Watch innovators from Twitter, FourSquare, MakerBot, ShopKick, Deviant Art, Adafruit Technologies, and more as they discuss innovation and its one essential ingredient, common to all innovation.
There is no change, no reform, no betterment, no genius, no artistry, no brilliance, and no innovation without…
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Most people believe that Thomas Alva Edison invented the electric light bulb. This isn’t true, but for all practical purposes, it might as well be. While working electric light bulbs had been demonstrated as early as 1800 in laboratory conditions, Edison was the first to develop an electric light bulb that could be manufactured and operated efficiently enough to be attractive for municipalities, businesses and, later, families.
You have an idea… You might even think that it will be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
There’s a problem though. It’s success does not depend on the value of your idea, alone… It depends more on its distribution.
In short, it’s the spread, not the bread.
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Faced with a common postoperative problem, preventing thromboemboli (blood clots) without using blood thinners, Dr. Lazar Greenfield had to look outside of healthcare for a solution. He considered filters, but the only filters used up until that time tended to create more problems than they solved. Flat screen filters would only add to venous obstruction and provide a nidus for more thrombus – creating a situation every bit as serious as the one it was intended to prevent.
So, where could Dr. Greenfield look to find a workable design for his intravenous filter?
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Sometimes the path is obvious… it’s an easy choice. After all, everyone’s heading that way. Well, sometimes, what you seek lies not in the obvious choice. Sometimes, it’s in the periphery. Let’s take a trip back to the mid 1800′s to meet California’s first millionaire.
During the Gold Rush of 1849, Sam Brannan earned his fortune, but not by panning for it in the American River…
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These days, there is hardly a household, business, or even computer screen that isn’t covered in some variation of those popular little yellow adhesive notes. How many households and businesses today would be shocked to know that the all-purpose Post-It® Note almost didn’t happen?
When Dr. Spencer Silver of the 3M Company accidentally discovered a new adhesive in 1968, he found it fascinating. It had an unusual structure that couldn’t be dissolved or melted. But because it was such a weak adhesive, it had no apparent use. After promoting it within the company for five years, he set it aside.
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