a process that only experience can bring.   Launchpad supplies its clients with not only this invaluable experience, but the resources to act effectively on this experience.”
Ryan Zdanis, Executive Vice President and Partner at Launchpad  believes a partnership model in which Launchpad provides ongoing business resources to organizations results in a win/win situation resulting in no out-of-pocket expense for the client. This arrangement incentivizes both parties to grow the business collectively toward the same goal.
“It’s a true partnership. In comparison to an accelerator charging up-front fees or for services or investing cash like a VC, the Launchpad model fosters collaboration for maximum effectiveness and ultimate success,” says Ryan Zdanis.
A key figure on the Launchpad team is Michael Newman, a design and development engineer with multi-industry experience.  Michael Newman brings prototyping, development, and manufacturing knowledge from industries ranging from consumer audio to automotive, and has experience in creating specialized designs utilizing many prototyping methods especially with 3D printers.
“Design is critical. Through this process you will understand a lot about how your product could fail, or even where small modifications can reduce cost, increase reliability and overall, improve the product,” says Michael Newman.
Currently, Launchpad is reviewing the numerous ideas that have already begun to flood the organization, with the intent to bring select entrepreneurs onto the Launchpad platform.
“Our model really resonates with people. Already we have started to gain industry recognition, and have attracted a significant pipeline of prospective partners of all sizes, from start-up mode to multimillion dollar companies,” says Ryan Zdanis.
Launchpad also welcomes individual idea submissions.
“Our mission is to help turn your idea into a business model where there is profit opportunity for both of us.   Calling all entrepreneurs: we want anyone with a great idea for a useful product to visit our website,” says Ryan Zdanis.
Anyone who submits an idea is protected by Launchpad’s Non-Disclosure Agreement which states that all ideas are treated as confidential, and will not be shared outside of the firm, or used for Launchpad’s own gain.
“No one in the marketplace does what we do. No other firm provides the wealth of resources that Launchpad can provide, or will accelerate your progress quicker than we will,” says Ryan Zdanis.

Bloomberg Business Week: Inside the Box

Published date: August 19, 2013 в 8:56 am

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Most people think innovation starts with a well-defined problem, and then you brainstorm a solution. Try the opposite: Work backwards by taking an abstract, conceptual solution and finding a problem it can solve. By constraining and channeling our brains, we can make them work both harder and smarter to find creative solutions—on demand.
Start by taking a product, concept, situation, service, or process and break it into components or attributes. Using one of the five techniques below, manipulate the components or attributes to create new concepts.
Subtraction: Remove a component, preferably an essential one. Royal Phillips Electronics (PHG) created the Slimline DVD player by removing the LCD panel and controls and placing them on the screen of the attached TV, allowing the unit to be shrunk dramatically.
Division: Divide a component or the product itself physically or functionally, then rearrange it. Google (GOOG) Circles was devised as a way to divide your friends into relevant groups, such as college friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers.
Task Unification: Assign a component an additional job, perhaps stealing the job of something around it. Samsonite made a college backpack with straps that also massage. The straps press into the wearer’s shoulders at strategically located shiatsu points to provide a soothing massage sensation. The heavier the books, the deeper the sensation and the more stress relief for the wearer.
Multiplication: Make a copy of a component, then change it in a significant way from the original. Procter & Gamble (PG) came up with the NOTICEable Air Fresher by doubling its spray capacity. The air freshner has two different scented sprays that pulse in a sequence, so your nose does not get used to one fragrance.
Attribute Dependency: Create a correlation (or break an existing one) between two attributes of the system and/or its environment. Apple (AAPL) has patented “smart shoes” that have embedded sensors to track your activity and tell you when you need a new pair. As the shoes wear down, an app will send a signal to buy new ones.
Creativity is not a gift that you either have or don’t have from birth. It is a skill that can be learned and mastered by anyone. In that way, creativity is not that different from other skills: The more you practice, the better you’ll be.
 
This article first appeared in Bloomberg Business Week blog August 12, 2013
 

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