What innovation can you leverage from military bombing to kill bacteria and viruses in the human body?
Gizmodo recently reported that some researchers at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense are working on a new way to attack bacteria and viruses in the human body using buckyballs. A buckyball is a molecule that contains 60 carbon atoms arranged in the shape of a football. While scientists ha
Simple invention solves annoying problem in the game of golf
We all have pet-peeves, those small things that annoy us or seem unnecessarily complicated. What if instead of letting your aggravation build up, you used obnoxious things in life to inspire you to create, innovate and strategize? Event for something like the game of golf. That’s exactly what Aran
5 Great Reasons to Ask Questions
In a world where customers have access to an almost unlimited number of products when they ask a question on Google, most of which they may not even use, it becomes even more important to differentiate yourself in order to draw attention to what you might offer. How can you make a customer’s life ea
A Killer Idea: Licensing an innovation back to the original innovator
The innovation of inflatable space station modules, now being developed by Bigelow Aerospace as the basis of a commercial space station, has a strange history. The concept was actually developed by NASA as part of a project called Transhab, which contemplated attaching inflatable modules to what wou
Do we really understand what it means to be creative?
Creativity is that which separates human beings from beasts. It is more than just building a tool or expressing one’s “self” or drawing a picture. The ability to be creative involves an understanding of nature that we then change and adapt based on our needs or to solve a problem. An educational pro
A Unique Innovation: A Microscope that Fits in Your Shirt Pocket
When Manu Prakash took his idea to Bill and Melinda Gates, he probably encountered no small amount of skepticism. His innovation? A paper microscope that weighs less than a few coins, fits in your pocket and costs about one dollar to manufacture. He named it the foldscope. But Prakash had done his
Is There Anything That Is Truly Original?
Download Is_anything_truly_original.mp3 In a recent discussion among patent attorneys and engineers, the question was asked about the requirement of originality before something can be issued a patent. Younger engineers tend to have the belief that only truly original ideas can be patented. That is not the
Henry Ford almost lost it all by not recognizing that an innovators job is never done
One of the secrets to being an innovator is the ability to ferret out the unspoken needs and unspoken wants of a customer and then develop a product or service that fills it. But the other secret is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and constantly improve that product or service to stay
Is the fear of failure killing your creativity and hindering your success?
If you look at any of your favorite creative projects, you will see a polished gem staring you in the face. And this is where most people stop. The final product is so amazing that it intimidates them. Fear and doubt paralyze their minds, their thoughts become jumbled. And they forget the most i
Is STEM enough to win in the innovation economy?
Download Is_STEM_enough_to_make_innovators.mp3 Is STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) the answer to preparing our kids to be the innovators of the future? That’s the question I was recently asked during the Q&A session at the end of a speech. Based on
