Bright Ideas: Innovative Minds Donât Think Alike
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Experts in a field can benefit from an outsiderâs perspective.
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perspective More people should follow the lead of Microsoft's co-founder in freeing up innovative thinkers to help the developing world, and not just cause it feels good.
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I have an observation I'd like to disclose about the Open Source community: we tend to leap into all kinds of things before we have all the facts and/or information necessary to make intelligent decisions. We criticize other communities, laugh at things like directory services from the two major NOS players, talk about all our great applications, etc. we hang on to old notions about a what makes Linux tick. Sorry, but that model Eric doesn't fit any more. The community natter appears to come mostly from people who lack deep technical skills and knowledge of enterprises.
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They're not obvious, and they're not always cheap.
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(InfoWorld) - What struck Microsoft executive Marshall Phelps at a recent series of conferences in developing nations was that government, business and academic leaders often asked him, "How can we invent the next Google?" It's not that he took it as a slight that they said "Google" and not "MSN." What struck him was the view that a single big idea could transform a country overnight. "Not everything has to be the next big breakthrough," said Phelps, the company's corporate vice president for intellectual property, during an interview last week. The key to building a prosperous economy is to create an environment that supports innovation, he said. Innovation can take place at a piecemeal pace and does not have to happen in one fell swoop -- and usually, it doesn't. Phelps had just finished a series of conferences on innovation cosponsored by Microsoft in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The idea was to bring together national leaders and help them figure out how to encourage innovations that play to the strengths of their countries, and how to create an environment to ensure that innovation continues. For example, Phelps said, in Indonesia many people are artistic, and the country has started to focus this talent on visual multimedia software. A drawback for the country is that around 65 percent of college graduates go abroad to find jobs. In Thailand, government agencies tend to be aggressive and forward thinking, and that can help strengthen a number of industries. Medical tourism is booming there, and Thailand is growing into an automobile titan in Asia. Innovation can occur in any of these industries -- especially with software, Phelps said. The idea of drawing on local strengths can be applied to the U.S. too, said Bob Hayward, a managing consultant in Thailand with Strat-etech Consulting Co. Ltd. The U.S. software industry is a by-product of a business environment that relies heavily on new technology for efficiency. "You must work with what's in your environment," Hayward said. Malaysia is the most advanced of the three countries Phelps visited. It has high-tech parks and attracts investments from global technology companies, which in turn support innovation locally by providing training and engineering jobs that increase the skills of the work force. Malaysia also has strengths in building data centers, and in "Islamic finance," a type of financing that does not charge interest for religious reasons. South Korea is one country in the region that has developed so far in recent decades that it is now a technology leader in some areas. It's years ahead of other countries in certain types of Internet applications because of its early focus on broadband. Its online gamers are famous, and a host of multiplayer games developed there, such as "Guild Wars" and "The Legend of Mir 2," have won acclaim outside Korea. Many poor nations are still struggling to adjust their economies to the modern world, and they are often wary of solutions proffered by rich nations and multinationals. The innovation conferences give Microsoft a chance to meet local officials and try to win their trust. It gets other benefits too, such as boosting its image and giving it a chance to discuss issues that are important to the company, like intellectual-property enforcement. The countries where the conferences were held certainly face hurdles to innovation. They are still largely agricultural, and are moving into heavier industries, where less money is traditionally spent on research and development. Intellectual-property rights are not strongly enforced, meaning inventors see their products copied in the local market, making it hard for them to expand in their country, much less internationally. Such countries may have intellectual-property laws on their books, often enacted to meet the criteria of trade deals, but enforcement of those laws moves slowly. "Once R&D is near or approaching 1 percent of a country's gross national product, then their enforcement of IP gets very serious," Hayward said. Another hurdle is the lack of a "culture of failure" in Asia, Phelps said. Government and business leaders need to be realistic that some companies and some products will fail. Governments often provide resources to keep companies afloat artificially because, they fear, if they fail it will reflect badly on their development policies. There is also a debate in many countries over which economic model to follow, and how to create a modern nation without losing cultural identity. While these are sensitive issues, several countries, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, have found ways to develop while maintaining their cultural roots. The best economic model is "not a mystery," according to Hayward. "We kind of know what works and what doesn't." For him, capitalism, for all of its faults, is the best economic system available. The next step for Microsoft is to arrange more meetings and create better coordination between government officials and local Microsoft offices, Phelps said.
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By Krell, Eric  IN THE BUSINESS WORLD, TECHNOLOGY MATTERS-EVEN IF SOME HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL THOUGHT LEADERS MIGHT SAY, OR WRITE, OTHERWISE.
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Can a rebel band of scientists pool patented innovation techniques and give them away through the internet? By David Cohn.
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Great innovations in wireless technologies have arrived in recent years, and their effect has yet to be realized. But those innovations may be hindered by thinking that an even better innovation is just around the corner.
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For anyone who has been using open source for a while, the current commercial enthusiasm for communities, collaboration, and all things Web 2.0, is rather amusing.  After all, the idea that users are not to be regarded simply as passive and grateful recipients of whatever is handed down to them from on high, but need to be treated as partners and participants who can make valuable contributions to the formulation and development of new products, is central to the way that free software works.  But some companies that are starting to dabble with Web 2.0 ideas are discovering that you have to be careful what you wish for when you solicit this kind of user feedback.  Just ask Michael Dell.
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Ten thinkers and scientists that could change the world.
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This is what the future looks like.  Heavy adoption of open source at the core of commercial software so that developers can focus on pushing the envelope on innovation, not reinventing wheels that provide no discernible differentiation.
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Young people don't think of technology as separate from their daily lives.
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Discover the power of thinking without thinking, and learn when to use it.
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Looking to make a smart start? Consider these ideas.
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A predictions market about technology that can benefit from the wisdom of crowds.
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Innovation comes from below. To find the weirdest new forms of play, look to independent designers. Commentary by Clive Thompson.
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Sometimes, the two concepts can blur.