Engineers in Aprons, Anyone????

The following is an except from a post on Knowledge Jolt with Jack (one of my featured blogs in the right column).

A colleague forwarded How Companies Are Using IT To Spot Innovative Ideas by David Greenfield from InformationWeek's 10 November 2008 issue. It highlights how research organizations are adding prediction markets to their process of selecting new ventures to pursue.

The use of these collective decision-making technologies, both sophisticated prediction markets and simple voting tools, is spreading, and they're increasingly being paired together as a component of corporate innovation programs, helping companies sort through reams of ideas--from new products to customer service to productivity improvements--to find that handful of blockbusters.

But where do companies get those better ideas? That's the golden question. Based on everything I've seen and done, the surprising new ideas come from a combination of "the prepared mind" (expertise) and strange ideas that appear to come from left field -- the innovation-in-the-gaps concept.

Those familiar with my blog and/or faculty website know that one of my foci is that of software that enables collaboration, along with the passionate belief that the goal of every person no matter their "bucket capacity" (aka "intelligence") should be to become an "educated person." (See my apologia in the right-hand column of my faculty site).

I've commented before upon the future of the American economy being based upon our ability to innovate. And while we need to educate our young folks deeply in one discipline, this is yet another example of why we must also educated them broadly.

So please:

• K-12 programs should continue (or restart) music, art, field trips, etc.
• Colleges should continue to promote arts programs on campus--and instructors should motivate students to attend (a few point's bribe, perhaps???)
• Humanities instructors (e.g. Music & Art Appreciation) should be given plates of chocolate chip cookies by adoring engineering students

Educate broadly--the future of our economy and our nation depends upon it.

Ok, so maybe the cookie thing won't happen . . . . .