Entrepreneurship and Innovation Today

The WBT Showcase March 24-25, 2009

The WBT Showcase March 24-25, 2009, is an elite international event that showcases prescreened, cutting-edge, first-to-market companies and technologies emanating from the private sector, top universities, federal labs, agencies and research institutions, to an audience of the world's leading seed investors, venture capitalists and Fortune 1000 licensing experts.

Applicants are screened by a national panel of seed investors, venture capitalists and corporate licensing executives. Up to one hundred (100) presenters are chosen to make a 6-minute presentation. In the weeks leading up to the Showcase presenters are provided guidance on their 6-minute presentations and groomed by individually assembled mentor teams comprised of seasoned experts. All presenters are also eligible to compete for selection as a "World's Best Technology" where investors and licensing scouts ultimately select the top 3 most promising technologies, designating one technology to receive the "Best of Show" award. Presenting technologies represent a convergence of industry sectors including Lifescience, Advanced Materials, Energy, Software, Semiconductor and Agriculture, to name a few.

Technologies are judged on the following basic criteria:

Is it a Platform Technology that could spawn many products?
Is it First in the Space, having the potential to give rise to a whole new industry?
Is it Close to Market, having few barriers remaining to commercial application?

[N.B. The deadine for submissions for 2009 has passed but it's good to keep in mind for 2010]

http://www.wbtshowcase.com/wbt/web.nsf/pages/overview.html

Lecture - Technological Innovation and Economic Development in Times of Crisis

Lecture - Technological Innovation and Economic Development in Times of Crisis

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Toronto, Jan 16, 2009

Speaker-Calestous Juma

Professor of the Practice of International Development, Harvard University

About the Speaker

Prof.  Juma  is  a  former  Executive  Secretary of  the  United  Nations  Convention  on Biological  Diversity  &  Founding  Director  of  the  African  Centre  for  Technology  Studies  in  Nairobi.  He  also  served  as  Chancellor  of  the  University of  Guyana.  He  has  been  elected  to  several  scientific  academies  including  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  the  U.S.  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Academy  of  Sciences  for  the  Developing  World  (TWAS),  the  UK  Royal  Academy  of  Engineering  and  the  African  Academy  of  Sciences.  He  has  won  several  international  awards  and  honorary  degrees  for  his  work  on  sustainable  development.  He  holds  a  Ph.D.  in  science  and  technology  policy  studies  and  serves  on  the  board  of  One  Laptop  per  Child  Foundation.  He  is  lead  author  of  Innovation:  Applying  Knowledge  in  Development  and  Freedom  to  Innovate:  Biotechnology  in  Africa’s  Development  and  co‐editor  of Engineering Change: Toward a Sustainable Future in the Developing World.

For more information please contact us at [email protected] or visit www.mrcglobal.org

DATE | TIME | LOCATION

January 16, 2009

12:30PM - 1:30PM

McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health

University of Toronto

Medical Sciences Building

1 King's College Circle, Room 2172

Toronto

World Changing Ideas

 

Last night I heard author and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki on radio discussing world changing ideas, how they are born and why some succeed and others fail. At the root of a great idea, he said, "it has to enable you to do things you've always wanted to do. Or, even better, it should enable you to do things that you did not know you wanted to do."

 

Kawasaki

explained the origins for many revolutionary ideas, saying that they begin by asking "wouldn't it be neat if?" While this may sound like a simple genesis, he emphasized that following through with the concept is critical to any idea's success. "Many people ask the question ... but not that many try it," he observed. Based on his prolific career,

Kawasaki

said that his opinion has changed about the difficulties of actualizing a winning idea. He summed up this change of heart by noting, "I used to think that the idea is the key and, once you get a good idea, implementation is easy, now that I'm at the end of my career, I think the exact opposite."

 

One surprising element to profitable ideas, that

Kawasaki

cited, was the importance of having a story behind the concept, whether the tale is true or not. To demonstrate this, he recounted the popular story that Ebay was created so the founder's wife could sell Pez dispensers online. "Not too many people know that that is a story they made up after the fact," he revealed, "it had nothing to do with Pez dispensers." Extending the power of storytelling beyond that, he noted that "storytellers are also very good entrepreneurs," because they can inspire others to envision their "what if" scenario

 

Walter Derzko

Smart Economy

Toronto

It's official, The US is in a rcession-now start looking for opportunities !!

Well, it's official folks. The US recession is officially here according the the NBER, and it has been crippling the American economy for over a year now, since Q4,2007, as if most ordinary people on the street and business owners haven't noticed. This could even stretch out into a prolonged depression and there is plenty of evidence pointing in that direction. The news was greeted by a record, free fall drop in the Dow Jones stock exchange of 7.7% and an even bigger drop in the Canadian Toronto stock exchange (TSX) of 9.3%.  The Financial Times reports that surveys of manufacturing orders in the US, Europe and China published on Monday were much weaker than expected. In Europe, measures of risk aversion reached new highs, as the iTraxx Crossover index climbed to 934bp, another record.The Baltic Exchange Dry Index -a measure of ocean going vessel traffic, shipping volume and costs -dropped to 700 today,  a historic record low.

But why did it take the NBER over a year to call the downturn, which started back in 2007? It's like having your fuel gage in your car telling  you that your gas tank is empty, a week later, once you're already back at home or after you got stranded on the side of the road. Savvy entrepreneurs would have spotted the early warning signals that pointed to a possible topping out of the business cycle, such as the drop in container traffic from Asia into Long Beach, California, back in 2007. Even in May 2008, many business people and trade associations that I spoke with were in denial that a recession was on the way, especially in Alberta (well at least that's what was said publically if not privately).

Regular Smart Economy blog readers would have been warned two years ago, long before the general economic trouble was acknowledged by several of our weak signals of change that we spotted for you...  such as our warning of the pending housing mortgage collapse back in April 2006 and the threat of a financial banking collapse, which we suggested could happen in 2008 back in Sept 2006. This past week we warned you of the pending commercial mortage collapse, for which every business should be making contingency plans for now. At the same time every entrepreneur should be shifting into an opportunity spotting and sence-making mindset and keeping a lookout for all the potential generic opportunity events that are likely to emerge in the chaos.

"Chance favors the prepared mind",

Every dark cloud has a silver or gold lining (read opportunity window) for someone, only if you are sharp enough to anticipate it. Make yourself as recession proof as possible and that requires a new type of thinking-anticipatory thinking.

Here's an example from my Opportunity Clinic workshop -Because of the increased number of home foreclosures in the USA, a new startup business segment has quickly emerged in America-Those  contractors that used to build your homes, are now the clean-up crews that come in to empty out (and resell salvaged furniture and contents) and tidy up homes for the banks and real estate agents after the previous owners have abandoned their houses.

There will be plenty more opportunity windows like these.

As we see from Malcom Gladwell's new book, Outliers, the US Great depression of  1873, produced the greatest concentration of wealthy families on the entire planet and in all of history. I can't wait to see the next crop of wealth builders.

Walter Derzko

Worshop AoM: Globalizing Innovation with National Players: Identifying New Opportunities for Research and Practice

You are invited to attend a PDW session on "Globalizing Innovation with National Players: Identifying New Opportunities for Research and Practice", on Saturday, August 9th from 9 am to 11:30 pm in Room 202A of the Anaheim Convention Center.

We focus on identifying frontier theoretical and empirical approaches to help us understand the implications of globaling innovation for (1) knowledge production and economic development, and (2) firm strategy and organization.

The panel consists of:

Eleanor Westney, an expert on the strategy and structure of the multinational corporation and the globalization of R&D.  Her books include Organizational Theory and the Multinational Corporation (with Sumantra Ghoshal), Imitation and Innovation: The Transfer of Western Organizational Patterns in Meiji Japan (2000).

David Audretsch has pioneered research on entrepreneurship and regional innovation.  His latest book is Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Growth.

Jeff Furman has published papers on academic science and the pharmaceutical industry, public and private spillovers, location and strategy and national innovative capacity.

Anupam Khanna is a policy expert with over 25 years experience at the World Bank, first-hand understanding of state enterprise reform in China, infrastructure operations in East Asia, and economic policy issues as well as technology and industrial innovation in Eastern Africa, Latin America and Southern/Central Europe.  He currently oversees analytical and policy work for the standing committees of the 24 –member Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank in Washington D.C.

Frits Pil has published extensively on high performance/high involvement work systems and organizational innovation; his book The Second Century deals with the global automobile industry.

Gita Surie’s research focuses cross border innovation, technology transfer, entrepreneurship and economic development; her book Knowledge, Organizational Evolution and Market Creation deals with the globalization of Indian firms.

Following brief presentations by each of the panelists (5-7 minutes), we will have round table discussions on the topics above and debrief presentations by each table with the objective of developing a research agenda around the top priorities for future work.  You are encouraged to discuss and submit themes/issues and work-in-process related to these topics in preparation for the workshop - these should be emailed to the address supplied below.  We plan to create a virtual community to continue the discussion and further the research agenda developed here through future publications, workshops and conferences.

Pre-registration is desirable, but is not a requirement.

Contact: Gita Surie Email: [email protected]

Paper:Multiple Tasks' and Multiple Goals' Effect on Creativity: Forced Incubation or Just a Distraction?

Multiple Tasks' and Multiple Goals' Effect on Creativity: Forced Incubation or Just a Distraction?

Nora Madjar Department of Management, School of Business, University of Connecticut, 2100 Hillside Road, Unit 1041, Storrs CT 06269,

Christina E. Shalley College of Management, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Abstract:

The authors examine the effects of multiple goals on three different tasks (i.e., two creativity tasks and one intervening task) and the discretion to switch back and forth between tasks on creative performance. They propose that individuals' focus of attention and cognitive exhaustion may explain the hypothesized effects on incubation and subsequent creativity. Results demonstrate the highest creativity when individuals have goals for all tasks and discretion to switch between them. The results in part are explained by focus of attention and cognitive exhaustion. The authors discuss how multiple tasks' and goals' effect on creativity can lead to forced incubation.

Key Words: creativity • goals • incubation • multitasking

Source: Journal of Management;  Vol. 34, No. 4, 786-805 (2008)

"Barriers to Innovation in Home Country: Can Internationalisation of R&D Mitigate their Effects? Special Issue of the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (IJTPM)

Dear colleagues,

I would like to draw your attention on the following final call for papers:

Special Issue of the International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management (IJTPM)

Special Issue on: "Barriers to Innovation in Home Country: Can Internationalisation of R&D Mitigate their Effects?"

Guest Editors: Prof.  Cornelius Herstatt, Rajnish Tiwari and Dr. Stephan Buse, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany

Submission Deadline: July 31, 2008.

For more details, please see following website:

http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=846

Best regards

Stephan Buse Institute of Technology and Innovation Management Hamburg University of Technology

Entrepreneurs to speak at Kingston Technology Council Innovation Expo: March 26.2008 Kingston Ontario

Two high-profile Canadian entrepreneurs will provide visions of tomorrow's high-tech trends as well as lessons for today at the inaugural Kingston Technology Council Innovation Expo later this month.

Futurist Walter Derzko and award-winning marketing guru Arlene Dickinson from CBC's Dragon's Den will deliver lunch-hour keynote addresses at the all-day event March 26.  The expo will highlight developments in eastern Ontario's life science, environmental, information technology and advanced materials and manufacturing sectors.

Derzko, consultant, lecturer, teacher of innovation and entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto, and author of the popular Internet blog Smart Economy, will speak on "The Future is Now - What's Next?"

In his 11 a.m. talk, Derzko will outline emerging trends and issues associated with so-called "smart" technologies, says a release from the Kingston Technology Council.

Marketing specialist Dickinson, who is a panelist on CBC's popular reality TV show Dragon's Den, will focus on the present and will talk about the value of marketing as a crucial business driver, the release said.

During a talk at 12:30 p.m., Dickinson will relate the lessons learned when companies look at strategy and measurables before leaping into marketing activities.

Three speaker panels, featuring entrepreneurs, financiers and company executives from high-tech industries in the Kingston area, Ottawa and Toronto, will also talk on subjects ranging from preparing the region for growth in the high-tech sector to financing for early- and late-stage startups.

There will also be booths, tabletop and poster displays, an elevator pitch challenge and live demonstrations of emerging technologies throughout the day.

Tickets for the expo are $50 for general admission and $20 for students and seniors.  Booths cost $300.  For information and registration, go to www.kingstontechnology.net

see Kingston Whig Standard

Are middle managers innovation bottlenecks? Yes!!

According to McKinsey Quarterly; yes

"Some people are passionate about innovation, while others shy away from new ideas. McKinsey research finds that, in some organizations, managers who are most frequently sought out for advice on new concepts often have the most negative attitudes towards innovation—partly because they have difficulty balancing new ideas with current priorities.

One way around these bottlenecks is to intentionally create networks of managers charged with encouraging new ideas. This kind of decentralized team can identify promising new concepts and prioritize them so that they receive the attention they deserve."

How do you measure efficiency of government agencies that fund innovation &R&D?

The White House Office of Management and Budget evaluates research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies using the Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART), a set of questions that asks agencies about many aspects of their programs, including whether they can measure and demonstrate annual improvements in efficiency.  Based on the answers, OMB rates research programs as effective, ineffective, or somewhere in between.  An "ineffective" rating can have serious adverse consequences for a program or agency.  After experiencing difficulty meeting OMB's requirements to demonstrate the efficiency of its research programs, EPA asked a National Research Council committee for guidance on how to measure efficiency.

The committee's new report recommends four changes in how the federal government assesses the efficiency of research at EPA and other agencies.  First, the report emphasizes that assessing efficiency should be considered only one part of evaluating a program's quality, relevance, and effectiveness.

Second, the report introduces a novel distinction between "investment efficiency" and "process efficiency," and recommends that these aspects be evaluated in different ways.  Assessments of investment efficiency should examine whether an agency's R&D portfolio, including the budget, is relevant, of high quality, matches the agency's strategic plan, and is adjusted as new knowledge and priorities emerge.  These evaluations require panels of experts, which should comprise both scientists and other stakeholders.  In contrast, evaluations of process efficiency should focus on "inputs" (the people, funds, and facilities dedicated to research) and "outputs" (the services, grants, publications, monitoring, and new techniques produced by research), as well as their timelines.  Of nine measures currently used by R&D agencies, common examples are the number of grants awarded or publications produced annually, which could be assessed against appropriate benchmarks.

Third, the committee clarified the roles of outputs and outcomes.  EPA's difficulties in answering PART's questions about efficiency have grown out of OMB's insistence that the agency find ways to measure the efficiency of its research based on outcomes, rather than outputs.  Measuring research efficiency based on what the committee describes as "ultimate outcomes" -- for example, whether a program eventually results in cleaner air or fewer deaths -- is neither achievable nor valid, because such outcomes occur far in the future and are highly dependent upon actions taken by many other people who may or may not use the research findings.  The committee's review of practices across government R&D agencies revealed that no agency has found a way to demonstrate efficiency based on ultimate outcomes.

The report does endorse evaluating efficiency based on "intermediate outcomes" -- for example, assessing whether a program has improved the body of knowledge for decision-making, or disseminated newly developed tools and models.  These assessments would be conducted most effectively using expert review panels and not just formulas.

Finally, the committee recommended that the efficiency of EPA's research programs be evaluated according to the same standards used at other agencies.  OMB has rejected some methods for measuring research efficiency when proposed by EPA, but accepted them when proposed by other agencies.  OMB should train and oversee its budget examiners to make sure they implement the PART questionnaire consistently and equitably across agencies.