How David Beats Goliath

"When Vivek Ranadivé decided to coach his daughter Anjali’s basketball team, he settled on two principles. The first was that he would never raise his voice. This was National Junior Basketball—the Little League of basketball. The team was made up mostly of twelve-year-olds, and twelve-year-olds, he knew from experience, did not respond well to shouting. He would conduct business on the basketball court, he decided, the same way he conducted business at his software firm. He would speak calmly and softly, and convince the girls of the wisdom of his approach with appeals to reason and common sense..." Rest of article in The New Yorker by Malcolm Gladwell on underdogs and their chance of success, through designing a new strategy. A valuable lesson for innovation, in which pressure is a good reason to start innovating and how small firms might disrupt large firms through re-inventing the way the game is played. Also read the book David and Goliath or see the interview about his book here

Nirmalya Kumar: India's invisible innovation

Rathenau - Onderzoekscoördinatie in de gouden driehoek

Een Rathenau publicatie geeft een mooie inkijk in het verleden van coordinatie van wetenschap en technologiebeleid in Nederland. Er worden vier belangrijke (generieke) aanbevelingen gedaan:

1) Versterk het eigen leervermogen;
2) Creëer meer stabiliteit;
3) Vereenvoudig het instrumentarium en
4) Stel realistische doelen

Het klinkt als goedkoop en logisch, maar bezien vanuit een historische blik zijn dit zeer nuttige aanbevelingen. Lees het gehele rapport hier

Companies do'nt innovate, people do!

One trend in innovation is the recognition that innovation is done by people, not organisations. This means that innovation can come from any person, no matter who or where. Unemployed people, are not necessary a burden for society, but a rich potential source of new ideas (see: Protomo)

Why not see people in prison as a source of new ideas? The Last Mile tries to teach inmates about life outside prison in terms of Twitter, Smart Phones etc. What new perspectives and idea can people from prison have on modern life? 

Four principles for the open world

Don Tapscott sums in his TED talk very much up what openness means in the world today. He identifies four principles:

1) Collaboration (Find talent outside, everywhere)
2) Transparency (Sunlight as disinfectant)
3) Sharing (putting value in the commons to lift all the boats)
4) Empowerment (knowledge = power, access to knowledge for everybody. Also for freedom)

 Watch: