Archive for category Industries
Industrial Design for New Inventions
Posted by admin in Industries, Innovation, Invention, Inventors, Uncategorized on January 14, 2012
So you’ve got a great new invention that will change the world and / or make you very rich? The question now is what you do with big ideas and how you take from an abstract concept floating around in your skull into something that you can sell to others on a large scale and that will change the world for the better?
Well this will partly depend on your discovery, and if you have come up with new software for example then you will not really need anything and manufacturing can not just roll out their own ideas and see if it takes off. This works for Mark Zuckerberg, and can work for you.
But for most of our big ideas we are not software inventions, but more practical things that can really help us around the house. Things like chairs or design new tools that meet existing needs. Eureka moments come at times when we find ourselves trying to do something and fight more than necessary. Would not it be much easier ‘if’ we think – and that’s when we have a great idea. Perhaps a new type of packaging that makes the food more fresh while it is easy to use for the consumer, or it may be a new type of game that can play with the family.
Throughout history there are countless cases that Eureka moment and they have very much shaped the way today’s society. Every time you use a screwdriver, drinking from the cup, leaning on the table, playing with power ball gyroscope, walked on stage, or extra-long sweep with a broom … You use the discoveries of others. Did you know that the Hoover vacuum cleaner was created by none other than President Hoover? Similarly, perhaps even more surprising the cat flap was invented by Isaac Newton!
So how do you get on board with creating nonsense? Well once you have your invention you need to get it produced on a larger scale and you need to have it perfected. Industrial design for new discoveries help you to do this, take your idea and make it more workable. For example ‘Very Light Car’ recently won the automotive X prize, which means will get the funds to be developed for commercial sale. But a provision of the prize is that the car must have an industrial design so it will be possible – this is an example of how an ‘idea’ is not enough without being able to be applied in the real world.
There are other actions and steps to take when you have a genius idea, and you for example need to be protected by law against theft of your intellectual property – there are few things more depressing than going to start a business only to find that someone else has beaten you to punch using your idea. To avoid this, make sure that you look into getting your idea patented before you take further. Be careful who you tell about the new concept and only released once you have the power to launch it commercially. This way even if someone else steals your concept, they will come late to the party and you will have captured the majority of market share.
Depressed Inventors, Innovators, and Creative Geniuses
Not long ago, a gentleman from contacted me about an article I wrote, as he was researching issues concerning depressed inventors, innovators, and highly creative genius level individuals. So, is the stereotype type true? Are those who are so highly creative really mentally problematic, and often suffering from depression? Well, it turns out that is not typically the case, but there are still a higher number of depressed creative people by percentage than in the overall society as a whole.
So, when we talked about “Depressed Inventors” – I asked him if he himself was depressed? Why you ask? Well, because it seems that with brilliance often comes baggage. I’ve read several books on creativity of some of the greatest geniuses of all times, it seems this is quite common, but those innovators which succeed the most seem to have very mild depression (if any) and then hyper-manic states. Interesting isn’t it?
Indeed, I asked my acquaintance; “what have you learned on this topic in your online personal research?” Turns out there is not a lot of relevant information on the topic, but there is some, in fact, I have studied this dilemma the prior, perhaps we need more research on this. Maybe rather than giving depressed folks pharmaceuticals, we might instead test them for creativity, and move them into some sort of creative study, at least when it comes to kids in school. It’s a thought.
Interestingly enough, as a coordinator for a think tank which operates on the Internet, I’ve run across some wicked smart people, and some truly genius level creative types, and I have noticed at least some which do have mild depression now and again. It seems it may be something that just goes with the territory sometimes, and that’s why we have the stereotype, that we’ve all come to believe in. But, I’d warn the reader from buying into this line in every case, because, I’ve also observed folks who seem very even keel, and are definitely genius level innovators.
You see, stereotypes are fun to contemplate, and they are also worthy when profiling, but, they can be damaging too, and quite problematic. Therefore, be careful if you think that all creative geniuses are manically depressed, it simply is not so, in fact the chances are greater that they are not. However when pitted against over all society in percentages it is true that there are more chronically depressed or mildly depressed artists, painters, musicians, which fall into the genius category spectrum.
Amazing Japanese Inventor and Founder of Toyota
Posted by admin in Industries, Invention, Inventors, Uncategorized on November 10, 2010
Sakichi Toyoda is a national hero to Japan and was a great industrial entrepreneur. He is referred to as the King of Japanese Inventors and the Japanese Thomas Edison. He was born in Kosai, Shizuoka in 1867 and died in 1930. Toyoda founded many inventions including the automatic power loom which he implemented using the principle of autonomous automation, Jidoka. Jidoka means that the machine stops itself when a problem occurs instead of having human intervention. This principle later became part of the Toyota Production System.
The story of Sakichi Toyoda is studed by every Japanese school child. Even as late as 1985 he was listed as one of the ten most important inventors in Japanese history. The textile company he founded eventually gave birth to Toyota Motor Corporation. In a study of Japan technological advances it was noted that from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century Japanese researchers were skilled and original inventors, but had a weakness in commercializing the ideas. An exception to this observation is of course, Toyoda Loom Works. Sakichi Toyoda developed ideas and his son Kiichiro put into place large scale research and extensive prototype and mill testing to refine his father’s inventions.
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