Innovation Blog
Friday, April 24, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business,
Technology
| Tags: technology,
innovators,
broadband,
financial innovation,
starbucks,
telecoms,
voip,
mobile financial services,
3-d imaging,
global banking
Data is about to drive some of the biggest mergers and acquisitions the global markets have ever seen. Some banks are preparing for a breathtaking integration of telecom delivery channels which will leave their competitors gasping for growth.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business,
Technology
| Tags: government,
nuclear,
economist intelligence unit,
geneva motor show,
electric cars
Some years from now, there will be less talk of economic gambling and more on how we played a steady hand in heavy seas. We will talk of how innovation, and investment in electric cars, changed the way we live our lives, how green cars became the catalyst for economic recovery and a beacon of British science and ambition.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business,
Education,
Technology
Descartes’ ‘I think; therefore I am,’ will be surpassed by ‘We have; therefore we will’ – our capacity for assessing reality is heading for a quantum leap.
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Business,
Education,
Technology
David Gann, Head of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at
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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation,
economic recovery
BBC Radio 4’s Peter Day hears from those who are pinning their hopes for economic recovery on innovation.
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Monday, April 06, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Environment
This demo, from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry, was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine ‘Minority Report’ and then some:
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Thursday, April 02, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation,
regulation,
financial innovation,
the ascent of money,
niall ferguson,
turner review,
derivatives,
alastair darling,
louisiana purchase
Niall Ferguson, Scotland’s finest export since steel, recently wrote that the development of credit and debt is: “as important as any technological innovation in the rise of civilization, from ancient Babylon to present-day Hong Kong.” Glasgow born Ferguson, a financial historian and Harvard professor, has delighted television audiences with his pithy presentation of The Ascent of Money. Despite all the monumental fiscal calamities he details, a recurring message is “We never really learn”.
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Wednesday, April 01, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation
“Are we really hiring the irritants? Because it’s the irritants that are the risk takers, and it’s the risk takers that contribute to the culture of innovation.” Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO,
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Monday, March 30, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
The McKinsey Quarterly asked Brad Bird from Pixar: what does stimulating the creativity of animators have in common with developing new product ideas or technology breakthroughs? This post on Gigaom.com extracted its 9 key lessons.
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Friday, March 27, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
| Tags: india,
car industry,
sir roger bone,
boeing uk,
nano,
biofuels,
ryanair,
aerodynamics,
tata,
federal reserve
Small, is the new big. Tata Motors is combusting old car industry models with the launch of its petite Nano – a car so small you can put it on your credit card. News of the Nano got analysts engines running a little faster, which was a surprise, given that the Nano is to be made in India. Its tiny price point, at about $2000, is the spark set to revolutionise our concept of value – this will be the most important product pitch in a generation.
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Friday, March 20, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
| Tags: innovation,
desalination,
open innovation,
nuclear fusion,
professor john beddington,
jet,
manhattan project
Kennedy began the US space race. Obama is going to cure cancer. And the United Kingdom, is, er, um, going to – make the trains run on time, maybe. Personally, that seems a little too mission impossible for my kind of optimism. How about? “This generation of Britons will harness controlled nuclear fusion for civilian use.”
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Friday, March 13, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation,
great depression,
economic downturn
Apple. Those crazy guys. They’re about to launch an up-scaled IPod Shuffle, and rumours grow of a new touchscreen device. Recently, they previewed a refreshed desktop range. What’s with all the innovation Steve, there’s a recession on? Maybe a depression. Even with cool little headphones jammed in your ears you can hear the world collapsing, or maybe Apple is too in tune with a different beat.
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Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation
Will King, CEO of KMI (
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Tuesday, March 03, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business
| Tags: sir roger bone,
innovation island,
open innovation,
boeing uk,
imperial college business school,
innovation nation,
newton,
5-d modelling,
professor david gann,
darwin
A new innovation eco-system is needed for Britain - that is the message delivered by guest panellists at the launch of Innovation Island, an Economist conference, sponsored by Grant Thornton.
Distinguished panellists, from industrial and research disciplines throughout the United Kingdom, gathered to discuss whether the UK remains an innovative nation. The answer is ‘Yes’, Britain is building on a strong innovative heritage, but it needs to address some persisting weaknesses if it is to deliver economic growth and a prosperous future.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009 | Posted by: Grant Thornton
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation
Don Elgie, Chief Executive Officer of Creston PLC gives his view on promoting innovation in the UK, what the obstacles are and how the economic downturn will affect the UK's position on the world stage.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation
Oscar-winning director, Danny Boyle had this advice for the British film industry: “Persist. Keep going. Do all you can do… and keep Film 4 well funded.” As companies trim budgets and stare at slumdog sales charts, Danny Boyle’s advice will pay dividends.
Hard times compel the ambitious, inspire the creative. Will King, creator of the King of Shaves grooming range, launched a global business at home, from a back room, in 1992, when he had just lost his job. Poor thing, all that time on his hands to make a fortune.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation
Picasso, pedantic? Not likely. For all the angst of Guernica, the turmoil of a crying woman, Picasso is probably best loved for his child-like sketches. And Dali, didn’t he do well? But you wouldn’t want him at your house for dinner, or careering around Downing Street.
Deconstructing the conventional and building something new, vigorous and bold, requires not just imagination, but a form of mania best enjoyed from a distance. Innovative high achievers are thought to benefit from a particular pressure on the prefrontal cortex. They won’t know it, but their lifestyle will be an indicator. Prodigious work output and the appearance of a consuming passion must draw on a vital inspiration source.
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories:
Business
| Tags: innovation
Nike emerged from the recession of the early nineties with profits 900 per cent higher than when the recession began. You can read that again. This year, in the Year of Innovation in the European Union, who dares predict such a result this time? Last year was the Year of the Rat in China, and look what happened.
The secret of Nike’s success was innovation, innovation of products, of course, but a radical reshaping of thought. Enhancing a sense of attitude towards the Nike brand unlocked a monumental growth capacity. Continually reinventing the running shoe was only part of the plan. Nike reinvented the mindset, tapping into an un-mined emotional consumer base.
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