AND not OR Innovator’s Expanding Technology Pale Vinnie Mirchandani www.florence20.typepad.com
Jan 20, 2015
AND not ORThe Innovator’s Expanding Technology Palette
Vinnie Mirchandaniwww.florence20.typepad.com
The glorious tech “consumerization” decade
"I would rather compete with Sony than compete in another product category with Microsoft” - Steve Jobs, 2001
Not just Apple, of course
“The Den is mightier than the Board”
a flight path – one from a passenger GPS on the flight; the other from a tracking website
..neither from the airline itself
..and available to passenger for “near free”
Every industry has similarexamples
But, in meantime, our global “Grand Challenges” have grown
Historically, we have relied on Polymaths to help us innovate
Multi-disciplinary andMaverick
• Leonardo Da Vinci• Isaac Newton• Benjamin Franklin• others
• AND not OR ethos
Today’s Polymaths – teams more than individuals
Our blog/book research has identified several, blending 3,5,15 strands of• Infotech• Biotech• Cleantech• Healthtech• Nanotech
To create compound innovations • New algorithms• New medicine• New energy
GE Net Zero Home • Solar Panels• Scaled Down wind
turbine• Smart appliances• Next-gen fuel cells• OLED lighting• Home energy
management algorithms
• Interfaces to utility smart grids
• And…and …
BASF Bio-engineered Rice
• Crop Genome Databases
• Bio-Informatics • RFID chips• High speed
cameras• Robotics• And…and …
NOAA – Hurricane Tracking• Satellites• “Hurricane Hunters”• Dropsondes with
GPS and sensors• Ocean buoys
w/sensors• Supercomputer
analytics• 3rd party sites like
Stormpulse• And…and …
AND not OR even in more routine activities
Software, datacenters, massively shared application mgt, upgrades – one contract
Software-as-a-Service
Landline, VoIP, mobile calls, streaming music, mic/noise tech and fashion trends
Headsets
Day 1 – HD TV, yellow first down line, blogs; various player tech
US Football league
Complex services from Argentina, Canada, Egypt Hungary, India, Philippines
“Follow The Sun” IT/BPO Services
Even more AND not OR
Scanners, check and balance software, access to drug libraries, next-gen displays
Infusion Pump System
Visual, audio, haptic interfaces to driver and passengers
iDrive console
Next-gen solar film, electric vehicles, smart grid networks, fuel cells
Cleantech portfolio
Predictive analytics, sensory networks, 3D Visualization, Innovation ecosystem
CTO Innovation Group
AND not OR in Talent Sourcing
• Employees• Contractors• Outsourcers• Communities• Crowds• And…and…
AND not OR in data visualization
AND nor OR even in fun –2009 Model Santa Sleigh
• Icephobic Coatings• Ceramic Matrix
Composites• Sodium Batteries• 500 GB
holographic disk• Trip Optimizer• Wearable RFID
sensor• And…and …
“Designed” by the GE Global Research Center
The New Polymaths deserve more of our attention
704 followers
5.7 million followers
They deserve more of our ink and our “link love”
The 1528 classic about European Renaissance mentions Da Vinci only twice..
…and also covers many contemporary giants like Michelangelo and Raphael
We similarly need to spread our attention beyond Apple, Facebook etc
We also need AND not OR in Cyberethics
• Privacy
• Food/fuel tradeoff
• God Powers healthtech/nanotech
• Regulation of cybersavvy regulators
• GPS impact on neighborhoods
• Genetic markers and prophylactic surgeries
• Sustainability of “rare earths” for cleantech
• And… and..
We don’t need AND in technology “empty calories”
• $ 3 trillion a year in IT and telecom
• $ 2 a min mobile roaming
• $ 10,000 a software help desk call
• $ 5,000 a gallon in printer ink
• $ 100 a GB (not TB) in storage
• And.. And…
Be inspired by Polymaths -Old and New
“A man can do all things if he but wills them”
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)
“If you cannot solve a problem make the problem bigger because if you draw a bigger circle you start to see several systems that you can
work on…”
Bill Joy