Numbers offer more opportunities than realized
I’ve talked before about the growing science of analytics, where companies are using data to make better decisions faster, throughout their organizations. Analytics is going beyond traditional sources into the realm of text.
Analytics naturally came about as a result of today’s prolific generation of electronic data. The amount of numerical information created every day is staggering.
I have seen statistics that claim all of us are generating more than 2 million emails per second, and a similar quantity of tweets on Twitter. Then there are the electronic documents that are created and published from so many sources. Google processes dozens of petabytes of information per day — that’s millions of gigabytes.
Of course all of the text data that is being generated isn’t publicly available, but where it is, organizations are looking to exploit it to extract the useful business intelligence that may be buried within. The approaches being explored go beyond numerical analytics or information searching and retrieval, to add in academic-sounding techniques like artificial intelligence, natural language processing and semantic analysis. It’s definitely cutting edge, but traditional companies are using it.
For example the refrigeration and cooking appliance company Sub-Zero/Wolf Appliance is mining their massive text databases to cut the time it takes to identify and address product defects. They are sifting through their customer service data, inventory information, and warranty claims to help determine trends in product quality issues. Using these approaches the company has claimed to cut the time required to identify quality problems by more than 50 percent. More importantly product failures have been reduced, and of course this is yielding improved customer satisfaction.
A company called ChinaHR.com is using text analytics to extract data from resumes received online and match it with key data provided by prospective employers.
One global consumer products company is using the approach to look through online responses to new marketing campaigns. Text analytics is being used here to quickly sort through volumes of customer comments and discussions to organize and better understand consumer sentiments, and to provide better direction for future marketing efforts.
These are just a few examples, but applications such as these reduce resource requirements, along with administration costs.
Applications of text analytics to extracting hidden market insights are poised for significant growth. Business insights gained from mining social networks or online media has the potential to yield guidance to market research, provide competitive intelligence, or even illuminate perceived brand reputation or corporate image.
As with numerical analytics, the key to using some of the text data that is being generated is to get guidance for making better decisions, and for making them quicker and more efficiently. It may not be hard to understand the general usefulness of extracting information from text, but imagining where it might be applied specifically in your business is what might make a difference.
It isn’t just about the numbers anymore. There could be hidden treasure in your text.
Related articles
- Text Analytics v. Semantic Content Enrichment (semanticweb.com)
- Text Analytics Gurus Discuss the State of the Industry (arnoldit.com)
- The Importance of Text Analytics: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (java.dzone.com)
- Text Analytics Basics (mediatemetrics.wordpress.com)
- Are SEO-optimized articles any good?
Want to quicken innovation? Rapid prototyping helps you see it and touch it!
Innovators, whether part of a large organization or simply an individual inventor, are struggling with two things right now as they travel on their innovation journey — time and money.
As I recently said in my weekly newspaper column, many have created more than enough ideas to move forward, but have a hard time getting support and/or resources behind their ideas to actually advance them through to commercial successes. One way to help generate excitement for an idea is to make it a reality with a prototype.
Often when we help inventors advance their ideas and get an invention ready for the marketplace, we relate it to connecting an electrical circuit with multiple components, connected in the right order, allowing the energy to flow and do useful work. The energy of innovation requires what we call “completing the Circuit of Innovation.” This includes both a market roadmap, a holistic intellectual asset strategy that goes beyond simply getting a patent, and constructing prototypes to demonstrate how the invention comes to life.
Over the years, the need to quickly and inexpensively create prototypes has grown significantly, especially for true ground-breaking innovation. It is hard to influence leaders, key stakeholders and investors about a disruptive idea if it cannot be seen, touched or felt.
We have resources like the Fab Lab right here at Fox Valley Technical College Campus to help with this challenge. Fab Lab is an abbreviation for a fabrication laboratory and is home to readily available industrial-grade fabrication and electronics tools. The lab can be used to help advance an inventor’s early stage prototyping for product innovation and development by allowing them to more easily design, fabricate and test prototypes of their inventions without investing unnecessarily is expensive specialized equipment.
There are also other ways to rapidly prototype inventions using new techniques and systems. For example, a scale model of a part or assembly can be virtually constructed using 3D computer-aided design. It is even possible to take this design from the virtual world into the physical one using 3D printing technology. Even overnight, these technologies can sometimes produce prototypes that have production-quality working parts.
Another disruptive method for modeling being explored is called “smart sand.” This rapid prototyping tool has been developed by the Distributed Robotics Laboratory at MIT’s Computer Science department. An object is immersed in a special group of small, sand-size particles. These tiny cubes relay location information to each other of how they are connected to the surface of the submerged object. From this data, a map of the topology of the object can be created and the object can then be replicated. This is still a rudimentary and developing technology, but with improvements and smaller particle size the technique might one day yield an inexpensive in-house object modeling solution.
Regardless, if you want to save time and money, and generate enthusiasm, go beyond just descriptions and business plans. Computer design and rapid prototyping should be a necessary part of your innovation arsenal. And don’t be discouraged if you don’t have the capability or expertise in-house — there are many outside resources that are readily available.
Related articles
- Sample Innovation Services (cognitivenoise.wordpress.com)
- The Tools That Make It Happen: Pratt Institute – Industrial Design (design-milk.com)
- Visual Prototype iPad and Android Emulator (drdobbs.com)
- Dive into Responsive Prototyping with Foundation (downes.ca)
- LEAP Unveils Cutting Edge 3-D Printing Machine (detroit.cbslocal.com)
- Wisdom of the Crowd: The Amazing FlipSteady iPad Cover, Best Ever. (solidsmack.com)
A little espresso in your dashboard!
No driver ever wants to nod off on those long drives, and now a French company has come up with a handy take-along device that allows you to whip up a shot of hot espresso as you travel. The company, French Handpresso, have invented and launched the Handpresso Auto E.S.E., an espresso machine built specifically for use in automobiles. It’s part of a growing trend in the Food and Beverage industry that is seeing new innovations designed to help consumers get their quick coffee fix wherever they happen to be.
The Handpresso fits in a standard cup holder and runs electronically via any 12V cigarette lighter. Perhaps a passenger should be the one designated to add the water and coffee pod. But a driver could easily prepare the water receptacle and pod ahead of the trip, just for safety’s sake.The espresso brews in two minutes, and the device beeps when the beverage is ready to drink.The video below gives you an idea of how Handpresso Auto works:
(Notice the driver pulls over!)
The device sells for about $200, and is currently available in Europe.
Related articles
- Handpresso Auto creates piping hot espresso right in your car (digitaltrends.com)
- Handpresso Auto can give you fresh espresso on the road (redferret.net)
Stinky Sewer Solution: Old Coffee Grounds
Coffee grounds have been proven useful for new innovations in robot hands, biofuel engines for cars, warm sports clothing, and as printer ink. And now the latest: a team from The City College of New York has come up with a way to make an effective carbon filter out of coffee grounds that will soak up noxious sewer gases.
The grounds are an effective filter for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas, which smells like rotten eggs and can be dangerous. This is good news for those who work with sewage systems. Some workers have even died from overexposure to H2S as a result.
Why do old coffee grounds work so well as an odor filter? It’s the caffeine. It turns out that caffeine contains nitrogen, which can capture airborne sulfur. Most typical carbon-based sulfur filters require additives like ammonia, but the coffee grounds don’t need any such boost.
The filters are made by baking a slurry of coffee grounds, water, and zinc chloride at 1500 degrees, creating nitrogen-lined holes in the carbon particles ideal for trapping H2S. The New York team’s research could result in a commercially-available eco-friendly H2S filter.
Check out this paper on the research recently published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
Related articles
- coffee grounds may hold the solution to a stinky problem (alternativeconsumer.com)
- Grounds for the ground (askalbin.com)
- Survey – How do you use spent coffee grounds? (groundtoground.org)
- Coffee Grounds Are Buried Treasure! (groundtoground.org)
- Coffee grounds could be used to suck up sewer stench (gizmag.com)
Silk’s natural quality stands test of time
As I reported in my weekly newspaper column, I recently went to China and got a first-hand look at a nation of innovation. Steeped in rich history, I learned many things about China’s softest commodity: silk! Silk is an innovation that has been around for thousands of years, but interestingly is pretty much in the same form that it was when it was first discovered. Today’s methods for harvesting of the threads would be quite familiar to anyone that was around when it was first discovered.
On my recent visit to China I had the opportunity to visit a silk factory with my team and learn a little bit about this interesting ancient discovery and industry.
Commercially it all starts of course with the silkworm. Engorging itself night and day on a diet of fresh picked leaves, it grows for about a month until it is time for it to spin its cocoon and rest. Then working tirelessly for days spinning thousands of feet of a continuous silk thread, the worm creates it protective envelope for its transformation into a moth.
At this point the natural process is interrupted and the puffy white cocoons are picked by hand. The silk harvesting effort is still today very much a manual process. One by one cocoons are inspected for defects and segregated by size, specifically whether they are “double cocoons,” where two caterpillars have joined their shelters, or whether they are solo.
Single cocoons are examined one by one by hand for defects, heated in warm water to loosen the fibers slightly, and the starting end of the thread is found. This is where some limited automation takes over. It is surprising that the whole process seems fairly trouble-free, without tangling or frequent fiber breakage.
In the silk industry, all of this is done in a simple, but controlled, environment. Thousands of caterpillars are fed in stacks of shallow tray baskets at controlled temperatures.
Textiles and garments made of silk were considered a luxury item for many centuries and were the basis of a lucrative trade across Europe and Asia. Because of its value as a principal element of the Oriental economy, the Chinese tried to maintain their monopoly as long as they could. The secret of high quality silk production was closely guarded for hundreds of years. However like any secret, if valuable enough, it eventually gets out.
Even with today’s advanced polymer technologies, silk is still a wondrous standout material. Commercial textile silk fibers are three to 10 times thinner and finer than a human hair, but are very strong, on the order of the strength of steel. Silk from some species of insects is as strong as Kevlar. It is attractive, shimmering in the light due to its rounded triangular fiber shape, and is comfortable to wear because of its absorbency and lightness.
Although because of the abundance of synthetic polymers, the uses of silk are on the decline. However it still has many commercial and industrial applications — from parachutes, to bedding to surgical sutures.
It has taken us thousands of years to produce materials that can compete with silk, but silk, along with other natural fibers, are still preferable for many applications and are still produced basically much as they were when they were first discovered.
China offers new approaches to innovation
Shanghai China
I recently returned from an exciting few weeks in Shanghai, China, teaching, working with Innovationedge clients and studying the Chinese marketplace.
As I wrote about in my weekly newspaper column, my colleague Pat Clusman and I were honored to be able to deliver innovation programs to Chinese companies, multinational organizations and government agencies at the China Institute for Innovation.
The institute is a leading innovation education, training, research and networking organization in China. As leaders in innovation, we were invited to share some of our perspectives and approaches with Chinese corporate executives and representatives.
The goals of the attendees were multifaceted. They not only wanted to understand and master the principles and practices of innovation, but they also had an enthusiastic desire to help their organizations succeed in a global innovation-driven economy. Interactive exercises and case studies that were focused on how to “rewire” business, marketing and innovation strategies were used to demonstrate how to better apply the right combination of innovation levers for delivering business growth and the best customer experience.
Not only did our Chinese attendees get a new perspective on Western innovation, we came out of the classes with a new appreciation for the Chinese enthusiasm for productivity.
During the latter part of our visit, we also spent some time to better understand the current state of the Chinese marketplace. With significant cultural differences, multinational companies are often struggling to succeed in the retail market in China. These companies frequently try to simply directly transfer their Western models to the country. Best Buy is one of the most recent examples of a company that put substantial effort into China since 2005. However they continued to struggle with their service model and recently made the decision to pull out of the Chinese market.
Successful retailers like Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Carrefour continually demonstrate that they are willing to adjust the value proposition to succeed in the China market. The successful companies have developed a deep understanding of the attitudes and beliefs of Chinese consumers and how their brand fits these needs.
Of course as one of the exceptions, it was interesting to see that Apple has been successful by keeping the same store formats as it does at its other worldwide locations.
As far as the city of Shanghai itself, it was impressive. I have been to China several times and I am always amazed by the amount of change each time. With a population of over 28 million, it is quite a bit larger population-wise than even New York City. I can’t understate how active the city was, and the energetic image it projected.
Night travels were illuminated with mile after mile of high-rise LED lighting. It wasn’t linearly concentrated like the Vegas strip, but sustained in every direction throughout the city. Flashing multicolored rainbow bridges, and LED waterfalls down the sides of high-rise buildings were quite a spectacle. There were even “high-rise” LED thermometers. Combine that with the beautiful calligraphy of their written language and it wasn’t hard to imagine being on another world.
A stroll through the market areas, where we visited manufacturers, distributers and the local merchants was also quite educational for us. The manufacturing nature of their economy was on full display there. Whatever you needed in the way of parts or machinery it looked like you could find. I’ve never seen such a concentrated and diverse selection of, well, pretty much everything.
The city, the people and the cultural experiences made for a very memorable and educational trip, not only we hope for our attendees but certainly also for ourselves.
We have been invited back several more times this year to deliver new programs on business strategy and consumer-driven innovation. My team and I are certainly looking forward to returning.
We love the wonderful Chinese food too, and there was certainly no shortage of that.
Related articles
- Innovation Best Practices For Consumer Industry (dev.innovationedge.com)
- Making Innovation Work: Success from Within and Outside (dev.innovationedge.com)
- How To Succeed In China: The Boom and Bust of Foreign Firms (bigthink.com)
- A Fascination With Copying (djcadchina.wordpress.com)
- China Looking to Take Over the World (michellepizzo.wordpress.com)
Scented micro-capsules make jeans a sweet treat
From the same company that gave the world glow in the dark jeans comes a new denim line that makes scents. Naked and Famous Denim of Montreal has just introduced scratch-and-sniff, raspberry-scented jeans. The company says it uses only the most unique and rare denim fabrics from Japan.
How can clothing be scratch-and-sniff? A coating of scented micro capsules have been baked into the jeans, which release the fragrance of raspberry when the wearer rubs the fabric. Apparently, the scent is long-lasting and will not wash off or “fade” in the rinse cycle or dryer. The going price is about $140 — $240 per pair, and so far raspberry is the only scent available.
Related articles
- Scratch-n-Sniff Raspberry Scented Denim Jeans (laughingsquid.com)
- Scratch-n-sniff technology makes its way into jeans (dvice.com)
- Sweet-Smelling Jeans – The Scratch-n-Sniff Pants by Naked & Famous Denim are Enticing (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)
- New scratch-n-sniff jeans make it fashionable to smell (digitaltrends.com)
Arlington National Cemetery Going High Tech
Do you know anyone with friends or relatives buried at Arlington? Now the cemetery will soon become the first to use geospatial mapping technology to replace old paper records. Visitors can log in and visit their loved ones and find complete information. Check out the story from NBC News:
It is solemn and reverent ground. And now a visit to Arlington National Cemetery is just a couple clicks away.
The cemetery is using new geospatial mapping technology to improve operations and provide a better experience for visitors.
Executive Director Kathryn Condon told a Congressional panel that people will soon be able to go online and explore individual gravesites. Visitors will be able to zoom in on that specific website and learn about who is buried there.
The technology is also part of an effort to replace old paper-based records. Poor record keeping led to a huge scandal for the cemetery when hundreds of mismarked graves and misplaced remains were uncovered.
Arlington, which oversees nearly 30 burials a day, is the first national cemetery to implement the mapping technology.
Related articles
- More than 400,000 buried at Arlington Cemetery (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Arlington Cemetery to issue report on grave checks (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- Army Submits Gravesite Study of Arlington National Cemetery (thecommunicatorwv.wordpress.com)
- Arlington Cemetery to Issue Report on Grave Checks (abcnews.go.com)
- Soldier who died in fire to be buried at Arlington (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
Innovationedge and Wal-Mart help inventors Get On The Shelf
Innovationedge is proud to help inventors find success on the shelf with their innovative ideas, and this month you can help three of them become rock stars of the Wal-Mart shelf!
Back in January, the retail giant kicked off an American Idol-like contest called Get On The Shelf for best new products, and inventors in the 50 U.S. states jumped at the chance to pitch their products via YouTube. Nearly 4,000 contestants submitted videos and those who have made the final cut include three inventors that Innovationedge is mentoring for success: Mick Gordon, Dr. Shannon Klingman (who submitted two entries), and Karen Jarostchuk. Their videos are below.
This week on March 7, we the people get to vote on which video and which products are the brightest of the ideas. The winners will get help from Wal-Mart on marketing, production and even logistics.
The first round of voting ends on April 3rd, and 10 winners will emerge. Then you’ll get to vote again from April 11th to April 24th to narrow the field to the three best. Those top three products will be produced, shipped, and stocked at Wal-Mart stores around the country. Let’s vote to help these three get their products on the shelf:
Mick Gordon’s invention, TidySqueeze®, is a long-overdue solution to problems relating to squeeze-to-use bottles of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and more:
TidySqueeze solves all of these problems:
- clutter round the rim of the bath or the bottom of the shower
- bottles toppling over either during or after use
- having to pick up bottles and hold them during use
- not getting all the product out of these bottles
Our next inventor, Dr. Shannon Klingman, has two inventions. Here’s her Sheer Epiphany Deodorant and Antiperspirant:
Here is Dr. Klingman’s Sheer Epiphany Feminine Cream: 
Finally, this creative video from Karen Jarostchuk, the inventor of Popkins®, for the ice-pop without the ick!
Popkins is a multi-layer absorbent napkin used when eating ice-pops. They come printed and cut into characters, which makes them a fun solution to this sticky situation.
Related articles
- Wal-Mart takes controlling stake of Chinese site (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
- How Wal-Mart could move ahead in the cloud-based storage race (martysalo.wordpress.com)
- Wal-Mart boosts annual dividend by 9 percent (sfgate.com)
- Themed Mixer? WalMart Comes to the Rescue! (bizgovsociii.wordpress.com)
- Business Model Lessons from Wal-Mart SKU Reductions (customerthink.com)
- AC/DC Album will be a Wal-Mart Exclusive (sertopbands.com)
- Wal-Mart to assist UltraViolet sign-ups (techradar.com)
Technology helps some regain independence
One dream application of technology has always been to provide a way for those with debilitating spinal injuries or disease to be able to get around easier. Some with spinal injuries will recover and many others will depend upon wheelchairs for their independence.
It isn’t easy being confined to a wheelchair. There are obstacles and difficulties almost everywhere that the walking person wouldn’t notice. Stairs, uncut curbs, cabinets, bathrooms, narrow entrances, hard-to-open doors, hills and public transportation, to name a few, present problems every day to the wheelchair-bound individual.
Many people that have to use a wheelchair don’t just want to get around; they also want to be active. One local inventor we are working with has what is known as a T-6 spinal cord injury causing paraplegia and is looking to develop a better wheelchair. In spite of his physical disability he wants to better enjoy the outdoors and the four seasons of Wisconsin with his young children.
Although there are some partial solutions out there like retrofitting an “everyday” wheelchair with larger wheels to get around outdoors, those still have challenges. The user has to be continually vigilant of the ground surface directly in front of them, or else they may encounter a bump or tree root that could have them tumbling forward out of their chair.
The inventor we are working with has a patent-pending design that is versatile, lightweight, agile and maneuverable over many types of irregular terrain like trails, parks or city sidewalks. With an open access feature that gives the user an unobstructed entrance, it is easier to transfer into and out of, and can be collapsed for easy transport.
Looking past the wheelchair however, there is hope for also using technology to provide a way for those with disabilities to walk again. A lot of practical progress is being made in this area.
One company, Ekso Bionics of Berkeley, Calif., is developing functioning, efficient walking assistance machines. Their business started in 2005 by developing motorized and computer controlled exoskeletons that are made for assisting healthy individuals in carrying loads of up to a couple hundred pounds.
The systems’ design, the motors, and the operational balance have now improved to the point where it is feasible to use some of the motor’s power not just for the movement of the exoskeleton and a load, but also for balance and movement of a person’s legs. After licensing some of the technology to the defense industry, paraplegic walking assistance has now become one of the company’s main focuses.
Known as Ekso, the walking machine is currently being tested for approval by federal regulators. Several rehabilitation centers are already onboard with getting the first production units that are due out sometime this year. This rehab Ekso suit will allow patients to learn how to walk using it under a doctor’s supervision.
To walk a patient is strapped into the robotic exoskeleton and using walking sticks works to shift his body weight from one side to another while the Ekso does the work of moving the patient’s legs. Patients say that it takes a little getting used to, but once they have experienced it they are very excited about the possibilities.
At a cost of more than $100,000 per suit the technology isn’t cheap. However as with any technology the price is expected to drop as production ramps up. The company even plans on releasing a personal model in the next couple of years.
After news of a paralyzing spinal injury, the physician is almost immediately asked by the patient, “Will I walk again?” With the help of technology and innovation, the future question might become “Will I ever be able to walk on my own again?” And that will be progress.
Related articles
- Ekso Bionics Sells Its First Commercial Exoskeleton (medgadget.com)
- Ekso Bionics Sells its First Set of Robot Legs Allowing Paraplegics to Walk (singularityhub.com)
- Ekso Bionics’ exoskeleton used to let paraplegics walk (video) (engadget.com)
- Good-bye, Wheelchair, Hello Exoskeleton (spectrum.ieee.org)
- Kessler Foundation tests Ekso exoskeletal device in 6 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury (eurekalert.org)
