Category: Innovation Examples & Lessons

A Banknote worth Exactly Nothing

The Zero Rupee Bill The ancient Greek and Roman civilizations did not employ zero.  If you think of the Roman numbering system 100 is represented by C and 1000 by M. The ancients did not use a symbol like 0 as either a number or a placeholder.  Indian mathematicians are credited with the first use of 0.  Arabs used it and introduced the concept along with the decimal numbering system into Europe... Read More--

The World’s Most Innovative Companies – Updated

Which are the most innovative companies in the world? There is no way of absolutely measuring levels of innovation but three groups compile different lists using different methods. Boston Consulting Group publish a list based on a survey of 1500 senior executives. So it tends to consist of large companies with strong brand awareness. Their top 12 for 2021 are:  Apple  Alphabet (Google)  Amazon  Microsoft  Tesla  Samsung  IBM  Huawei  Sony  Pfizer  Siemens  LG The... Read More--

When is a Cork like a Baby? A Remarkable Invention.

Jorge Odon Jorge Odon is an Argentinian car mechanic who has invented a simple device which could save millions of lives of mothers and babies. The story of his invention is remarkable and instructive. It all started when he was shown a YouTube video of a trick to remove a cork from inside a bottle.  He won a bet by demonstrating the trick to a friend.  The secret is to insert a plastic bag into... Read More--

A Remarkable Machine for building Start-ups and Innovation

 Y Combinator is a remarkably successful start-up fund and seed accelerator.  Since it was founded in 2005 Y Combinator has funded over 550 start-ups with a total estimated current value of over $11 billion. Some of the better-known companies it has funded include Scribd, Stripe, reddit, Airbnb, Dropbox and Disqus. Start-up high-tech businesses usually look to their own resources and then to angel... Read More--

Big Data provides Big Opportunities for Innovation

According to Wikipedia Big Data is the term for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using regular database management tools.  Many organisations are now using advanced methods to analyse large data sets in order to gain insights that can lead to innovations in products and services. Parking meters in cities are uninteresting, unintelligent and unpopular. ... Read More--

Piracy Prevention – a solution that is different, simpler and better

Piracy on the high seas has been a major problem for many years.  Determined pirates with fast boats track commercial vessels, board them with violence and then demand and get large ransoms from the owners of the ships for their release.  It has been a lucrative business for the criminals.  The conventional responses to this problem have been predictable, costly and clumsy e.g. 1. Avoid the affected... Read More--

Three Tips for Innovative Designs from IDEO

An IDEO team A recent article in the Economist showed how the voluntary and public sectors are now joining private corporations in using design thinking in re-engineering their services. One of the leaders in this field is the design agency IDEO. They have over 600 employees working in eight countries for clients in all sectors. They have developed an approach to design thinking which is built on three... Read More--

Gamification can Engage Users and Deliver Innovative Ideas

Gamification is the use of game methods and thinking in order to engage users or solve problems. It is an innovative crowdsourcing technique which is gaining increasingly widespread acceptance in business, education and research. For example Cancer Research UK is preparing the launch of GeneGame, a smartphone app that challenges users to form the best combinations of genes – aiding research in the... Read More--

Sustain, Recycle, Innovate

Do you recycle your printer cartridges?  The manufacturers encourage it and make it easy to do.  So most people recycle because they know it makes sense.  Sustainability is now accepted as good corporate practice.  It has taken a while but we have all come to understand that the planet is a valuable resource that should be treated with care.  It is recognised that we need to design sustainability... Read More--

Rearrange the Process

If you want to innovate with a process or a service then try focusing on this word – rearrange.  Describe your current process as a series of steps.  Draw them out as a block diagram.  Now try moving the blocks around and see where this leads. Ray Kroc delivered a major innovation with the concept of fast food at MacDonald’s.  The process steps for a conventional restaurant are something like... Read More--