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MIT Sloan ION:
Innovation Observatory Network
Envisioning & EnablingSystematic Empirical Observation
of Effective Leaders, Transformative Innovations,
& Global Development
Draft Proposal v.0.92 ~ 2 September 2002Joost Bonsen ~ [email protected] ~
617.930.0415
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MIT Sloan Faculty Interests at Various Levels of Systems Analysis
Economy
Sector
Firm
Group
Individual
Geography
Market/Tech
Organization
Theme
Idea
Technology Roadmapping
Technology &Entrepreneurial Strategy
Virtual CustomerInitiative
Emerging TechnologyVentures
Global Development
Venture Capital
Decision Psychology
Creative Communities,
Social Networks
Business Dynamics
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Weaving together Interest Clusters at Various Levels of Analysis…
Economy
Sector
Firm
Group
Individual
Geography
Market/Tech
Organization
Theme
Idea
Technology Roadmap
Technology VentureObservatory
OpenSourceInitiative
Virtual CustomerInitiative
Emerging Tech-BizLive CasesION
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ION = MIT Sloan Innovation Observatory
Network• Weaving together clusters of currently
existing and potential empirical, quantitative MIT Sloan research
• Observing Innovation in all its forms
• Aligned with unifying overarching MIT Sloan themes…
Innovation
Globally
Leadership
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Innovation Observatories: Viewing the Business Implications
of Emerging Technologies
1. Technology Roadmaps– Prototyped by Fine &
Kimerling at Microphotonics– Generalizing Moore
2. OpenSource Initiative3. Tech Venture Observatory4. Virtual Customer Initiative5. Emerging Tech-Business Live Cases
Original Plot of“Moore’s Law”
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1. Technology Roadmapping (TRM)http://mph-roadmap.mit.edu/
• Including Professors Charlie Fine & Rajeev Ram (in MicroPhotonics)
• Prototyped by Sematech in Semiconductors, now in MIT MicroPhotonics Center
• Big-picture perspective on development targets; overview the business implications of technology trendlines
• Emerging Themes: MEMS, Neuroengineering, Nanotech, Genomics…
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2. OpenSource Initiative (OSI)http://opensource.mit.edu/
• Including Professor Eric von Hippel, RA Karim Lakhani
• Inquiring about Innovation Ecologies, Individual Incentives, Informal Organizations
• New domains: OpenSource Hardware, OpenSource Biology, and more…
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3. Technology Venture Observatory (TVO)
• Including Professor Diane Burton
• Inquiring about Business Strategy, Employment Models, Founder Experiences, Emerging Technology Businesses, Entrepreneurial Financing…
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4. Virtual Customer
Initiative (VCI)http://mitsloan.mit.edu/vc/
• Including Professors John Hauser, Ely Dahan, Drazen Prelec, Nader Tavassoli, et al
• Methods for Accelerating the Customer Feedback Product Development connection.
• Live Demos– http://wow.mit.edu– http://conjoint.mit.edu
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5. Emerging Technology- Business Live Case Studies (LCS)• For example, Professors
Fiona Murray in Biotech, Joe Jacobson in Nanotech
• Inquiring about New Technology arenas, Radical Research
• Seeking Business Implications
• Commercialization Challenges
• Class Connections
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Technology Roadmap
Technology VentureObservatory
OpenSourceInitiative
Virtual CustomerInitiative
Emerging Tech-BizLive Cases
Innovation Observatories:Further Possible Research Clusters
Economy
Sector
Firm
Group
Individual
Geography
Market/Tech
Organization
Theme
Idea
Global DevelopmentObservatory
Venture Capital Observatory
Social Network Observatory
Decision Neuropsychology Lab
TechnologyTestbed
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Innovation Observatories:Core Qualities
• Empirical, Quantitative – Systematically research most compelling questions
• Leverage – Make most of scarce faculty time• Build Reputation – MIT Sloan should lead in
practical and rigorous scholarship on Innovation, Leadership, and Global action
• Scaling & Supporting – Build up ION research Operations & Infrastructural Leverage (OIL)
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Innovation Observatories:Bolstering A Key Quadrant of the MIT Sloan Research Endeavor
Qualitative
Quantitative
Empirical Theoretical
ION
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Specific Possible Research Thrusts
Global Development
Effective Leadership
Transformative Innovations
Finance, Accounting, &
Economics
Manag’nt Sci, Functional Disciplines
Behavioral & Policy Science
Strat & Org’ns
MIT Sloan Matrix
Classic MIT Sloan Disciplinary Strengths
Un
ifyin
g S
tra
tegi
c T
hem
es
DevelopmentalEntrepreneurship
VisualizingComplexity
ComparativeMarket
ResearchTechnologyRoadmaps
MicroFinance
TechnologyVenture O.
Innovation
Global
Leadership
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DevelopmentalEntrepreneurship
VisualizingComplexity
ComparativeMarket
ResearchTechnologyRoadmaps
MicroFinance
TechnologyVenture O.
Global Development
Effective
Leadership
Transformative Innovations
Finance, Accounting, &
Economics
Manag’nt Sci, Functional Disciplines
Behavioral & Policy Science
Strat & Org’ns
Classic MIT Sloan Disciplinary Strengths
Un
ifyin
g S
tra
tegi
c T
hem
es
Innovation Observatories:MIT Sloan School-wide Initiative
Covering Quantitative,Empirical Aspects
ION
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Innovation Observatories:Sloan School-wide Benefits
• Research – High quality, comparable, longitudinal data on hundreds of technologies, products, companies, industries, & regions across several emerging technology sectors
• Education – Students learn through close observation as practitioners in the research, benefit from new types of quantitative, cross-comparable case-studies.
• Practice – Answering questions relevant to operating execs, allowing comparative benchmarking, delivered through SMR, ExecEd, custom & MBA programs.
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• Research on Business Implications of Emerging Technologies The “MIT Matrix”
• Lessons woven thru Joint Technology Business Programs– BioEnterprise, NanoEnterprise
• Benefit & Draw Upon undergrads & technologist grad students
• Cross-Disciplinary, Formal & Informal Social & Professional Links
Innovation Observatories:A Way to Engage the Rest of MIT
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MIT Sloan Technology Biz MatrixInfo Bio Tiny Compl’x Develop-
mental
MIT Research
LCS/AI, Media, 6
HST, BEH, 7
MTL, 3, 5, 6, 8, 16
SDM, Aero, 6, 15, 14, 13
Digital Nations, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11
1. Sloan Research
eBiz, Mkting
POPI, ? ? System Dynamics, Tech Strat
Econ, Global Entrepreneurship
2. Sloan
Courses
ITBT, eBiz
Bio-venture
? SysDyn, Strat, OR,
Global E-lab, DE
3. Sloan
Extracur
Media-Tech
Health-Tech
? OR, SDK12, etc
SEID
MIT Alum Startups
Akamai, DirectHit
Amgen,
Biogen
Gen’tec
Surface, eink, Angstr’m
HP, Raytheon, Teradyne
AfricaOnline, Evergreen Solar
MITMatrix
http://web.media.mit.edu/~davet/notes/emerging-tech-mit.html
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MIT Strategic Technology Thrusts1. Information Technologies = Ever more sophisticated
computation & communication, leveraging mind & media.2. Biomedical Technologies = Medical engineering,
perfecting the health & life sciences.3. Tiny Technologies = Investigating and fabricating ever
smaller systems, at scales from micro thru nano4. Complex Systems = Large scale, socio-political & econo-
technological systems.5. Developmental Innovations = Appropriate and leapfrog
technologies for tackling challenges in developing & emerging regions
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OILFueling the ION Research Machine:
Operations & Infrastructural Leverage
• Maximally Leveraging Faculty Time
• Scaling Training in Research Methods, Integrated Interview Guides, Unifying Databases
• Staff Support, for formal & informal activities
• Structural Mechanisms
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Staff & Support Personnel
• Research Support Staff– Central – statistics, websurveys
• E.g. Stats software support
– Distributed – thematic • E.g. Microphotonics Roadmapping Project Mgr
• Training Support• Extracurricular Support
– Clubs– Branded Events
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Infra-Structural Mechanisms
1. Masters Research Seminars
2. Coordinated Special Projects
3. Team UROPs
4. Dean’s Research Fellows
5. Course Connection
6. Structured Theses
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1. Masters Research Seminars (MRS)
• Aligning Masters student professional interest with Faculty Research Agenda through specific themed-seminars
• E.g. TRM – 15.795 Technology Roadmapping, Fall 2002, Professor Charlie Fine, TA Joost Bonsen
• Others?– TVO – Tech Venture Observatory– OSI – OpenSource Initiative– VCI – Virtual Customer Initiative
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2. Coordinated Special Projects (CSP)
• Independent effort by individuals or teams of students around a sponsor or research theme of interest.
• E.g. Professors Gabriel Bitran, Rebecca Henderson…
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3. Team UROPs
• Undergraduate researchers working in teams on unifying projects under the supervision of faculty, graduate students, and select alums
• E.g Diane Burton, Jay Forrester…
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4. Dean’s Research Fellows (DRF)
• Well-paid, full & part-time Summer & IAP graduate researchers
• Prestigious position, coveted and very selective
• Rich collateral benefits for student and MIT
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5. Sloan Course-Research Connections
• Weaving faculty research questions deeply into their academic courses, for example, with structured assignments and/or final projects.
• Typically requiring further work beyond classroom, after semester
• E.g. Professor Ed Roberts, Ely Dahan…
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6. Structured Theses
• Masters theses aligned around over-arching faculty research themes
• Ultimately aggregated into publication
• E.g. Professors Ed Roberts, Arnoldo Hax, Charlie Fine, Michael Cusumano, Henry Weil…