Erika's Innovation Blog

Polaroid is a company that made its impact with portable cameras that anyone could use.   They became ubiquitous and with that their legacy was born (Gaudet, 2020) .     They had done research on digital photography in the 1960s yet felt that the public would still want a hard copy of their photos.   They would want a backup of their photos over only a digital copy.   While they were making worthwhile research into the field of digital photography, they felt that their focus should be on perfecting their craft instead of innovating.   Polaroid released a home video system called Polavision.   It took decades to develop, but when it was released, there were many competitors available.   This resulted in a $15 million loss and caused Polaroid to fear releasing more innovative ideas.   They were afraid of another detrimental loss (Gaudet, 2020) . Drawing from the innovation Dr. Calongne told us regarding self-cleaning trousers, I thought that self-cleaning and maybe even disinfecting

  Provide an innovation example for discoveries that are achieved through the following: ·          Serendipity – The accidental discovery of Teflon comes to mind.   Roy J. Plunkett with DuPont was trying to find a better refrigerant and instead discovered a polymer that was chemically inert, had low surface friction and high heat resistance.   This became our favorite pan coating, Teflon (Science History Institute, 2021) . ·          Error – I think anesthesia is one of the best inventions ever.   I cannot even begin to imagine dental work or labor and delivery without it!   Some may think we are spoiled, but I see it as a way to limit our mental and physical trauma.   This discovery came from nitrous oxide.   It was discovered in 1772 and was used as a recreational drug.   People would inhale a little and it would make them laugh.   Inhaling a larger dose would knock you out.   A dentist named Horace Wells decided to use himself as a guinea pig and had another dentist give him a

           One instance where a company would have probably had more success with scenario-type planning was when Atari decided it would be a good idea to release E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial video game in 1982 (Sauter, Comen, Frohlich, & Stebbins, 2018) .   It seems to me that because the movie was so successful, Atari thought it would make sense to launch a video game.   I do not see an error in their logic.   What they seemed to not count on or take for granted was that while consumers like a high-quality movie, they would somehow settle for a subpar video game.   The video game was so rushed that when it was finished, it was just that – finished.   It did not sell well and cost a total of $26 million.   It was such an embarrassment that the remaining unpurchased games were buried (Sauter, Comen, Frohlich, & Stebbins, 2018) .   This reminds me of the current Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco where the game was so buggy that not only were games returned and refunds disbursed, but the inv

Define             A socio-technical plan or system is one that encompasses how the advent of new technology will influence and affect our society.   ComputingCases.org focuses on the ethical concerns brought on by new technology (ComputingCases.org, 2020) .   These systems include hardware (computer monitors), software (Windows OS), people (police officers), data (criminal files), and laws and regulations (are any of these data protected from view by others?)   Socio-technical plans will change with time.   They are living things in that sense and will mimic the society they are trying to become a part of.   These trajectories are from changes that are made by those in social power.   Since this power is the force that can bring about change with this trajectory, it is important that the ethical value and motivations of these changes are kept in check (ComputingCases.org, 2020) .   There is nothing worse than an idea that started out as hopeful and good, becoming one of the most har

  Research the concepts of forecasting and predictions in a business or innovation context             According to Data Science Blog, a prediction is where you used for “estimating the outcomes for unseen data” while forecasts also estimate outcomes but use a time series.   The difference between these two is this temporal element (Döring, 2018) .   With innovations in mind, this can be seen as forecasting relating to ideas that correspond to how the environment is currently trending.   For example, I can see that cell phone accessories were created when cell phone usage was beginning to boom.   Predictions will be those ideas that are thought of outside of the box.   Trends and current factors will not necessarily be a part of their creation.   While ideas generated via forecasts are very useful and practical, when an idea created out of the box is found very useful it can be seen as more of a wonder. Identify and document one infamous prediction that actually came true      

  Key points about specific methods:  Group Size             There is a balance between too many members and too few.  An ideal range is from five to 12 members (Monet, 2017).  It is believed that if the group is in this range, members will be more likely to participate.  This, of course, assumes that each and every member will have something notable that they feel is worth saying.  This reminds me of class size.  If I was in a smaller class, that did not guarantee more participation from me.  If I felt that I had something worthwhile to share, then I would participate. If more members are needed and the group size is larger than this ideal range, it is suggested that the larger group is split into smaller groups for the majority of the discussion.  Later, the smaller groups will combine into the larger group in order to share ideas. Environment             This is similar to the idea of a “safe place.”  This phrase is spoken often intense, emotional television scenes when one characte