Following our first Techonomy Detroit conference last fall, we profiled Venture for America, a program that places young tech entrepreneurs at start-ups throughout the country, targeting cities like Detroit, New Orleans, and Las Vegas that are still grappling with economic recovery. We also profiled an innovative Detroit startup called Are You a Human, which offers a secure and entertaining alternative to CAPTCHA authentication technology, designed to verify that someone using a website is a real persona and not a robot with bad intentions. Max Nussenbaum, a Venture for America fellow who was placed by the program at Are You a Human, was among several VfA fellows who attended Techonomy Detroit. In his Huffington Post blog about his experiences in Detroit, Nussenbaum argues that the city is a greenfield for innovation and experimentation. More
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What We’ve Learned at PARC About the Business of Innovation
The business of open innovation is something PARC has been continually refining since we incorporated in 2002. Mastering the process of innovation is about far more than developing new technology; it requires a deep understanding of human behavior and context, and the ability to invent new business models to take the resulting products and services to market. We've found common themes. Three of them illustrate how we’ve been innovating at PARC over the past decade. More
Working at Home: Mayer May Be Right
Does proximity matter for innovation? Marissa Mayer thinks it does, and has been getting chastised for it. The Yahoo CEO recently ordered her fellow Yahooligans to stop working from home and come into the office. She believes that proximity creates a better atmosphere for innovation. Yahoo’s human resources chief Jackie Reses explained in a memo: “Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings.” But that’s not where we’re supposed to be heading in the age of the Internet. More
Live Blog From Techonomy 2012 – Tuesday, Nov. 12
Welcome to the third and final day of Techonomy 2012, a conference about how the exponential pace of technology process makes possible a new world. We are gathering a diverse group of expert voices for a multidisciplinary dialogue about creating a better future. Today is the second day of the three-day event, and topics include manufacturing, tech-based transformation of big businesses, paramemory, and Facebook. More
Abolish Patents to Spark Innovation, Fed Paper Urges
Researchers at the US Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis say that the patent system should be abolished, SmartPlanet reports. Innovation will come from a patentless, cooperative environment in which technologies and discoveries are shared. More
Steve Case on How to Stimulate Innovation
In this session from Techonomy 2011 in Tuscon, Ariz., Steve Case, CEO of Revolution LLC, discusses the current state of entrepreneurship in the US, and what needs to happen to encourage growth and innovation. He says that changes to immigration law, access to capital, and changes in regulation are necessary to fuel entrepreneurship. More
Jeffrey Katzenberg on How DreamWorks Keeps Tech Costs in Check
In this session from Techonomy 2011 in Tuscon, Ariz., Jeffery Katzenberg, Co-Founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation SKG, discusses how DreamWorks keeps the cost of its productions steady, despite changing technologies. More
Jim Breyer of Accel Partners on Tech Investment and Job Creation
In this session from Techonomy 2011 in Tuscon, Ariz., Jim Breyer, Partner at Accel Partners, talks about how best to invest in innovative technology, assuming job creation as a primary consideration. By investing in a platform like Etsy, Breyer says, you help create jobs and a marketplace for people all over the world. More
Don’t Call It Crowdsourcing: Quirky CEO Ben Kaufman Brings Invention to the Masses
As he prepared for the 2007 Macworld Expo, 19-year-old inventor Ben Kaufman wondered how he could ever top the buzz his company, Mophie, had generated at the 2006 event. Instead of shooting for another iLounge Best of Show award with a clever new iPod case, he decided to invent a product on the spot—and enlisted total strangers to help him do it. Now 25, Kaufman is CEO of the consumer product company Quirky, which is transforming manufacturing by letting consumers decide what gets produced. More
