It’s interesting to see an emerging trend we’ve known about for some time finally making mainstream news. Articles, editorials and blogs are buzzing about the population trends that show it is births, not immigration, accounting for most of the growth in the United States Hispanic population.

The arrival of Hispanics in remote and rural areas far from traditional gateways has been going on for years. What’s new is a pronounced demographic shift unfolding because these young immigrants are having children. Births outnumber deaths, and the population increases. That’s due largely in part because Hispanic moms are younger than the U.S. population as a whole. Their median age is 27.4, compared with 37.9 overall.

What will this mean in the future?

For one thing, the economic impact will be a positive. The U.S. is gearing up to support 79 million Baby Boomers in their old age, the growing and younger population of Hispanics ensures that the next generation as it grows will contribute greatly to the workforce, the tax revenue and the housing market. Other countries simply are not replacing themselves demographically, according to some researchers.

I think of all the opportunities this is already opening up for innovative companies. The only way these corporations are able to stay ahead of the innovation curve is by recognizing the global impact of megatrends and by knowing their consumers on a deeper level. Hispanic women lead the AlphaMom market in many ways and they are an important segment for marketers to understand.

Those who have tapped into the Hispanic mom’s feelings about motherhood, the challenges she faces, how to reach her, the impact of acculturation on her decisions and what motivates her as a consumer will ultimately deliver the innovative products and services that will shape our culture in the U.S. for decades to come.

Remember my post last month about one of my inventor clients, Mick Gordon?  He is back in the news again, and I couldn’t be more pleased! Mick is a very prolific innovator–he is passionate about his inventions.

We’ve been helping him in the development of KlenzPod™ which recently won the inaugural Innovation Award at the annual World of Wipes (WOW 2008) Conference. Mick was honored for his innovative approach and elegant solution to the lack of efficient wet wipe disposal facilities on the market.

The KlenzPod system was developed for offices and public buildings to provide employees and customers easy access to single wet wipes. Mick’s invention was inspired by his experience with his dying father in a British hospital where he saw poor hygiene being practiced, and realized that medical staff really needed some easily-available wipes to keep their hands clean.

It has taken years of development. Mick refined the invention based on feedback from other experts and corporations, but numerous innovations have now come together to provide a really useful, economical, and aesthetically-pleasing solution that can be used almost anywhere.

Way to go, Mick!

I coach a number of inventors whose ideas are cutting edge and exciting. One of the analogies I often share with them about getting an invention to the market place successfully is the idea of connecting an electrical circuit. All of the multiple components need to be in place and in the right order for the circuit to function and the energy to flow and do useful work.

As with an electrical circuit, all of the different innovation pieces have to be synchronized and working with one another to develop the end result. True innovation-driven growth can be delivered if you develop a roadmap that aligns the leadership team on key priorities and capabilities.

The energy of innovation requires what I’ve coined, “Completing the Circuit of Innovation™,” by plugging in a holistic intellectual asset strategy that goes beyond simply getting a patent. (To learn more about this, I recommend taking a listen to my Incite Innovation podcast about Completing the Circuit of Innovation. Click here and scroll down to #004.)

So in the spirit of “Top Ten” lists, here are the essentials for entrepreneurial success:

1. Start right! Have a clear definition of your idea or invention.
2. Find a coach or mentor to help you through the process and increase your chance of succeeding.
3. Keep searching. Conduct additional research of the art to better define the competitive landscape.
4. Develop Intellectual assets to strengthen your competitive advantage.
5. Define your territory. Learn what potentially can be owned by you or your competitors, and develop a vision for a pipeline of offerings and inventions.
6. Do your diligence. Due diligence and a defined market entry strategy will help exploit channels and potential targets.
7. Identify potential strategic partners and companies for your business proposition pitch.
8. Target the decision-makers. These often are the marketing people or innovation leaders with expansive networks who will open the doors and pave your way.
9. Develop partner relationships (and development licenses) with end users, equipment manufacturers and packaging raw material producers.
10. Find a coach with the expertise to help you establish reasonable royalty rates and a pricing structure as well as assist with commercial negotiations.

If you can check these off, you are well on your way to connecting the Circuit for innovation success!

Nintendo is releasing what might be the first big-budget console game that can pull in that ever elusive segment: mothers. I blogged about the Wii craze last year, pointing to the ALPHA MOM as the key audience Nintendo looked to in creating video games that would spur their children to get off the couch. For an industry that’s often been blamed for helping cause obesity and inactivity, Wii Fit is a chance to turn back the criticism by offering a game that targets health issues in a way that’s fun.

Wii Fit is a health and exercise program that I believe will boost the momentum of the Nintendo Wii, which has sold more than 9 million consoles since it was released in November 2006. The Wii has created a huge shift in the gaming world, inviting millions of casual and nongamers, many of them women, to pick up the motion-sensing Wii remote controller and play games using gestures and waves.

Officially, Nintendo said Wii Fit is designed for an “expanded audience.” But the game has the potential to attract what some marketers have called the chief household officer, ALPHA MOMS, a large but mostly unreached population of potential gamers. Some think that the new Wii game will skew female, much like the “Richard Simmons Sweatin’ to the Oldies. ” videos of the Eighties.

For about $90 players can chart their weight and body mass index over time and work to improve them by engaging in about 40 activities including yoga, aerobic step routines, strength and training exercises, and balance games. The balance board can track the progress of up to eight players, so users can encourage each other toward their respective goals. (Nintendo’s Wii Fit mini-site has video demonstrations of each training mode. For those who are well aware of the Wii Fit and have been patiently awaiting its release, you may have a tough time finding it in stores!)

The increase in new female gamers on the Wii has been noticeable, but Wii Fit can take it a step further by enticing moms to spring for the Wii for themselves, not just for their kids.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of the latest industry trends and insights for your company’s strategic partnerships, here’s a conference you won’t want to miss this year. I’m chairing the 8th Annual MRT/PDMA International Congress on Open Innovation and Co-Development (Also known as CoDev 09!)

This year’s program will be held January 26 - 28, 2009 in Scottsdale, AZ at the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort.

We’re focusing on how to build the core components of a successful open innovation capability, and we’ve already lined up a compelling faculty with open innovation ambassadors from Cadbury, Frito-Lay, HP, Booz & Company, Kraft, P&G, R.J. Reynolds, Colgate, WD-40 and many more.

I’m very excited to kick off the conference with a candid one-to-one interview with Henry Chesbrough, author of Open Innovation and Open Business Models and acclaimed thought leader on Open Innovation – we’ll find out his perspectives on how companies can take their open innovation activities to the next level, how early adopters have excelled and discover the key ingredients of their success!

We’re also building in more time for attendees to connect with conference faculty, top experts and attendees of the event to ensure that you’re able to make networking connections for future discussions and possible partnership opportunities. We’ll even have an open innovation mentoring program to bring you up to speed quickly and ensure that you leave the conference with an action plan for getting started on the right path.

I highly encourage you to join us for what promises to be another exceptional program!

Here’s a fantastic article on one of my clients! Innovationedge has been working with an inventors Gene Gordon and his son Peter Gordon of Germgard Lighting, LLC. They’ve invented a product called Glovegard, a medical exam glove sterilization device that efficiently kills bacteria. It works by exposing a gloved hand to Ultraviolet C light to kill pathogens on the glove. In only three seconds, the gloves are sterilized with safety and speed.

The idea came about in the fall of 2005 after Gene reflected back on an infection he had contracted during a hospital stay for a back operation. His ultimate goal was to prevent others from going through the ordeal he experienced, and I’m excited that he is achieving that dream.

Check out the video here.

“Disruption” has become a popular business term, especially in the innovation realm. My company is working with a lot of corporate clients to help them identify disruptive opportunities and disruptive threats. I also enjoy passing that disruptive potential on to our clients who are startups and lone inventors.

So what is Disruptive Innovation?

Disruptive innovation requires looking beyond technology and new products to understand the barriers that are leaving the often unrecognized or unexpressed needs of nonusers and low-end users unfulfilled. It typically provides new levels of convenience, access, and cost effectiveness to people – often at the expense of some high-end feature. Companies often overlook the needs of many people who would welcome a “worse” product that made some aspect of life better for them.

You’re probably asking, “how can this be? No one would want a product that is worse, would they?” In fact they do! And that’s disruptive.

Kleenex® facial tissue and the Swiffer® mop are great examples of what Clayton Christensen of the Harvard School of Business has called “disruptive innovation:” an innovation that may be initially worse in terms of standard metrics of established products and customers, but which appeals to non-users or low-end users by offering improved convenience, lower cost, or other benefits not previously viewed as the basis for competition.

When the facial tissues were first available in the 1920s, many women used them to remove makeup and cold cream. Marketers at Kimberly-Clark responded, repositioning the product in the early 1930s as “the handkerchiefs you can throw away.” Women used them as a convenient replacement for the handkerchief, even though they weren’t as strong or washable, and that forever changed the handkerchief industry.

The disposable Swiffer mop also offers a “worse” performance relative to the durability and cleaning power of conventional dry and wet mops, but would convert many non-moppers and infrequent moppers into frequent floor cleaners!

The key here is that it’s all about the business model –not the technology itself—that determines whether the opportunity is disruptive or not. A given technology can be launched as a sustaining innovation aimed at mainstream users in a head-to-head battle with the previous incumbents in the market, or it can be launched in a way that draws in non-users and low-end users while motivating the incumbents to largely ignore your efforts since they aren’t feeling pain - until it’s too late.

That’s the kind of disruptive advantage that motivates the long-established giants to flee rather than fight, giving the market entrant a precious foothold from which to grow with further “sustaining” innovation.

I’m seeing a lot more hybrids and other fuel-efficient cars on the roads these days, as drivers battle the rising fuel costs. Here’s an innovative auto that promises 41-MPG on the highway: the “smart fortwo.” (The gas tank of the smart fortwo is 8.7 gallons!)

The inventors of the fortwo started sketching out this unique care in the early 1990’s with a Joint Venture between Mercedes-Benz and Swatch, the makers of Swatch watches known for their wide array of colorful designs. Nicolas Hayek, the inventor of the Swatch watch brought his ideas for an “ultra-urban” car to Mercedes-Benz, and Mercedes took on this engineering challenge with the outcome of one of the most innovative cars ever introduced.

Ahh, but is it safe? Mercedes says it is. The tridion safety cell was it’s answer for a small car that can meet high safety standards. The tridion safety cell is a “hard shell” that surrounds the smart fortwo’s occupants with an energy displacing system of longitudinal and transverse structural members.

The auto is made of energy efficient and recyclable materials. For example, only water-soluble paints are used for the smart’s three basic colors – black, white and yellow. Painting the tridion safety cell is done by the powder-coating process. This removes the need for solvents. The body panels with molded-in color are fully recyclable. Environmental management is a high priority in Hambach, France, where the car is made.

The Greenpeace study, titled “Playing Dirty,” reveals that the next-generation game consoles like Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation 3 Elite and Microsoft Xbox 360 have all tested positive for hazardous chemicals. For example, high levels of bromine were found in the components of all three, with the highest by weight levels in the PS3 and the Wii. But the tests also showed that each of the manufacturers avoided or reduced the use of individual hazardous substances in certain materials within their consoles.

The good news is that greener consoles are possible, according to the report. My feeling is that a typical video game consumer is not likely to care that much about the toxins in landfills, but the companies making them will definitely want to make strides to rid their products of them, for the greater good.