BIF Speak

Kaplan in New Business Week Column: Energy Innovation Should Trump Job Creation

admin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:44:19 -0700

An excerpt from the BusinessWeek article, "Energy Innovation Should Trump Job Creation," by Saul Kaplan

Nursing Home of the Future Update: Innovation in Medication Management Sorely Needed

admin — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:02:49 -0700

Soon after BIF launched the Nursing Home of the Future (NHoF) laboratory, medication (and the management of that medication) clearly emerged as a part of the elder experience that has a big impact on quality of life.

There’s a lot we don’t know about how people get, take and manage their medications—it is an area of our lives that most keep very personal. The same is true for many elders and aging Americans who work hard to keep their prescription and over-the-counter drug routines maximized for safety and effectiveness.

Summit Offers Innovators Inspiration in Tough Economic Times

James Hamar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:23:04 -0700

Business Innovation Factory Summit on October 7-8 brings top innovation talent to Rhode Island, forgoes glam for intimate, accessible experience.

Lunch With Clay Christensen Prompts Lively Conversation About Disruption and Innovation in Healthcare and Education

admin — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:28:31 -0700

On June 2, the Business Innovation Factory hosted a luncheon with Clay Christensen for a conversation about the role “disruption” will (and should) play in transforming the healthcare industry and the American education system. In their dysfunction, these two systems have much in common and analysis of both shows deep systems-level issues that effectively block innovation.

June BIF Bookgroup Selection Is In! Reading Jeff Jarvis' What Would Google Do?

Chris Flanagan — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:30:17 -0700

The June BIF Bookgroup selection is in. This month we will be reading What Would Google Do? by noted blogger, digital journalist and BIF-5 storyteller Jeff Jarvis. The book chronicles Jeff’s effort to not only reverse-engineer the success of Google in the Internet economy but also help people apply those laws and lessons to their own industry, company or career.

BIF Summer Wine Extravaganza, Welcome Party for Chris Finlay

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:10:55 -0700

Join us at BIF on June 25 at 5:30pm for a summer wine tasting and meet and greet for BIF’s newest teammate, Chris Finlay. We yanked Chris away from NYC a month ago to run BIF’s new Student Experience Lab. Come say hello.

Thanks to Andrea Sloan at Best Beverage / FJN Fine Wines, LLC we’ll be sampling fresh summer whites, a few gloriously chilled reds and whatever else these wine wizards are serving this summer. Andrea will be here to introduce the wines and give you some tips on what to look for in a killer summer sipper.

Update from the Student Experience Lab Team

James Hamar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:36:12 -0700

In the days following BIF’s announcement that we had launched a new Student Experience Lab (thanks again, Lumina Foundation!) we received dozens of emails, Twitter tweets and calls from people who shared our belief that the current post secondary education system is in deep trouble. Fr

Field Notes from the Student Experience Lab

James Hamar — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:22:49 -0700

Straight from the horses mouth, my mother used to tell me, is the best way to get the facts. BIF puts a high priority on capturing field notes on all project work. These informal reports chronicle the work of the team, as opposed to their findings, which tend to get the most attention. We think a quick glance will give you come interesting insight into the personalities behind the Student Experie

When Product Innovation Isn't Enough

Chris Flanagan — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:44:18 -0700

At the BIF-2 Summit U.S. Representative Jim Langevin took the stage in his iBot wheelchair to introduce lengendary inventor Dean Kamen. It's a moment from that 2-day event that really stuck with me. The iBot allowed Langevin to do things he previously only imagined - from stair climbing to rolling over curbs to raising himself eye-to-eye with a standing world. The power of the product innovation was touching and inspiring.

Collaborative Platforms: Experimenting the BIF Way

Chris Flanagan — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:55:24 -0700

I get asked all the time for recommendations of gurus of open innovation. Always, professor Satish Nambisan from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is on my list. As more and more companies shift from innovation initiatives that are centered on internal resources to those centered on external networks and communities, Nambisan's book, The Global Brain, provides a roadmap for innovating faster and smarter in a networked world.