Innovation in Practice Blog
Prospective Innovation
People can improve the quality, originality, and elegance of ideas by extensively forecasting the implication of those ideas during the generation phase. Researchers from The University of Oklahoma studied the effect of forecasting on idea evaluation and implementation planning. In the experiment, 141 undergraduate students were asked to formulate advertising campaigns for a new product. These campaigns were evaluated by a panel of judges. Prior to formulating the campaigns, participants were asked to forecast the implication of their ideas and the forecast the effects of a plan for implementing their best idea.
Academic Focus: Aalto University
The convergence of three worlds…commercial, technical, and design…creates the optimal conditions for innovation. Now a new university in Finland has done just that. Aalto University is a newly created university from the merger of the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design Helsinki and Helsinki University of Technology – all leading and renowned institutions in their respective fields and in their own right.
The Voice of the Product
Could the greatest innovation of all time be a method of innovation? Roger Smith proposed this in The Evolution of Innovation. Is such a method out there? The answer is yes.
Suppose you want to come up with a new product idea. Where do you begin? What method would you use? Conventional thinking suggests three possible directions. First, we could seek insights from our customers through research and observation (Voice of the Customer). Second, we could emulate what past inventors such as Edison and Disney did to create new ideas (Voice of the Expert). Or we could seek ideas from competitors and other sources using the “open” mindset (Voice of the Market).
2010 Outstanding Corporate Innovator
Congratulations to Kennametal, Inc. as the winner of the 2010 Outstanding Corporate Innovator (OCI) award. The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), a global network of product innovation professionals, announced Kennametal will receive the OCI Award at PDMA’s 34th Annual Global Conference on Product Innovation Management, October 16 – 20, 2010 at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida.
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