http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGaVFRzTTP4
Related: 3.7.6 Social and technologicalArla Foods to pay its 2018 profit to Europe's drought-hit farmers The dairy company Arla Foods is planning to pay its entire 2018 profit to farmers who are struggling financially due to the drought that has affected Europe over the summer. The firm – a co-operative owned by more than 11,200 farmers in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – said it expected the windfall to be worth up to £278m. The Arla chairman, Jan Toft Nørgaard, said: “As a farmer-owned dairy company, we care deeply about the livelihood of our farmers and we recognise that this summer’s drought in Europe has been extraordinary. “We are proposing that extraordinary measures be taken in this situation and the board is satisfied with the positive development of the company’s balance sheet, which makes this proposal possible.” The Denmark-based co-operative, which can trace its roots back to one formed in Sweden in 1881, owns brands such as Lurpak and Anchor and has UK sites in Devon, Leeds and Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire.
Amazing Robot Can Jump 30 Feet High Boston Dynamics yesterday posted a video to their YouTube page showing off their “Sand Flea Jumping Robot. The robot appears to be a normal RC car except for one thing: it can pop itself 30 feet into the air to scale obstacles in its path. The video, as seen below, shows the robot leap to the roof of a small building in a single bound. The robot has an onboard stabilization system that helps control landings and stabilize the view from its onboard video uplink.
innovation strategy Starting an Innovation Program? A Strategic Approach to Create Success February 4, 2015 | By: Anthony Ferrier | In: Strategies Many innovation leaders tend to be tactically driven, but their corporate leadership is looking for more strategic planning and analysis. This tension often contributes to high turnover in innovation management roles, based on a misalignment around leadership’s expectations. In this article Anthony Ferrier suggests perspectives and actions that should be considered part of your innovation strategy plan. Five Ways to Make Your Innovation Culture Smell Better December 17, 2014 | By: Braden Kelley | In: Organization & Culture When it comes to fostering continuous innovation, most organizational cultures stink at it.
3.7.6 Amazon - Virtual aide Alexa shouts above rivals Image copyright Getty Images Virtual assistants are everywhere at CES this year - but one speaks louder than the rest. Amazon's Alexa has popped up in a bewildering list of devices including fridges, cars and robots. Manufacturers are clearly interested in making their appliances voice-operable, and many see Alexa as a great way to do this. But having Alexa also allows the appliances to gain capabilities, such as streaming music and turning smart lights on and off. How did Alexa come out on top and how will it benefit Amazon? Google's Futuristic Android-Based Glasses Google has its sights set on a new way of experiencing and interacting with the world. The multifaceted enterprise that has already dipped its feet into social networking, web browsing, and mobile technology has a new undertaking called Project Glass. In its simplest form, the project presents a futuristic fashion statement, but it ultimately represents a lifestyle change for society. The single-lens eyewear technology is a tool for sharing experiences digitally, capturing moments, and receiving on-the-spot access to information. Although it features a sleeker design and is capable of doing much more, there's a part of me that can't help being reminded of the old video gaming system called R-Zone from the 1990's that many may not be familiar with because of its lack in success. It's mainly the single-eye display headset design that seems like a devolved version of Google's product.
The Innovation Strategy Big Companies Should Pursue The inability of established firms to come up with breakthrough innovations is a truism today. It wasn’t always so. Joseph Schumpeter, the 20th century economist known for heralding the role of innovation in the evolution of society, argued that established firms were best positioned to innovate because of the resources available to them. Edith Penrose, one of the most prominent management thinkers of the 20th century, agreed. It was the modern combination of internet and venture capital that changed people’s minds, by opening up a new source of breakthrough innovation: high-growth startup companies. 3.7.6 (1) UK is the ‘most internet-based major economy’ The internet contributes to 8.3% of the UK economy, a bigger share than for any of the other G20 major countries, a new study suggests. The "internet economy" was worth £121bn in 2010, more than £2,000 per person, researchers at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said. That made it bigger than the healthcare, construction or education sectors. The UK also carries out far more retail online than any other major economy. Some 13.5% of all purchases were done over the internet in 2010, according to BCG, and this is projected to rise to 23% by 2016. Chocolate v sex
Unmanned Lockheed Mach 20 An unmanned hypersonic aircraft made by Lockheed Martin Corp. (LMT) crashed into the Pacific Ocean after reaching about 20 times the speed of sound and flying for more than nine minutes, a Pentagon agency said. The experimental Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2, or HTV-2, lifted off today in a Minotaur IV rocket made by Orbital Sciences Corp. (ORB) at 7:45 a.m. local time from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, according the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is funding the program and overseeing the tests. The agency announced the launch and mission updates on Twitter. The arrowhead-shaped aircraft soared to the edge of space, separated from the booster and was “on track” to enter its glide phase, during which it would reach speeds of Mach 20, or about 13,000 miles per hour, before diving into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Kwajalein Atoll, according to the agency.
Articles About Managing Innovation Harvard Business School Browse By: Topic Industry Geography 3.7.6 - Technological Change in the Automotive Sector: Software Rules - Not Hardware A fascinating short video here from the FT Business and Automotive team which considers how modern cars have become highly sophisticated pieces of technology - and how further technological change may transform the modern motor. The increasing complexity and technological sophistication of cars is posing some interesting strategic challenges for car makers who face competition from more than just the automotive manufacturers. The modern car is no longer mechanical; it is electronic. Up to a quarter of the cost of building a vehicle is related to software not hardware. Andy Sharman from the FT points out that today's premium cars already contain: A mile of cables100 million lines of codeUp to 70 computer control unitsThe computing power of around 20 advanced PCs
Doors Unlock With Smartphone Vibrations It gives the term skeleton key a whole new meaning: a prototype system from AT&T Labs that beams a unique vibration through a user’s bones to be picked up by a receiver in a door handle, automatically unlocking the door at the touch of the handle. Using piezoelectric transducers, the system could someday be embedded in smartphones or wristwatches to create doors that automatically unlock when the right person touches them and stay firmly dead-bolted when anyone else tries to gain entry. In the future, in other words, you are your own set of keys.
3.7.6 Under pressure: campaigns that persuaded companies to change the world Hard-hitting activist campaigns against big corporations have become part of the sustainability landscape. Some change the world. Some change little. Telling the difference between one and the other isn’t easy.
This Gizmo Lets You Draw A UI On Paper, Then Turns It Into A Touch Screen You know those huge multichannel mixers--the massive boards that audio engineers manage during concerts to control everything from sound to lights? It’s the sort of highly specialized hardware that the average person would never come into contact with, because why would they? But what if you could just draw it? That’s the idea behind the SketchSynth, by Carnegie Mellon student Billy Keyes. It allows you to draw your own specialized piece of sound hardware--in this case, a MIDI board--on any random piece of paper. “Ever since I was little, I’ve been fascinated by control panels,” Keyes explains on his blog.
3.7.6 Shampoo bottle made from ocean plastics hailed as ‘technological breakthrough’ Beaches strewn with plastic waste have become a graphic illustration of just how much plastic we use in everything from food packaging to cosmetics, and how much of it gets thrown away. Consumer goods giant P&G has become the latest company to attempt to show it is tackling the problem, announcing plans for a limited run of Head & Shoulders shampoo in bottles made partly from plastic waste collected by volunteers on France’s beaches. It follows the likes of Adidas, which put 7,000 pairs of trainers made from marine plastics on sale in November, and Pharrell Williams, whose clothing line for G-Star RAW has featured denim containing plastic from the oceans. Ecover, which sells cleaning products, has produced several limited edition bottles, using marine plastics from the North Sea and waste collected from Amsterdam’s canals.