To question whether social entrepreneurs can achieve large-scale change is to doubt the existence of Florence Nightingale, Maria Montessori, William Wilberforce, Fazle Abed, Jimmy Wales, or the 2,700 Ashoka Fellows! After all, what defines the true social entrepreneur is that he or she simply cannot come to rest in life until his or her vision [...]
Start-Ups, Not Bailouts
Here’s my fun fact for the day, provided courtesy of Robert Litan, who directs research at the Kauffman Foundation, which specializes in promoting innovation in America: “Between 1980 and 2005, virtually all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms that were 5 years old or less,” said Litan. “That is about [...]
Uncommon Act of Design: Fake Bus Stop Helps Altzheimer’s Patients
A German hospital's amazing solution to a baffling problem. One of the most pernicious symptoms of Altzheimer's is that patients, in a fit of confusion, feel suddenly disoriented from their surroundings and wracked with a need to just get home. As a result, Altzheimer's patients in nursing homes often escape–wandering at large, with no memory [...]
PopTech : Project Masiluleke
A breakthrough approach to reversing HIV and TB in South Africa and beyond Project Masiluleke is a path-breaking effort that harnesses the power of mobile technology to address one of the world’s gravest public health crises. This ambitious initiative leverages the ubiquity of mobile devices in South Africa to help fight the country’s crippling HIV/AIDS [...]
The Business and Innovation Trist | Blog | design mind
Business and innovation are in a symbiotic relationship. Innovative products and systems can be revolutionary but if they don’t take hold in the marketplace they will likely fail. So, how do innovators stay creative while also playing the role of business partner to reassure clients that innovative ideas won’t trump the bottom line? Yobie Benjamin [...]
Goodbye I, Hello We: The Decade of Interdependence | Networked Culture | Fast Company
I have a guilty pleasure. I am addicted to the year-end lists: the round-ups, the best ofs, the tops, the bottoms. The decade turn has been especially delicious, though the debate over what to call the first part of the twenty-first century is endlessly grating–who thinks the riff on the aughts as “the naughties” is [...]
Create Three Distinct Career Paths for Innovators – Harvard Business Review
Big companies are much better at incremental innovation than they are at radical innovation. That’s as true now as it was 20 years ago, despite countless programs aimed at strengthening innovation capabilities. To understand why, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studied 21 large companies’ efforts to build a capability for breakthrough innovations over several years. [...]
Architect – Shigeru Ban – Reusing Materials in Construction
via L STUDIO – Shigeru Ban.
Gary Hamel: Management’s Dirty Little Secret — How to Increase Employee Engagement – Gary Hamel’s Management 2.0 – WSJ
How would you feel about a physician who killed more patients than he helped? What about a police detective who committed more murders than he solved? Or a teacher whose students were more likely to get dumber than smarter as the school year progressed? And what if you discovered that these perverse outcomes were more [...]
Gimmie Shelter | design mind
By Michael McDaniel – October 27, 2009 In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it became obvious that America was frustratingly ill-prepared to house people displaced by a natural disaster. frog Senior Designer Michael McDaniel took this as a design challenge. His Reaction Housing System — inspired by the humble Styrofoam cup — could be deployed [...]