Innovation Solutions

in Innovation Software, Technology, Technology Challenge, Technology Landscape, Technology Scouting

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Technology and trends tend to move and change at alarming rates. No industry is impervious to evolution. The only way to stay relevant is to make sure you are looking toward the future landscape and anticipating changes within your business before they happen. If you don't have a functioning crystal ball, research and analysis are the best way to predict the future. A strong indicator of how technology and trends are changing in real-time is to pay attention to how you currently consume television and video content at home. Gone are the days of spending a Friday night at Blockbuster buying or renting physical copies of movies to bring home. It also seems the days of cable and satellite solutions are quickly on their way out. Streaming services are the future of in-home entertainment consumption, but that leaves broadcast TV searching for a new way to create revenue or else risk...

10 Jun

Technology Scouting & Technology Landscaping – How They Differ and Why You Need Both

in Innovation Software, Technology, Technology Landscape, Technology Scouting

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Understanding your company's "technical right-to-succeed" is critical to the success of your business: it's what sets you apart from your competition. It allows you to provide the best products and services your clients and users have come to expect. It's essential to understand the entire landscape of your company's current technology and how it compares to the technology of your competitors and the future of technological innovation. This is where technology scouting and technology landscaping research reports come in to play an integral part in building your company's technology portfolio. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height="30px"][vc_column_text] Technology Scouting [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="10px"][vc_column_text]Technology scouting is an element of technology management in which emerging technologies are identified, technology-related information is channeled into an organization, and supports the acquisition of technologies. The focus of technology scouting is on identifying solutions to an unmet technical or business need. When technology scouting, it's essential to precisely define your unmet need and create a roust...

06 May

Climate Control v. Global Warming: Time to Innovate

in Enterprise Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Challenge, Innovation Solutions, Intellectual Property, Open Innovation, Technology Challenge

Using technology currently in development, AC units in skyscrapers and even your home could get turned into machines that not only capture CO2 but transform the stuff into a fuel for powering vehicles that are difficult to electrify, like cargo ships...

21 Apr

What Does a Healthy Innovation Portfolio Look Like?

in Enterprise Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Software, Open Innovation, Technology Scouting

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The concept of an innovation portfolio is still new to some organizations; however, it's been a topic of conversation among innovation professionals for years. In 2014 Harvard Business Review (HBR) published the article, Managing Your Innovation Portfolio. They found on average high-performing organizations focus 70% of their innovation resources on core or incremental offerings, 20% on adjacent offerings, and 10% on transformational initiatives. Even though the average was a 70:20:10 spread, they still reference other successful models depending on your industry and your level of ambition and allocations. The biggest take-away from the HBR report and subsequent reports is that for an innovation program to be successful, the focus should be a mix of incremental (core), adjacent and transformational initiatives. This mix will enable a program to deliver results both in the near term and long term. In addition to finding the right balance, organizations need to have the right resources to deliver. ...

25 Mar

Technology Scouting or Technology Landscaping: Tactics or Strategy?

in Innovation Software, Open Innovation, Technology Landscape, Technology Scouting

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A critical aspect of any innovation management program is thoroughly understanding your own technology portfolio and how it fits within the technology ecosystem of both known competitors and potential collaborators alike. Innovation doesn’t occur in a vacuum – groups need to continually rationalize their internal technologies versus external technologies in their business verticals. Regular internal technical SWOT analysis (identifying where companies are strong / weak technically, where the technical opportunities and threats exist both long-term and near-term) better enable companies to define and own their particular technical space; as well as recognize the potential to expand their technical space over time. Technology Scouting and Technology Landscaping are powerful tools in the innovation management toolkit to achieve better technology portfolio understanding; but while these terms are often used interchangeably, these are not equivalent activities and often require different skill sets for mastery. Here’s how we at Ezassi think about these innovation management tools.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space...

27 Aug

Increase Organizational Resilience and Innovation Through Collaboration

in Collaboration Software, Innovation, Innovation Challenge, Innovation Software, Innovation Solutions, Open Innovation

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It's times of stress that really test the strength or weakness of an organization. During stressful times, leaders learn what the people in their organizations are made of – but also whether the systems, functions, and processes they have put in place are resilient to withstand the crises that inevitably come up. Industry shifts, market downturns, unexpected competitors: when stress comes, it shouldn't make an organization or process fall to pieces. Instead, stressful times should be when positive discourse, growth, and resiliency thrive.[1] "What do you do when you face a surprise?" David Woods, Faculty Emeritus of Integrated Systems Engineering at The Ohio State University, asked at the 2014 Velocity NY conference; referring to unexpected situations like when chunks of foam fell off the Space Shuttle Columbia's fuel tank in an unexpected way. "Do you gracefully extend performance, stretch your capabilities, and add adaptive capacity in order to continue to perform...

23 Jul

A Portfolio Manager’s Journey into Knowledge Scouting

by Robert Blizek

in Innovation, Innovation Software, Intellectual Property, Open Innovation, Technology, Technology Challenge, Technology Scouting

[vc_row content_width="grid"][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dr. Robert Blizek, a former senior technologist with NAVAIR, shares the lessons learned that drove his decision to use Ezassi’s Knowledge Scouting application.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="30px"][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row content_width="grid" content_aligment="center"][vc_column][qodef_elements_holder][qodef_elements_holder_item horizontal_aligment="left" vertical_alignment="middle" hover_animation="default"][vc_column_text] The Challenge [/vc_column_text][qodef_separator position="center" color="#6b6b6b" border_style="solid" width="70%" thickness="20px"][vc_empty_space height="30px"][vc_column_text] Growth of World Population and the History of Technology [/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image="11326" img_size="full" alignment="center"][vc_empty_space height="10px"][vc_column_text] Figure 1. Globalization and the Internet have dramatically accelerated technology development. [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="30px"][/qodef_elements_holder_item][/qodef_elements_holder][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are three challenges to address if one is to keep abreast of technology development for investments, optimal partnership selection, or roadmap planning. First, critical technological advances can come from anywhere. A recent study by the government accounting office (GAO) noted that, only two decades ago, 70% of science and technology development for the DoD was developed exclusively within DoD- industry partnerships. Today, that 70/30 split is reversed with the private sector eclipsing the DoD’s pace of breakthrough technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, quantum engineering, and cyber security. The second...

12 Jun

Making Plastic Bottles from Sugarcane and Captured CO₂

in Innovation, Innovation Challenge, Innovation Software, Innovation Solutions, Technology Scouting

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A new study from the labs of Durham University's Dr. Andrew Smallbone lays out a pathway to making plastic bottles from organic waste material and CO2 captured from power plants. A thorough analysis of the economics shows this process could even be cost competitive for making things like plastic bottles. The process could start with something like the leftover plant material from sugarcane pressing. After a few reaction steps, which include the addition of some captured CO2 and some ethylene glycol produced from corn plants, you'd end up with a plastic polymer called polyethylene furandicarboxylate—otherwise known as PEF. Functionally, it's similar to the PET plastic used for water and soda bottles, denoted by the number 1 recycling symbol. Every step in the process has been at least demonstrated before, and some are quite common, so the paper doesn't spend much space on the chemistry. Instead, the researchers engage in life cycle analysis...

25 Dec

Rudolph & The Island of Misfits – Incremental, Adjacent & Transformational Innovations

in Enterprise Innovation, Innovation, Innovation Challenge, Innovation Software, Innovation Solutions, Open Innovation