Sparkmag: Property Insights from the Experts

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Innovation and Keynected

Steve Jobs: "Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty, because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/02/ideas-flow/

What is innovation?

Curt Carlson defines innovation as, “the creation and delivery of new customer value in the marketplace with a sustainable business model.”

David Nordfors, who runs the i4j Innovation for Jobs Summit, succinctly defines innovation as “the introduction of a new narrative”, i.e. a new type of story.  He is developing this important idea on his blog and in a book he is writing.  If a product does not come with a compelling new narrative it will likely struggle in the marketplace. That is, developing a compelling narrative is an essential element of the value creation process.

David’s three rules for a new concept.  It must have: 
1) a name so that we can refer to it, 
2) a definition so that we know what it is or isn’t, and 
3) a narrative so that we can relate to it. 

 It is not possible to create something new without describing it and telling stories about what it is and does, both within the innovation team and for customers who will use it.

"For example, after I bought my first smartphone I was so pleasantly surprised that I showed it to all my friends. Steve Jobs had created a remarkable new product and completely changed the narrative about what computing devices can do." Says Curt.

David’s definition tacitly assumes that this new knowledge and narrative have value to society (i.e., customers) and that this narrative has a measure of sustainability in the marketplace (i.e., in society). That new knowledge and narrative can be delivered as a physical object, a service, or a concept. 

But all important new products or services come with new narratives. 

Once that narrative becomes understood, it becomes the background narrative that carries with it new knowledge. The next innovation must create additional new, surprising knowledge with yet another narrative.

Most technological innovations are small, but they all matter. Thousands of small and medium sized innovations accumulate and occasionally another transformational innovation, like the smartphone, is created. These disruptive innovations come with surprising new knowledge, language, and narratives. The world is forever changed.

Elko Kilpi's response to the above quote:- 

Having intimately followed the developments in mobile telephony and computing that led to the smartphone, here are some complementary thoughts: perhaps even a different narrative stating that

it was an emergent process of not only thousands of innovations, but also personal connections, unexpected encounters, bending the rules and lobbying.

I believe that there is nothing more important than the way we think about the nature of organisations and technology, particularly how they become to be what they are.

Our dominant voice in management theory is the language of design and control: we know how things are, what we are doing and what is going to happen next. If you look at this from the sciences of complexity, you could say that we live in an unstable world where sometimes very small causes can have very large effects. This model of the world of technology and innovation sees the future under perpetual construction through the very small (micro) interactions of the diverse entities comprising it. The final “innovation” or final “form” toward which it moves is not given, nor can it be chosen. It is a highly complex, ongoing process of people relating to each other. 

If we take this view, we move toward an understanding of innovation, and human action in general, as being in its essence a process of sense making.

Best wishes,

Esko

Some more thoughts on innovation: http://eskokilpi.blogging.fi/2010/01/15/life-is-a-temporal-pattern-of-emotional-and-intellectual-exchange/

Sparkmag: Remo Giuffres tips for entrepreneurs

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Technology Disruption will cause current leaders in Industry to disappear in 30 years

 

Insights from Vivek Wadhwa based on his talk from big think on youtube – extracted from April 2015 acuity magazine ( Aus / NZ Chartered Accountants Magazine)

In 15 – 20 years things will be significantly different to where they are now, and Industry leaders who are not ready for these could well dissappear.

Reinvention of manufacturing

•       Robotics and 3d printing – will change the need for employment in manufacturing

Reinvention of finance

•      Banking industry and pivate equity will turnon its head…
•       Bitcoin
•       Crowd funding
•       Crowd lending

Reinvention of healthcare

•        Health data storage and wearable sensors
•        Human genome sequencing
•      Robotic Surgeons
•      Virtual GPs based on data – monitoring.

Reinvention of the energy industry

•       Fracking will make America an energy exporter – reduce need on Middle East
•       Solar energy – now affordable – will eclipse fossil fuel industry
•      With unlimited energy – we can have unlimited clean water – simply boil ocean water!

Reinvention of food industry

•       we don’t have to slaughter animals – we can 3d print our own meat!

Reinvention of communication Industry

• Landlines replaced by Mobiles which is now replaced with data. Just call over skype or zoom and wifi will be everywhere.

The vast majority of companies who are presently the leaders in the industries will cease to exist in 30 years - unless they reinvest the money, energy and resources that is required to reinvent themselves. They should not be protecting legacy businesses and not be overly focused on short term performance.

The survivors will have strong leaders with a solid vision – which includes innovation and the ability to adapt to change.

“Trillion dollar industries will come out of nowhere and will replace existing trillion dollar industries – this is the future we are headed for – for better or for worse! “

Is Google glasses dead

Google just won't let Glass die. http://bit.ly/1HH4KlA http://keynect.me/wa

Shared via Keynected

Easter update from Macquarie Private Wealth

March has continued another great month against a backdrop of average data.  Bearish (negative) investors are scratching their collective heads, and wondering how a long grinding cycle (LGC) environment is so supportive of shares and property in the short and medium term?

What we are seeing – Australia:
• The recent NSW election result has shown that consultative leadership can shepherd difficult and non-populist agendas, past an increasingly fickle electorate.
• There is reduced, short term pressure on falling interest rates. However we believe in lower rates for longer.
• Real estate and the domestic share market markets will continue to be well supported – assuming no policy changes by policy makers.
• Weak demand for iron ore and commodities and a strengthening USD$.  Minimise commodities, mining and mining services exposure.
• We expect the AUD$ to continue to fall toward USD$0.70.

International outlook:
• Global focused investors have performed very well.  The “bull market” is intact, whilst sentiment readings are still saying it is still “uncool to be bullish equities”.
• Japanese and European equities continue to quietly make gains, with comparable valuations still well below domestic and US peers.
• We believe that the USD$ rally will be sustained in the medium term. This is a supportive tailwind for international investors.
• When 90% of the world’s GDP (gross domestic product index) are 0%, interest rates are 0% to negative, and government debt (bond yields) are 2% or less, share markets are one of the best performing asset classes.

Portfolio strategy:
• We are targeting international investment exposures – particularly in Japan and Europe.
• Focus on dividend paying investments, and growth profile companies that have growing, yet defensive earnings.
• Our portfolio strategies are concentrated on minimising volatility, and maximise long term, risk adjusted portfolio returns.

Thank you. Wishing you and your family a safe and Happy Easter.

Regards

Russell, Carl, Geoff, Alice and the Team

Russell Jones l Senior Wealth Adviser l CFP® Dip FS (FP)
Macquarie Private Wealth l Representative of Macquarie Equities Limited

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Is the internet killing jobs

	Bill Davidow (@BillDavidow)
31/03/2015 9:10 am In the past great technologies created lots of jobs. How is the Internet doing? tinyurl.com/ntergfq Is this a good or bad thing - what do you think?

Easy come easy go

John Illman (@LocalHotspot)

Easy Come, Easy Go! Viddy, Raises $30 Million in 2012 and Shuts Down On December 15 tcrn.ch/1Go67Dm via @TechCrunch

Humans Need Not Apply

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San Francisco's top 5% of earners blow the rest of the country out of the water

Robin Chase

Co-Founder Zipcar, Veniam

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Transportation/Trucking/Railroad

Current	Veniam,  Buzzcar,  Speaking Circuit
Previous	US Department of Commerce,  International Transport Forum,  Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Group
Education	Harvard University Graduate School of Design

Check out this Brookings Institute graphic about how SF top 5% income earners compare to other cities. A really striking graphic.

http://www.businessinsider.com/san-franciscos-top-5-of-earners-are-insanely-rich-2015-3?nr_email_referer=1&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Wednesday%20Friday%29%202015-03-20&utm_content=BISelect

San Francisco's top 5% of earners blow the rest of the country out of the water

The Brookings Institution recently released a report showing the income gap between the bottom 20% of households and the top 5% in the fifty largest US cities.

Inadvertently, Brookings has discovered a startling statistic about San Francisco.

Among the top fifty cities, San Francisco ranks as the second most unequal city in the United States, trailing only Atlanta, Georgia.

The top 5% in San Francisco, however, earn 17 times what the bottom 20% earn. The average for the top 5% in the 50 biggest US cities was 11.6 times what the bottom 20% earned.

That massive income gap may in part lie in just how ridiculously high income is for SanFrancisco’s top 5%. San Francisco’s top earners made at least $423,000. As you can see in the table below, no city’s top earners come within even $100,000 of those in SanFrancisco.

The Brookings Institution

The income gap will likely only get bigger in the coming years. Though Brookings did not have enough data to deem it “statistically significant,” it did find that the estimated rate of income growth for top earners in San Francisco was more than 18%, equivalent to an increase of $66,000.

From 0-150m in 6 months

My friend Bob  Pritchard has helped his client Bill N go from 0-150m in 6 months 

Here is how 

• The pain - minimal micro insurance in bric countries 
• The pill - e-insurance via mobile ( everybody has a mobile)
• a clear plan with effective strategies 
• Team - best and brightest people and groups around you 
• Character - persistence - being entrepreneurial. 
• the Spark - 80k event in Florida to attract the key brokers in the market 

To read full article click attached link 

http://sparkmag-au.blogspot.com/2015/03/from-0-to-150m-in-in-6-months.html

Building our innovation ecosystem

To build an Innovation Ecosystem - and grow the well being of our nation we need to nurture innovation -  it's all about education , linking and connecting! 

Linkages - 

- small and large and government 

- education and jobs - (vocational training)

- young and old 

- universities , entrepreneurs, corporate 

..... Form - Mastermind groups !!! - corporates to walk the talk ! Support innovators 

Words!!!

Collaboration

Ecosystem

Networks and referrals - in the fan of innovators 

Growth

Well being

Flow of intellectual financial and human capital

Education and upskilling - resourcing, coaching and mentoring needed 

Technology transfer 

Innovation districts facilitating linkages

Meet up groups

Virtual collaborations 

  

Startup ecosystem to drive 1/2 million jobs and a significant economiclift

It is well known that innovation drives economic growth and improves the well being of a nation 

‘The startup economy’ (commissioned by Google Australia by PWC in 2012 ) uncovered that the tech startup industry could deliver an additional $109 billion to the economy by 2033.

Definition of A tech startup - innovative, disruptive , potential to scale rapidly 

 75% of startups are targeting the Information Media and Telecommunications sector and may be missing the bigger picture opportunity for growth. Projections indicate that the Finance and Insurance, Manufacturing and Health Care and Social Assistance industries in particular hold either current or future value in contribution to total industry GDP. With Health Care and Social Assistance flagged as being the highest industry contributor to GDP by 2050.

6 key actions needed 

Call to Action

Enhance culture and community engagement – Research suggests that we have a considerably high ‘fear of failure’ rate, which is potentially constraining the growth of our startup ecosystem. Crucial to overcoming this is creating a culture that encourages participation, as well as provides support through mentorship and financial backing via angel funding.

Attract more entrepreneurs with the right skills – The report outlines that this needs to be driven through both education, as well as engaging the existing workforce to be more entrepreneurial. The latter is something that has been done incredibly well by the likes of Google, where employees are actively encouraged to take time out to develop innovations and think entrepreneurially. If this approach is driven through more enterprise organisations it could not only facilitate the growth of the tech startup ecosystem, but benefit organisations on many different fronts.

Open up markets to Australian tech startups – In 2012 procurement contracts from all levels of Australian government totaled $41 billion. The opportunity is there, however the challenge for startups is in accessing this important market. Simplifying procurement processes and open-innovation could have mutually beneficial outcomes. Transport for NSW is one Australian government department engaging in open innovation and connecting with the startup community to satisfy customer needs.

Encourage more early stage funding– Funding for the Australian tech startup sector exists, but is in short supply. Australia invests approximately US$7.50 per capita in venture capital per annum, compared to the US ($75) and Israel ($150).

Improve the regulatory environment – Australia is highlighted as having one of the best regulatory environments for entrepreneurship and the report indicates that there is potential for government to further support innovation and entrepreneurship. 

enterprise organisations should support from not only a funding perspective, but in the ability to embrace entrepreneurship within the operation of a business.  

For full report download your copy of ‘The Startup Economy: How to support tech startups and accelerate Australian innovation’.

Blrt founder Anurag Chakradhar sdevelopes patented communications technology

Blrt aims to combine the best of face-to-face communication and email in a new communication tool.

“Everyone tackling this collaboration problem thinks of it as a collaboration problem but I see it as an availability problem. You may be in a different time zone and sleeping or you may be in the office next to me but busy,” Chakradhar says.

“That shouldn’t hold me back from communicating what I have to say, without losing the emotion of voice and the ability to point at something or draw something, and without having to make a 100 or 500 megabyte video that you then have to download and respond to.”

The problem is that face-to-face meetings required real-time participation by all parties, but email lacked the emotion of voice and gesture. While video could theoretically enable both, it created huge files of 100 megabytes or even 500 megabytes with resulting storage and bandwidth issues.

Voice and gestures

Chakradhar’s idea is to capture the gesture and movement in vector format rather than video. 
“Instead of capturing your hand motion in video, you capture it in computer code,” he says. “That means it’s kilobytes, not megabytes. It feels like a video but it’s not a video.”

The result is an app that lets you pull up different documents or and zoom and pan on a static image, pointing things out with voice and gesture. It records a lightweight file and gives the recipient access to the documents and the ability to respond.

Its simple and functional

Blrt currently exists for iOS and Android.

He is seeking up to $2 million in venture capital funding to take Blrt global.

Grants Innovation in Landscape in Australia

We'd like to invite you to join BSI Innovation for a quick update on the current grants landscape facing innovative Australian businesses.

With new programs (State and Federal) recently introduced, some changes to the existing R&D Tax Incentive program likely, and the deadline for lodgement of claims for 2013/14 approaching fast, now is the time to get a refresher on what benefits are available for your business.

Our consultants will take you through each of the various tax incentive and grant schemes currently available, the real benefits available, and the key aspects of the application process. If you’re a start-up company, or represent an SME developing and commercialising new products and/or services, you can’t afford to miss this event.

Some of the topics we will discuss include:

 • The R&D Tax Incentive – What are the real benefits? What activities are eligible? What else do you need to know before claiming?

 • The Export Market Development Grant – Are you maximising what you’re entitled to? How are your trip records? Tips for first time applicants.

 • The Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme – 3 streams of benefit, the path to EIP funds, Accelerating Commercialisation – CA grants revisited.

Refreshments will be provided and attendees will have the opportunity to discuss specific issues with our consultants after the main presentation.

RSVPs are essential as places are strictly limited.

Details:

Date:             Tuesday 24th February 2015

Time:             5:30 pm arrival – 6 pm start

Duration:          Approx 1 hour

Location:         BSI Innovation Seminar Room, Level 7, 14 Martin Place SYDNEY NSW 2000

REGISTER HERE

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Crowd funding - bring it on!

The federal government appears set to adopt its first recommendation from the financial system inquiry that would pave the way for equity crowdfunding laws, The Australian Financial Review reports:

According to the newspaper, Minister for Small Business Bruce Billson told a group of 20 startups yesterday that it is the government’s “clear goal” to have crowdfunding legislation put before the parliament in the spring session.

Crowdfunding is a form of financing that sees ventures or businesses funded by small amounts of money from a variety of investors, the ‘crowd’, through an online platform.

The Financial System Inquiry, led by former Commonwealth Bank of Australia chief executive David Murray, threw its support behind the crowdfunding regulation proposal in December.

At the time, the FSI emphasised the problems small businesses have securing financing, especially at competitive rates, with traditional lenders. Crowdfunding would provide another finance stream for SMEs and help drive down the overall cost of borrowing for small business.

The system currently under consideration would allow securities-based crowdfunding, which would allow potentially large public offers.