Do not try to predict the future, engineer it, by Ron Fulbright, Ph.D.

How valuable would it be if you could know the future? Billions of dollars are spent annually on market research and product design/test all trying to determine what the customer is most likely to buy tomorrow. But what if there is a different way to go about this? This article describes Ideation International’s tool called Directed Evolution and discusses how using it alleviates you from having to guess and try to hit that moving target, but instead, allows you to proactively engineer the future.

In general, every product goes through a well-known lifecycle known as the S-curve. Early on, when product technology is new and a consumer base is still forming, growth is sluggish forming the bottom of the classical S-curve. As the product catches on, the curve turns upward and the product enjoys a vigorous growth period. As technology matures, the market becomes saturated, and competitors arise, growth begins to flatten out, forming the top of the S-curve. Here, the product is at a critical point. Unless things change, growth will eventually turn into decline and the product will die out inevitably to be replaced by something else. Whether a competitor’s product, suddenly gaining traction, or an entirely new product has emerged, the new winner is near the bottom of its own S-curve and about to flex into the growth period. And so, the world continues.

The challenge for the manufacturer is to be able to foresee the market forces that drive this cycle and stay ahead of it. If you are smart enough to make improvements to your product during the accelerated growth period, your product can avoid the eventual downturn and remain dominant. However, making changes too early in the lifecycle could kill the product. Also, you always run the risk of changing the product in a way counter to what the market wants. So what do you do at the critical point? How do you know in which direction to go?

In analyzing millions of patents and tens of thousands of case studies, Altshuller and his colleagues now comprising Ideation International recognized that systems do not evolve randomly. Rather, evolution tends along demonstrable principles called “patterns of evolution.” These principles are general in nature and apply to virtually any system or product.

The Directed Evolution tool helps you systematically explore the application of the pattern of evolution to your product. Any evolution that comes out of the process has behind it the power and truth of history. If thousands of other products have followed a certain evolutionary path, yours is likely to do the same. This way, you avoid the pitfall of changing your product into something the market doesn’t want. By applying the Directed Evolution methodology, you identify the approximate point on the S-curve where your product currently is. This prevents you from making changes too early.

However, there is one very important difference in Directed Evolution. Once you have identified what the next version of your product should be, the Direction Evolution tool allows you to identify how your competitors will be able to compete with you. Constructing a patent fence, by essentially inventing their future too, blocks them from entering the market with a competing product. Therefore, you have essentially picked a point in the future to evolve to and have engineered a competitor-free pathway toward that future. Selecting a future using Directed Evolution is fundamentally different from attempting to predict what the future will be as is done traditionally. Rather, you are selecting the future you want to bring about and are actively structuring yourself and the market to maximize your success.

The American War on Science

Tony Boccanfuso wrote a feature article last week saying:

While this federal and military support for R&D has served us well, we should be concerned about recent trends which show Federal research investments shrinking as a share of the U.S. economy.

Evan Tishuk at OrangeCoat forwarded me an article this week, The American War on Science.

By most objective measures, the United States is the undisputed world leader in science and innovation, whether it's funding for research and development, the number of PhD students it graduates or its share of the world's patents. For the world's wealthiest nation, this is hardly a remarkable feat. What is remarkable is that the US accomplished this with a supply of domestic talent whose skills in math and science are, also according to most objective measures, merely mediocre.

If we don't get serious about this growing crisis, we are currently living in the last years of the United States' preeminence in the world.

Innovation must become what quality was 20 years ago.

I have been having lots of discussions recently with organizations large and small, corporate and academic, about innovation.

Talking about innovation is easy. The most radical ideas are at the intersection of disciplines, organizations and cultures... or as I recently learned at the verge.

But doing something about innovation is very, very hard. Organizations do not have good systems and processes for interfacing with outsiders they could collaborate with. Heck, organizations don't even have great systems for knowing systematically what the most challenging issues are they face that someone outside could help with.

Recently I bumped into a quote from Gary Hamel.

Innovation must become where quality was 20 years ago.

He's right on point. We've been through a couple of decades where quality and efficiency were the name of the game. For the next couple of decades, innovation with be critically important in an increasingly globalizing world.

If anyone has thoughts about how to systematically do innovation, I'm all ears. I know a bunch of others that are listening as well.

The Verge: Innovation Takes A Lesson From Nature

I bumped into a new word recently - the verge.

There is an interesting article in Optimise Magazine about "The Seven Rules Of Innovation," in which the following powerful observation is made:

Ecological research shows that Mother Nature does her most radical innovations as far away from intense competition as possible. In the center of the ecosystem where competition is highest, if you try a breakthrough idea and it fails, you’re eaten. The only thing you can do safely in the center is incremental innovation. Mother Nature innovates most radically at the edge of the ecosystem, where it bumps up against another. This shared edge is called a verge.

When you go to the verge, you encounter things you ordinarily don’t bump into...

The biological term "mutualism" is the most powerful relationship in nature. It builds on differences so we combine our differences to allow us to solve problems neither of us can solve alone.

Secretary of State talks about leading edge technology in SC

The State queried Secretary of State Mark Hammond about what he could do to promote economic development. He responded:

Promote South Carolina Business One Stop ... (a state Web site that makes) it easier to obtain the proper registrations and permits needed to start a business in South Carolina. This allows businesses to focus on more important tasks, such as opening their doors, hiring employees, and providing goods and services.

The SC Business One Stop is a leading edge technology in the country that allows a small business to determine what is required and then to file all the forms necessary to get the permits, licenses and registrations from multiple state agencies at one time. This is a tremendous time saver for small companies in SC. What is really cleaver, though, is that the system interfaces with the existing legacy systems of the various agencies, and it allows each agency to maintain their own set of business rules independent of other agencies. Without that, the SC Business One Stop would never have gotten off the ground.

The SC Business One Stop was developed by TiBA Solutions in Greenville, which has a strong track record of successful implementations of large, complex, mission-critical systems like this. I'm working with TiBA to help figure out how to sell the Business One Stop technology to other states. It's wonderful to be talking with others across the country about how SC is on the leading edge. TiBA has an incredible staff of IT professionals who are a bit of well kept secret in the state. We're working on that too.

The State completely misses the point about Clemson

Recently The State hyperventilated over the Hunley project in Charleston. In the process, they also smeared Clemson in a recent editorial. They would have been well served if they had taken a breath and thought about what they were saying.

First, the editorial is factually inaccurate, stating that Clemson decided “pretty much on its own, to build a whole new campus all the way on the other side of the state.” In fact, in 2004 the SC Endowed Chair Review Board, in a process reviewed by academic peers from out-of-state, endowed a research chair that is the core of the Restoration Institute. In 2005, the SC Bond Act Review Committee provided $10 million for infrastructure, and the City of North Charleston donated $14 million of land. So Clemson hardly acted alone.

The vision of the Institute is to build on the global reputation of Charleston “to create a leading knowledge-based, export-oriented industry cluster” that becomes the world’s “premiere home of restoration knowledge and expertise.” Advances will be made in disciplines from preservation and healthy communities to advanced materials and urban ecology. The Hunley is a marquee project, but it is only one project.

This is exactly the type of exciting, aspirational vision that will leverage our historical assets into knowledge-based economic development that grows high wage jobs in South Carolina. To suggest that the Clemson Restoration Institute is merely pandering to a powerful politician is ill informed and a disservice to the discussion about how to move the state forward.

But James Hammond at The State understands the "new brain trust" that is forming

The really frustrating thing about The State's criticism of Clemson's Restoration Institute is that right down the hall was a reporter that gets it. Recently James Hammond wrote a great article, New brain trust - State’s endowed chairs program attracting high-caliber researchers. Maybe the folks at The State ought to talk to one another.

“We are creating a critical mass of intelligence, of brain power, to be focused upon particular areas that may produce scientific breakthroughs and create jobs,” said Sam Tenenbaum, originator of the endowed chair idea in South Carolina.

...

In his career as a physicist, USC's Richard Webb helped computer pioneer IBM develop new patents. Now in the academic world, he explores the frontiers of nanoscience for new theories that could one day pave the way for even smaller circuits and computer chips. Webb says he would not have his office in Columbia today without South Carolina’s lottery-funded endowed chairs program

...

Clemson endowed chair holder Tom Kurfess said the research into automobile manufacturing and safety done at the Greenville campus will be unique in North America and would not be possible without the endowed chairs program.

...

The endowed chairs program already has spawned one major collaboration in health sciences that university leaders say probably would not have happened without the program. Two of the state’s largest hospital systems, Greenville Hospital System and Columbia-based Palmetto Health, and two of the state’s largest universities, MUSC and USC, will pool resources and invest in health sciences research.

Turning excitement and interest around innovation into action

Jeffrey Phillips is with OVO in Raleigh, a presenting company at InnoVenture 2007, has a blog, Innovate on Purpose. A recent post discusses a problem we all face at one time or another: Turning interest into action

I suspect that many people agree that innovation is important, but are uncertain how to get started and how to determine and quantify the benefits.

There are several reasons for this:

1. Uncertainty around how to get started
2. Too much change and risk involved
3. People think innovation is a passing fad

...

What's holding up your organization from becoming more innovative? Cultural issues? Fear of failure? Uncertain where to start? Here's a tip: start doing something, especially around defining a process for sustainable innovation. Start small and demonstrate some success, and the other stuff will work itself out. Don't stand on the sidelines waiting for the fad to pass, or for someone to give you the OK to proceed. This is one train you don't want to miss.

Notes from Ideation International: Innovative Problem Solving

I spent a fascinating weekend with leaders from Ideation International, who have created a set of tools for managing the future.

The fundamental principal behind Ideation International's approach is that systems evolve in a predictable way. The Russian scientist, Genrich Altshuller, along with his students Boris Zlotin and Alla Zusman, documented consistent patterns of evolution after reviewing 2 million patents.

The Ideation International tool for managing the short-term future is "Inventive Problem Solving,"

a method for eliminating technological roadblocks related to the development and use of products and processes. Applicable to all engineering disciplines, IPS can be used to solve problems related to design, research and development, manufacturing, safety, reliability, and quality assurance.

Those who have used the Inventive Problem Solving tool are amazed at its ability to lead users to break through solutions to particularly thorny problems that were unsolvable with other methods by looking for analogies in the ways similar problems have been solved by others in the past.

The Ideation International process for managing the future is based on TRIZ, an acronym for the Russian words for "Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems." Do you have experience with TRIZ or Ideation International?

Notes from Ideation International: Anticipatory Failure Determination

Leaders from Ideation International have created a set of tools for managing the future. Their tool for managing the short-term future is Inventive Problem Solving.

The next tool in Ideation International's bag, Anticipatory Failure Determination, not only deals with a problem present today, but as the name implies, begins to allow the user to anticipate and manage the future. This tool has two parts:

Failure Analysis is a systematic procedure for identifying the root causes of a failure or other undesired phenomenon in a system, and for making corrections in a timely manner.

Failure Prediction is a systematic procedure for identifying beforehand, and then preventing, all dangerous or harmful events that might be associated with a system.

The ability to anticipate and begin to control the future puts considerable power in the hands of a trained user.

The Ideation International process for managing the future is based on TRIZ, an acronym for the Russian words for "Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems." Do you have experience with TRIZ or Ideation International?

Notes from Ideation International: Directed Evolution

Recently I met with leaders from Ideation International, who have created a set of tools for managing the future. The short-term future can be managed with Inventive Problem Solving and the medium term with Anticipatory Failure Determination.

The real power in the Ideation International tool box is Directed Evolution™, which allows a user to analyze "future generations of a system and control system evolution."

Directed Evolution™ provides a means not only to predict but to direct future technological achievements in a given time frame with a specified level of support. Most of the innovations that will appear over the next 20 years will be based upon scientific and technological knowledge existing now. The difficulty lies in identifying what knowledge is of real significance. With hindsight, what seems obscure today will be remarkably clear tomorrow. The role of Directed Evolution™ is to evaluate today's knowledge systematically, thereby identifying what is achievable and, more particularly, how one technological advance, perhaps in conjunction with another, could fulfill a human need.

We've all probably heard futurists who make predictions about the future. I heard a particularly powerful presentation recently by Ray Kurzweil at Venture 06. While the predictions of futurists like Ray are impressive, how these predictions are made is esoteric and how to apply them to my specific situation is problematic.

Ideation International puts on a users desktop the power to anticipate, and ultimately control, the future in situations relevant to the user. This is incredible.

The Ideation International process for managing the future is based on TRIZ, an acronym for the Russian words for "Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems." Do you have experience with TRIZ or Ideation International?

Notes from Ideation International: Control of Intellectual Property

Leaders from Ideation International have created a set of tools for managing the future: Inventive Problem Solving, Anticipatory Failure Determination, and Directed Evolution™.

At the end of the day, we want to make money by protecting and enhancing the value of our intellectual property. The Ideation International process, Control of Intellectual Property, does that in three phases:

Disclosure Inspection uncovers, displays and codifies the interrelationships among the functional elements of an invention disclosure or technology description submitted by the client. A suggested list of claims as well as a list of alternatives to expand the inventive reach of the disclosure or technology description is provided.

Patent Analysis employs a patented methodology to generate a graphical depiction of the logical structure of the invention described in the patent. This diagrammatic approach exposes both the weaknesses and strengths in the patent and its claim structure. The software that embodies the specialized methodology further produces a comprehensive list of suggested avenues for development that may strengthen, expand or extend the patent.

Patent Deconstruction conducts a focused patent analysis to meet the client’s objectives, which typically include litigation support, infringement avoidance, and circumvention of a competitor’s patent. This work is carried out in close partnership with client personnel so that the competitive landscape be fully appreciated by the IPBI analysts.

The Ideation International process for managing the future is based on TRIZ, an acronym for the Russian words for "Theory of the Solution of Inventive Problems." Do you have experience with TRIZ or Ideation International?

Notes from Venture 06: Is InnoVenture on the right track?

Venture 06, held last week, was the Council for Entrepreneurial Development's 23rd annual venture conference. I was impressed with their commitment that, "It's all about the entrepreneurs." I was also blown away by a compelling presentation that the changes we will experience in the next few decades will "Reinvent Humanity."

March 2006 was the third annual InnoVenture conference, and I was inspired by what is possible 20 years from now. InnoVenture had 600 attendees versus 700 at Venture 06, but 225 of their attendees were investors.

But I also came away confident in InnoVenture's model of creating Communities of Innovation including corporations, universities, emerging companies, and investors. Several people that attended both conferences told me how much they enjoyed InnoVenture, which was saying a lot in the glow of Venture 06. More encouraging, many people told me that they had heard, one way or another, that InnoVenture was tremendous and they planned to attend in 2007.

We definitely created a buzz at InnoVenture that we can build on.

Notes from Venture 06: It's all about the entrepreneurs

Venture 2006, held last week, was the Council for Entrepreneurial Development's 23rd annual venture conference. For 20 years, Monica Doss has been President of CED, which is in Research Triangle Park and is one of the most successful entrepreneurial development organizations in the world.

The sound bite that stuck most with me was something Monica said to me as soon as I go there, "It's all about the entrepreneurs." She was talking not only about the conference itself, but the guiding principal for the future development of the CED. While clearly rooted in RTP, Monica emphasized that entrepreneurs were seeking resources and relationships outside the region and CED will help them.

The emphasis on entrepreneurs was reinforced throughout the conference. There was a very impressive Marquee Panel discussion, including:

Steve Nelson, Managing Director & Partner, Wakefield Group

John McConnell, Chief Executive Officer, A4 Health Systems

Stephen Pierce, Head of Equity Capital Markets for the Americas, Goldman, Sachs & Co. New York

Harry Weller, Partner, New Enterprise Associates

Ryan Wuerch, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Motricity

There were plenty of investors at the conference, 225 all looking for companies to invest in. Money wasn't the problem. The panelists made it very clear that the rarest element is proven entrepreneurs with a successful track record of having grown companies and made money for investors before.

Finding, developing and nurturing proven entrepreneurs is what Monica is most focused on, and the rest of us should focus on it intensely too.

Notes from Venture 06: Reinventing Humanity

The Featured Speaker at Venture 06 was Ray Kurzweil. His presentation impacted me more that anything in a long time. He asks the question, "What happens when machines exceed human intelligence in every measurable way?" He calls this the “Singularity,” which he predicts will happen by 2030. An article he wrote, Reinventing Humanity: The Future of Machine–Human Intelligence, sums up his view that,

We stand on the threshold of the most profound and transformative event in the history of humanity, the “Singularity.”

What is the Singularity? From my perspective, the Singularity is a future period during which the pace of technological change will be so fast and far-reaching that human existence on this planet will be irreversibly altered. We will combine our brain power—the knowledge, skills, and personality quirks that make us human—with our computer power in order to think, reason, communicate, and create in ways we can scarcely even contemplate today.

This merger of man and machine, coupled with the sudden explosion in machine intelligence and rapid innovation in gene research and nanotechnology, will result in a world where there is no distinction between the biological and the mechanical, or between physical and virtual reality. These technological revolutions will allow us to transcend our frail bodies with all their limitations. Illness, as we know it, will be eradicated. Through the use of nanotechnology, we will be able to manufacture almost any physical product upon demand, world hunger and poverty will be solved, and pollution will vanish. Human existence will undergo a quantum leap in evolution. We will be able to live as long as we choose. The coming into being of such a world is, in essence, the Singularity.

Before you write him off as a flake, read the article and review his incredible biography.

I uncertain whether the world he envisions is Utopia or a sure sign of the coming of the Apocalypse.

Best Practices: How BMW Moves Its Best Ideas Forward

Here's an interesting Power Point presentation of Best Practices: How BMW Moves Its Best Ideas Forward

The wealth of networks: The economics of open source collaboration

Yochai Benkler, professor of law at Yale, has written an interesting book, The Wealth of Networks analyzing the economics of the open source movement.

He was recently interviewed at Open Business, and observed

“commons-based peer production” means any one of a wide range of collaborative efforts we are seeing emerging on the Net in which a group of people engages in a cooperative production enterprise that effectively produces information goods without price signals or managerial commands... The critical defining feature of these “enterprises” is that they rely primarily on social information flows, motivations, and relations to organize the group. Individuals self-identify, mostly, for tasks, and through a variety of peer-review mechanisms contributions get recognized by the group and incorporated into what emerges as the collaborative output.

Learning to harness the power of these self-formed networks is an incredibly big idea.

Place matters because innovation is a contact sport

There is a very interesting dichotomy developing. People globally to collaborate via the Internet in incredible ways that were not possible a few years ago, but people are social creatures and personal relationships still matter.

Randall Kempner, vice president for regional innovation at the Council on Competitiveness, observes that in a recent interview that,

We believe that regions are the place where innovation takes place, because innovation is actually a contact sport. In this highly-connected world, people still like to have personal interactions and know the suppliers, buyers and related institutions that enable new product and idea development.

He also identifies what I believe is an enormous untapped opportunity for all regions, especially ours.

I'll just use Rochester , New York , as an example. Kodak has a bunch of orphan technologies. There you have a large company that has developed a bunch of patents and potential technologies that don't fit into their business strategy because the opportunities are too small or not in the company's core market. However, one firm's “small” $100 million dollar market is another man's fortune. But, as of yet, neither the region nor the company has found a way to get their technology into the hands of people that could actually do something with these opportunities.

InnoVenture is at the infancy of building on these concepts.

Bringing Science Alive in Low-Income Schools

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has awarded a one-year grant of $352,000 to Kansas City Public Television (KCPT) so that 50 low-income schools can participate in ChalkWaves – an innovative, technology-based effort that makes a vast archive of more than 7,000 science-related digital video clips instantly available to teachers and students. This is one more grant in the Kauffman Foundation’s 10-year agenda to advance student achievement in the areas of mathematics, science and technology.

ChalkWaves functions much like an audio/video encyclopedia, delivering live-action video clips that illustrate a wide variety of science concepts into the classroom. Each program is correlated to state learning standards and can be displayed upon a computer screen or by projector within a matter of moments.

Anyone up to helping a low-income school apply for a ChalkWaves grant?

This would be unbelievable, if it weren't so typical

The Lee County School District "received the state's lowest rating, 'unsatisfactory,' and more than two-thirds of the students scored 'below basic,' the lowest score, on the annual state test."

Educational entrepreneurs are trying something different. The Sun Times reports,

In a cluster of portable buildings on a lot behind the Church of Christ, the MLD Higher Learning Academy is trying to offer 75 students something different in a school district that academy officials say has failed its children.

In one room, part-time teacher Barbara Wilson guides 15 fourth- and fifth-graders through a lesson on words that describe the sense of touch. Some students sit at computers donated by a nearby school district.

The class prepares students for the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test, South Carolina's annual exam on which the pupils and their new school will be judged.

"I think we're filling a big void for the district," Principal Benita Dinkins-Robinson said. "A lot of these kids would have been home."

Now it would make sense for the Lee County School District to support talented, passionate educators trying to reach students who are otherwise failing. Clearly what the district is doing isn't working. If they are successful, then perhaps the district can take their model and expand it to other areas of Lee County.

But no. The District's response would be unbelievable if it wasn't so typical. Lee County School District "Superintendent Lloyd Hunter says the district is being forced to divert precious resources to an unproven concept."

Mind you we're not talking about taking money out of public education and giving it to private schools. A charter school is a public school, accountable to the same standards as every other public school in the state. We're talking about funds flowing from a failed school district to a principal and teachers who think they can perform better, which shouldn't be too high a hurdle.

In the real world, it's common sense for resources from failing enterprises to be reallocated to innovators creating new ways of delivering value to customers not well served by the status quo. I had a partner who used to remind me that common sense isn't so common though.

Public education is the biggest place it is easy to get depressed about our ability to do what is necessary to be successful in an increasingly global economy.

Get Out of The House

Post by Jeff Papenfus

Tonight (Thursday) is Gigi Dover and her band at The Handlebar around 8:30 ish. Gigi is a favorite of ours and should be one of yours. Come see her wail away on original and covers. She makes it to G-Vegas a couple of times a year. She is scheduled for the Reedy River Music series later this Spring also.

It should be a nice tonight so come to Downtown Alive at Piazza Bergamo after 5:30 before Gigi. Did you know they've been doing that for over 20 years! Wow! Come be a part of history and drink warm beer at Greenville's oldest Thursday afternoon party while you can still play on the grass!

Friday night is Hootie and the Blowfish at the Bi-Lo Center. Darius and the boys are back for the umpteenth year playing in, around and at the BMW Charity Pro-Am. If we ask nicely maybe they will play I Go Blind ;)

Did you know that Soby's now has Sunday Brunch! What could be better than that?? Check out the details at Soby's.

We hope everyone Got Out of The House and enjoyed Artisphere last weekend - it was wonderful. Three cheers for Mary, Henry and the whole team that is working to give us a great venue for creativeness and to put Greenville on the International art map.

Our friend Teri Pena has opened a gallery in the West End. Well less a Gallery than a window display. But coolness non-the-less. Teri is a fantastic painter, sculpter and general all around creative class poster girl. Check it out across from Latitude on Main Street.

Our old friend Anastasia, an artist specializing sculptures, has launched a new biz online selling mini-sculptures of her busts, butts and torsos. The catch is they are soap! Sounds a little goofy, but worth the looksee: Art by Anastasia.

Investor seeking acquisitions in aviation, or early stage investments in transportation related innovations

I have a friend with an extremely successful track record of creating value in the aviation industry. He has significant capital and is " seeking acquisition of or investment in aviation/aerospace related companies. Minimum sales ideally would be $25 Million, [and the company] must be profitable, must have top-tier quality rankings, [and must have] excellent Management willing to stay."

Given the growing transportation sector in the southeast, he is also considering forming a venture capital fund to invest in early stage companies with transportation related innovations.

Please let me know of aviation/aerospace related companies that may be interested in partnering with an extremely successful capital partner, or of emerging companies with transportation related innovations seeking a venture capital partner with significant industry experience.

How do you validate the reputation of those you collaborate with but have never met in person?

IBM's Global Innovation Outlook 2.0 notes,

In the last decade the proliferation of communication networks has not only connected people, places and ideas in unprecedented ways, but also catalyzed the evolution of social structures. Suddenly, it’s possible to transcend physical and geographic borders more easily, and that freedom has fostered a new willingness to partner both within and outside the traditional boundaries of organizations and countries.

Most of us have experienced this. The Innovation Outlook goes on to note,

In such a world, unifying forces such as loyalty and pride of ownership could be supplanted by trust and pride of contribution. But that also suggests the need for a new set of social standards to help foster collaboration. In many GIO discussions, people kept coming back to the idea of “reputation capital”... as a kind of currency for building trust in a prospective worker’s personal and professional qualifications. They cite examples such as Wikipedia and eBay, both of which have built successful brands based on the contributions of hundreds of thousands of non-affiliated individuals. In each case, there are standards in place that allow people to see and rate the integrity and credibility of contributors. And the more a contributor consistently demonstrates a high level of accountability and quality, the more value he or she garners—from commanding a higher selling price on eBay to having more “authority” on Wikipedia. Reputation capital is even beginning to function as a currency outside the parameters of a specific endeavor—some college-age and postgraduate job hunters now put their eBay rating on their resumes, pointing to this “trustmark” as a de facto measure of reliability and desirability.

Even for businesses not built around the contributions of individuals, reputation capital has intriguing possibilities, especially for those emerging global players who have only a virtual presence and no visible brand of their own. What new standards, systems or institutions might emerge to provide the equivalent of the eBay trustmark or the Good Housekeeping Seal for small businesses and other entities looking for partners in the global economy?

InnoVenture is focused on creating Communities of Innovation, and so that last question is a very personal one for me. I'm interested in your thoughts.

Do you have examples of programs to increase our innovation capacity?

Here's Doug Woodward's presentation at the Moore School of Business' 23rd Annual Economic Outlook Conference. In it he says,

Innovative capacity is the key to regional growth. Innovation is more than just science and technology. Enhancing innovative capacity requires progress in multiple ways:

* Expanding university research, also commercialization vehicles
* Taining of scientists and engineers
* High-quality MBA/management programs
* Risk capital and strong incentives to take risk
* Building supporting industries for commercialization (e.g. legal, accounting, consulting)
* Intellectual property protection
* Linking technology and entrepreneurs

Do you have an example of someone from the traditional economic development community with a program focused on increasing our innovation capacity?

This would be unbelievable if it wasn't so typical.

The Lee County School District "received the state's lowest rating, 'unsatisfactory,' and more than two-thirds of the students scored 'below basic,' the lowest score, on the annual state test."

Educational entrepreneurs are trying something different. The Sun Times reports,

In a cluster of portable buildings on a lot behind the Church of Christ, the MLD Higher Learning Academy is trying to offer 75 students something different in a school district that academy officials say has failed its children.

In one room, part-time teacher Barbara Wilson guides 15 fourth- and fifth-graders through a lesson on words that describe the sense of touch. Some students sit at computers donated by a nearby school district.

The class prepares students for the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test, South Carolina's annual exam on which the pupils and their new school will be judged.

"I think we're filling a big void for the district," Principal Benita Dinkins-Robinson said. "A lot of these kids would have been home."

Now it would make sense for the Lee County School District to support talented, passionate educators trying to reach students who are otherwise failing. Clearly what the district is doing isn't working. If they are successful, then perhaps the district can take their model and expand it to other areas of Lee County.

But no. The District's response would be unbelievable if it wasn't so typical. Lee County School District "Superintendent Lloyd Hunter says the district is being forced to divert precious resources to an unproven concept."

Mind you we're not talking about taking money out of public education and giving it to private schools. A charter school is a public school, accountable to the same standards as every other public school in the state. We're talking about funds flowing from a failed school district to a principal and teachers who think they can perform better, which shouldn't be too high a hurdle.

In the real world, it's common sense for resources from failing enterprises to be reallocated to innovators creating new ways of delivering value to customers not well served by the status quo. I had a partner who used to remind me that common sense isn't so common though.

Public education is the biggest place it is easy to get depressed about our ability to do what is necessary to be successful in an increasingly global economy.