Wiki - Disruptive innovation

When a new idea or product displaces an entire previous category, we might call that a Disruptive Innovation. Some of these disruptions change entire markets. Think of how the smartphone has not only replaced the Palm Pilot and the landline, but maybe also the movie theater. 

This is a rich and lengthy entry. I am especially appreciative of the section in which the editors have created an extensive table of examples and categories of disruptive innovations. The Examples are robust and fascinating - each with its own Wikipedia entry. The "See Also" list at the end is remarkable. Many of these topics have direct applications to the ongoing innovation and diffusion of GIS. The often misused Killer Apps, Hype Cycles, and the nearly forgotten Blue Ocean Strategy.

 

Interesting talk

'Is There Really a New Economy?' A Sociologist Tries to Understand New York's Innovation Complex
Sharon Zukin, Professor of Sociology
Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center


Friday, November 30, 2018
3:00-5:00pm
Academic Building West 6051
15 Seminary Place
New Brunswick

innovative projects

The Architect's Newspaper recently published a list of "Six innovative American projects you should know about." The most subtle solution (by Joan Nassauer) seems to be the one that is most likely to accomplish its goals. A couple seem so grand as to improve their chances at eventual (or near future) failure. Time well tell.

Has pre-fab architecture turned a corner?

Lately I have seen more stories on pre-fab architecture as a means for making new and innovative architecture more accessible. But the stories tend to show very stylish homes, sometimes leaning towards vacation homes, like this story on more factory options in Ozy online magazine.

But a subset are closer to the Design Like You Give a Damn school of social innovation, using the increasingly cheaper techniques for lower income alternatives. The new issue of Metropolis looks at how the Chinese are trying to apply the pre-fab innovations from their megacities to building new African urban communities that are safe, solid and more carefully planned than current urban housing. But, it potentially costs African jobs.

As an invention becomes innovation, there is often a moment when it changes social responses and practices. If pre-fab urbanism changes the informal settlement patterns of the urban poor, this trend will have seriously turned a corner.

LA-GIS history

I was luck to meet GIS pioneer Bruce Rowland back i January. He was a key figure in getting TVA to adopt GIS after leaving the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. This short interview highlights his experiences in the early days at Harvard. I especially enjoy hearing talk about the impressive young turks at the Computer Graphics Lab who had "monitors". That was the sign of where they really stood.

Business writing for designers

As many design projects keep moving towards

While some think that brainstorming is dead, this HBR on brainstorming frames it as a still productive creative exercise in business.

Tammy Erickson writes about collaboration as the hot new skill, but

Related to that is also trying to maintain creativity in a business setting.  This short piece on innovation seems related.

This past weekend the NY Times Magazine featured 32 innovations that will change your life. While all 32 are worth your attention (well, 29 of the 32), one is spatial: #30 GPS-enabled gardening.

Innovation at Bell Labs

The NY Times recently ran a fascinating feature on the innovation factory that was New Jersey's Bell Labs.  Diane Rehm had on author Jon Gertner to talk about his book, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation.  Between Bell Labs and Edison, New Jersey seems like an idea-rich innovation landscape.