RI-WINs Meets the "Geeks"

From the outside, it could have been any group of young professionals gathered to hear a presentation at a hip downtown space. But once you went inside, you knew. These were geeks. Real geeks. And they were interested in the prospect of a border-to-border wireless network.

They had come to the right place. With the goal of helping "Rhode Island's digital innovators connect, collaborate, and ultimately make the City-State and its geeks info-technology leaders," Providence Geeks brings members of the state's information technology community each month to AS220, a downcity Providence arts haven. The June 21 geeks gathering was their first "town hall" style meeting, with three speakers presenting short talks on their involvement in and perspective on BIF's Rhode Island Wireless Innovation Networks (RI-WINs) project and then fielding questions from attendees.

WINs organizers also encouraged the Geeks to apply for the N-GEN wireless contest, which offers young innovators a chance to demonstrate a new application.

The RI-WINs panel included BIF board chair Donald Stanford, RI-WINs project manager Robert Panoff and Rhode Island Chief Information Officer Tracy Emerton Williams. Stanford and Panoff provided an introduction of the rationale, strategy and technology for the RI-WINs network before turning the mike over to Emerton Williams, who related why she and the state are interested in the project.

Emerton Williams emphasized that her goal is to use technology to provide the state's citizens with easier access to government leaders and services. In her prior position as Chief Information Officer of the state's court system, Emerton Williams was exposed to the demand for wireless internet access in Rhode Island's courthouses. Attorneys grew frustrated as they wasted billable hours sitting in courtrooms and hallways, unable to communicate with their offices. Social workers from the Department of Children, Youth and Families were forced to be out of touch with clients in volatile and potentially threatening situations while they waited to testify in court. Unfortunately, the old age of many of the state's court buildings makes it impossible to install wired Internet connections.

Williams also shared her prior experience of working to provide Internet access to children in Boston's schools, with a goal of at least one computer for every four schoolchildren. $75 million into the $100 million initiative, the project's leaders found that they were well on the way to having all of the schools wired. But, that was all. Three-quarters of the budget and several years into a massive public works project, and no additional children in Boston had Internet access through their schools. In both cases, citizens (and private sector participants) would have benefited greatly from the existence of a large wireless broadband network.

Interestingly, when the floor was opened to the Geeks, most of the questions that followed weren't about RI-WINs technology, but instead focused on the project's business model and potential network applications. Of all people, the Geeks knew that the technology is there to make Rhode Island the first state with a border-to-border mobile broadband network. What really got the conversation going was the discussion about applications across the public and private sector.

One Geek asked about a potential application (and, perhaps, a new business concept): is anyone developing an adapter that would allow serial devices to connect to the WiMax technology that powers the RI-WINs network? What if already-developed serial devices could be linked up to RI-WINs, allowing scientists to measure the changing dynamics of all areas of Narragansett Bay, all the time?

Charlie Jefferson of Providence-based video production company TangoPix, was intrigued by one of Emerton Williams' ideas for private applications: filming a movie in the state digitally and sending footage to the studio in real time through the RI-WINs network. "There are so many new business concepts that could come out of this," Jefferson noted. "I can't wait to get back to the office and throw around some ideas."

RELATED LINKS:
For more visit the Providence Geeks RI-WINs Town Hall Re-cap I and Re-cap II and
Glenn Fleischman's WNN Wi-Fi Municipal Round-up

Matt Guilford
June 25, 2006

Posted June 25, 2006 by Matthew Guilford | Permalink | Comments (0)

Infinite Possibilities with Customer Co-Creation

BIF-2 storyteller Bill Taylor appeared in Sunday's New York Times with an interesting crop of companies who have successfully figured out the 'how' of customer innovation . A natural outgrowth of what MIT's Eric von Hippel calls "lead-user innovation," these companies are proving that creating connections with customers is one of the best ways to drive creativity, inspiration and bottom-up innovation.

This quote from the founder and CEO of Jones Soda, a soft-drink company out of Seattle, really resonated with me:

"We started this company with the philosophy that the world does not need another soda. That forced us to look at things differently: How could we create a new kind of connection with customers, let them play with the brand, let them take ownership of it? Everything at this company is about sharing ownership of the brand with our customers. This is not my brand. This is not our soda. It belongs to our customers." -Peter van Stolk

What I find most interesting after reading this article, and a host of others (check out BIF Research Advisor Diane Hessan's company Communispace for some great examples), is that co-creation is not difficult, nor should it be complicated. But it does require strong top-down commitment from leadership, good listening skills, and a belief, as Stolk said, in sharing ownership of the brand with your customers.

Bottom line - Customer co-creation is a low-cost, high involvement opportunity that can bring about real value growth. And let's face it, it's good to get out of the office and talk to people who really care.

Get the article

RELATED LINKS: Bill Taylor has a knack for unearthing out-of-the-ordinary companies. Don't miss hearing new stories from Bill at our upcoming BIF-2 Summit in October. Or check out Bill's video from last year's BIF-1 Summit here.

Posted June 20, 2006 by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)

N-Gen Members: It's Scholarship Time!

BIF is now accepting scholarship applications for the BIF-2 Collaborative Innovation Summit. Open to N-Gen members only, up to 10 scholarships are available.

Don't miss the opportunity to participate in this truly collaborative experience. Our impressive list of storytellers includes a diverse group of business, government, education and arts executives. (Head here for more information). BIF-2 Regular price admission for the two-day event is $1000, so interested participants should act quickly!

To apply, please send a brief letter outlining why you would like to attend and why you think participation will be valuable to you. Application letters must be received by July 14, 2006.

Scholarship winners will be asked to write a short report on their experience at the Summit that BIF will publish in its post-conference materials. Scholarships include participation in all Summit-related activities.

Any questions, just call or email Melissa Withers at mwithers@businessinnovationfactory.com or (401) 222-2601 x134.

RELATED LINKS: N-GEN is the Business Innovation Factory's next generation network of young innovators. Gohere for more information, or to join N-GEN.

Posted June 16, 2006 by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)

Get Ready for the first RI-WINs Town Hall

Providence Geeks is delighted to announce the first in what we hope becomes a regular series of town hall meetings. We have invited representatives of the RI-WINS project to offer some background and details on their amazing endeavor.

RI-WINS Town Hall
5pm – 6pm, Wednesday, June 21st
AS220
115 Empire Street, Providence, RI

The RI-WINS project was launched by the Business Innovation Factory "to create a statewide, border-to-border, wireless broadband network that breaks down barriers to innovation, improves interoperability among new products and technologies, and establishes Rhode Island as an ideal place to explore and test new business models." For more information, see the RI-WINS web site .

Speakers include:
Bob Panoff, RI-WINS Program Director
Donald Stanford, Board Chairman of the Business Innovation Factory and President of Stanford Scientific
Tracy Emerton Williams, Rhode Island 's Chief Information Officer

The RI-WINS Town Hall is free and open to the public, and will start at 5pm on Wednesday, June 21st at AS220 (115 Empire Street, Providence, RI) and end at 6pm. The speakers will present short talks on their involvement in and perspective on the RI-WINS project, and will then field questions from attendees.

If you have any questions about the Town Hall Meeting, please contact Brian Jepson (bjepson@gmail.com) or leave a comment at the Providence Geeks Blog.

Posted June 14, 2006 by | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Overvaluation of Innovation

This month's Harvard Business Review features one of the most interesting articles I've read in a long time. Written by Associate Professor John Gourville, Eager Sellers & Stony Buyers presents a clear hypothesis on why so many innovations fail: "consumers irrationally overvalue the old and companies irrationally overvalue the new."

It's a compelling statement. Gourville asserts that in order to understand why so many new products fail to live up to expectation, companies must look into the psychology of behavior change--both internally and externally. Of course most businesses don't take into account the psychological issues associated with behavior change which leads to what Gourville calls the 'curse of innovation'.

It's refreshing to see someone take a step back from the irrational exuberance of today's hyper-innovative environment and put much context around my unsubstantiated point of view that companies pay too much attention to process and not enough to people. [Probably because all to many of us have a psychological bias to psychology.]

And while much has been written on the psychology of the consumer, Gourville's yin-yang approach , comparing the company with the consumer, is spot on. (Although his article focuses on product innovation, I suspect we can extend his argument to service innovation, business model innovation, etc.) From the article, he writes:

"People irrationally overvalue benefits they currently possess relative to those they don't. The bias leads consumers to value the advantages of products they own more than the benefits of new ones. It also leads executives to value the benefits of innovations they've developed over the advantages of incumbent products. That leads to a clash in perspectives...The results are often disastrous. Consumers reject new products that would make them better off, while executives are at a loss to anticipate failure."

The one nit I have with Eager Sellers & Stony Buyers is the use of Tivo as an example of a high-profile innovation whose performance fell short because of psychological bias. My humble opinion is that Tivo's problems can be attributed more to questionable management practices (i.e. taking a very proprietary Apple-like approach to their software, contentious relationship with Directv, etc.) and not with an irrational overvaluation.

Otherwise, Gourville presents compelling evidence to substantiate his point while also providing an executable solution to help companies dodge the curse. By understanding the psychology of new-product adoption from both a consumer and company perspective, businesses can drive market growth through the successful introduction of new innovations.

Get the article

Posted June 12, 2006 by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)

"You Can't Get The Right Outputs Without Giving People The Right Inputs."

So says Old Navy's Ivy Ross who was just named to Inside Innovation's Top 25 CHAMPIONS OF INNOVATION list. (And hats off to Bruce Nussbaum who just launched the quarterly magazine Inside Innovation. If his first edition is any indication, we're about to read about some really interesting innovators who don't work for GE or P&G.)

After reading her profile, I'm anxious to hear first-hand from Ivy. She'll be speaking at our upcoming BIF-2 Summit in October. From her Inside Innovation profile, you get the immediate impression that she's a master at management innovation. Although design-thinking emphasizes multi-disciplinary teamwork, it also teaches that constraints are good. At Old Navy, she created an in-house blog called Culture Feed. The blog scours the Internet for Ross' designers to help them get inspired around contemporary cultural issues and ideas. Hence the great quote, "you can't get the right outputs without giving people the right inputs."

You can check out Ivy's Inside Innovation profile here. And don't miss hearing her story at our upcoming BIF-2 Summit in October.

Posted by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)

FRIDAY LINKS: Claudia Kotchka's Blogs

As vice president for design innovation and strategy, Claudia has spent the last few years creating a design-centric culture at P&G. She was also just named one of BusinessWeek's Champions of Innovation. What blogs does she read? Bruce Nussbaum posted the list last week. Here it is:

Metacool
Dan Pink
Nussbaum on Design
Creating Passionate Users
Consumer Generated Media: Media, Marketing, & Mayhem
The Long Tail
Core 77
CPH 127
Design Observer
Noise Between Stations
Marketonomy
This Blog is at the intersection of anthropology and economics
How to Save the World

RELATED LINKS: Claudia spoke at last month's Front End of Innovation Conference. Over at Innovativeye, Chas Martin did a great job summarizing her design philosophy and the steps needed to leverage the power of design management into your organization.

Posted June 09, 2006 by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)

N-GEN Wireless Contest--Win network access, $1000 AND a year of beer

What would you do in a wireless world? We want to know. Then we want you to DO IT. Because the best part of a mobile broadband network - like the one being built by the Business Innovation Factory's Rhode Island Wireless Innovation Networks isn't the technology. It's what we can do with it.

BIF is challenging members of the N-GEN network to compete for an opportunity to test a new mobile wireless application on the RI-WINs pilot network. The individual or team who submits the best idea for a new mobile, wireless application will:

Demonstrate their application idea in real time and on a real network by winning ACCESS to the RI-WINs pilot network (operational in the Providence and Newport areas) for six months.

Win a $1000 cash prize and free beer for a year from the brewers at Newport Storm.

Get to share their story and garner free publicity for their wireless application idea.

Applications are due on June 28. Head here for application, guidelines and all the fine print.

Posted June 02, 2006 by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)

Linkage: Sharing the Learning

We talk a lot here at BIF about the importance of sharing what we learn from our collaborative innovation projects. And while no one would deny it's value, how to 'share the goods' remains somewhat of a mystery. Often times, it's an ad hoc process based more on an individual's affinity for sharing rather than a group's mission to accomplish. Joyce Wycoff's blog, Heads-up! on Organizational Innovation has a great story about WD-40 and the program their CEO put in place to get people to reflect on their learnings. Head here to read it.

Posted by Chris Flanagan | Permalink | Comments (0)