Improvising Inventors

An integral part of innovation is failure, you need to be open to failure in order to part take in innovation. But what happens when you fail. Instead of starting over and trying again, you can improvise. In this event we explored how inventors can take advantage of an unsuccessful situation simply by improvising.

 

March 3rd’s First Wednesday event will revolve around an open panel discussion with local inventors that focuses on the relationship between improvisation and invention. Often, successful activities do not turn out as anticipated; adapting and improvising are core competencies for innovators.

This SVII program will bring together several inventors for a discussion concerning the types of improvisation they have utilized to become successful.

The following inventors will be participating in March:

Ed Austin – Flings
SVII member Ed Austin developed the pop-up recycling and trash containers known as Flings. An inventive way to make recycling easier, Flings are now available at Safeways across the country. More information can be found online at http://www.flingsbins.com/

Joy Mountford – QuickTime
During her time at Apple Computer, Joy Mountford managed the Human Interface Group; the group that developed QuickTime, AppleSearch, and Macintosh Finder, among other software programs. She was also the founder of Apple’s International Interface Design Project. An interview with Joy can be found at http://www.designinginteractions.com/interviews/JoyMountford

Todd Basche – Wordlock
CEO of Wordlock, Inc., Todd Basche invented the Wordlock padlock because he could never remember number combinations. Prior to developing Wordlock, Todd was VP of Software Applications at Apple, responsible for creating iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD. More information about Wordlock can be found at http://www.wordlock.com/

Innovation Alignment: Integrating Diverse Resources

Howard Lieberman, CEO, Silicon Valley Innovation Institute

While disruption and divergence are key drivers of innovation, agreement and convergence are often necessary to bring value to the table. Complex innovation challenges require collaboration across diverse and even competing organizations. In these cases, alignment, in service to alliance, is key. When resources are limited, timely alignment plays an even more urgent role.

Howard Lieberman, founder and CEO of the Silicon Valley Innovation Institute will lead us in an exploration of the key elements involved in aligning and integrating across the mindsets, personalities, vocabularies, and goals of diverse resources. Howard will draw upon current innovation challenges he is deeply involved with and helping to address.

Showing Up at the Innovation Society

Leslie Janoe, Sue Lebeck, Howard Lieberman
Silicon Valley Innovation Society

As we re-convene after a busy summer, we bring our attention to the heart of what the SVII Innovation Society is all about: Innovation Advocacy.

SVII staff will be presenting the case for, historical activities relating to, and intended future Innovation Society treatment of this very important subject. Join us for a quick look back and a long look forward at the SVII Innovation Society’s culture of innovation advocacy.

“The one truly unbounded nenewable resource is human creativity, the master resource. When it is manifest as innovation, we all step forward together.” — Howard Lieberman, CEO, SVII

Step forward with us!

Join SVII Prinicpals Leslie Janoe, Sue Lebeck and Howard Lieberman as we re-invent our “First Wednesday” format to include a regular active practice of Showing Up as an Innovation Advocate.

Perspectives from a Serial Intrapreneur

Chuck House
Executive Director, Stanford MediaX

Join us as Chuck House reflects on intrapreneurship at HP, Intel, and a range of innovative Silicon Valley companies, over a career which spans three decades and beyond.

HP Phenomenon is the working title for a new book by Chuck and his co-author, Ray Price. Having spent 29 years at Hewlett-Packard, playing a wide variety of roles in a number of divisions, Chuck understands the HP phenomenon, as well as the Silicon Valley phenomenon, better than most.

Chuck House is Executive Director of MediaX, Stanford University’s Industry Affiliate research program on media and technology. As a senior research scholar, Chuck is continuing his work in technology-enabled communications, collaboration, and community.

Chuck has provided leadership roles at Silicon Valley companies ranging from HP to Intel (Virtual Collaboratory), Dialogic (acquired by Intel in 1999), Spectron Microsystems (sold to Texas Instruments), Veritas Software (during IPO period), and Informix Software (during the very successful turnaround years of 1991-1993).
Stints as an IEEE Fellow and a President of ACM, round out a rich and on-going career.