The Medici Effect Blog

Diversity drives innovation

 

Pernilla Molander and Anna Kristensson had never regarded themselves as inventors. Nevertheless they created a teaching aid that now makes science graspable to students all aver the world. Their successful company BRIGHT of Sweden is based on their invention.

All Pernilla Molander wanted to do was to help her son, who is vision impaired, to understand the atomic model. He wasn’t able to see the pictures his teacher drew on the whiteboard in chemistry class and he felt that he was missing something.

- I realized that he would be helped by some kind of tactile aid, Pernilla Molander says.

A long late-night telephone call with her son’s assistant Anna Kristensson resulted in a plate sized atom model made from a round plastic box and wax threads. This enabled him to take in the structure of the atom with his hands and to change the positions of the particles. It seemed to work for him.

- That was what we wanted to achieve, and we really didn’t expect it to lead to anything else.

However, when he brought it to chemistry class to work with it something interesting happened: It appeared that he wasn’t the only one who found the concept of the atom model difficult to grasp. Many of his friends wanted to borrow his home-made atom since it made it so much easier to understand. The teacher immediately saw the pedagogical potential. When the inventors learned this they were surprised but very pleased.

- It was an incredible feeling when we realized that this could help others and we decided to pursue this idea.

A company was formed and a prototype was made and tested. Soon they realized they had struck gold. There was no similar tactile product on the market and it wasn’t only students who found it useful – teachers loved it! The advantage is that it is provides hands-on learning for something that is actually very abstract. The movable pieces make it easier to understand the mechanisms of atoms, ions and isotopes. The tool also makes it easier to remember the theory. To make things even better the same atom model, that of Niels Bohr, is being taught in schools all over the world.

Today, three years after the creative telephone conversation, their cleanly designed BRIGHT Atom is being sold to a growing number of countries. The turnover is a couple of million Swedish crowns (roughly 500,000 USD) and they need to keep employing people. Inspired by this success they launched a new product based on the same principle in August 2007, and more are being developed.

The concept of the BRIGHT Atom may seem very obvious. But it was only discovered because of a need to facilitate for a minority - the vision impaired. Its unexpected usefulness to people who do not belong to that minority suggests there are a lot of good ideas that are still hidden. In fact, this is how most innovations happen; a diversity of perspectives generates new ideas.

/Kristian Ribberström

Hybrid Houses

Hybrid low-emission cars are a fascinating because of the advanced technology. But from an innovation point of view energy-saving buildings are just as interesting. There is a plethora of different methods being developed and there is apparently a lot to gain from an interdisciplinary approach.

The Medici Effect describes how architect Mick Pearce reduces energy consumption dramatically by designing natural ventilation inspired by termites and here you can read about a mixed team of architects, scientists and engineers who created a low-energy ventilation system for a building in London. Another example is this hybrid solution for natural ventilation in a library building near Chicago.

/Kristian Ribberström

Dishwashers and file cabinets

In New Zealand I got introduced to the Dishdrawer, an innovation that has been around for about 10 years, but I had not seen it until now. It was developed by two kiwis, engineer Adrian Sargeant and designer Phil Brace – and, in short, they combined the concept of a file cabinet with the concept of a dishwasher. You can buy just a single dish drawer if you have a small apartment, but even better, you can buy a double unit with two separate draws stacked together. The point is that you can wash dishes in one drawer, while still loading more dishes in another. Interestingly the inventors thought they had a good handle on the target market but, as is always the case with creativity and innovation, you just don’t know how your ideas will play out. Be prepared to experiment and follow subtle hints. The dish drawer, it turns out, is very popular among Jews who keep kosher. To quote straight from the wikipedia site of the dish drawer: "Jewish law requires separate dishwashers for meat and diary. The drawer dishwashers allow separate meat and dairy dishwashers in a small kitchen that might have room for only one full-size dishwasher."  This has now become a major market for them, once again highlighting the need to remain open to all kinds of diverse perspectives when developing and marketing an idea.

Limit yourself

I have just returned from quite an incredible trip- you’ll hear more about it. Over the past month I traveled through Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the Philippines with my wife, Sweet Joy. The primary reason for the trip was me speaking at an innovation conference in Melbourne, a diversity conference in Auckland and a few other places, both excellent. We also managed to pursue all kinds of research in a number of different areas and just have an amazing time.

Now, I am a massive fan of the Lord of the Rings movies and could not pass up to go on a couple of tours while on the South Island in New Zealand. The guides were quite knowledgeable and could talk a lot about the creative process that went into the various scenes and one of those scenes really stood out to me as an excellent example of the power of limitations to force cool, creative ideas.

There is a scene in The Two Towers where Legolas has just fired arrows towards attacking orcs mounted on wargs (wolf-like creatures). As the Aragorn-and-king-Theoden posse follows on horseback, the elf manages to grab a hold of the reins on one of the horses and swings himself up into the saddle in an incredible and insanely graceful maneuver. And these stunning acrobatics happens in passing, the camera barely focuses on it. Each time I saw this scene in the movie theater (ehhhmm… 4 times) you could hear a chorus of amazed gasps in the audience.

Turns out the scene was not planned. Here is what happened: Peter Jackson had filmed Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas, shooting the arrows, and then riding away. Unfortunately they could not get the footage of him getting on the horse because Bloom managed to break a couple of ribs. While editing the movie they realized that they had no footage of him getting on the horse which presented a big problem. They had few options and had to come up with something different. And that’s when they thought of this amazing scene. It was done with computer graphics and looked like a million bucks.

Interestingly the audience reaction led Jackson to want a “Leggy-moment” in Return of the King and he created a huge scene where the elf single-handedly climbs an Oliphant, kills it and then surfs down the trunk. It’s not a bad scene, but it is very predictable. And it is the result of working with a lot of resources to come up something cool. So what is the lesson here?

Are you trying to come up with something fascinating? Imagine doing this: cut your perceived options, cut your budget, cut your time, cut your resources, cut everything. And then work hard - very, very hard - to come up with some type of solution. Your ideas will be different, and with some luck, insanely creative.

Oh – and this is me, at the exact location, posing as… well….you’ll figure it out…

 

Climate change generates new solutions in car design

As an example of revenue generating intersectional innovation the modern SUV is excellent; it is a combination of the traditional jeep and a regular car and people seem to buy it whether they need it or not. From an environment point of view, however, it is arguably a step in a problematic direction. Car manufacturers are aware of this and today they focus a lot of this impressive capacity for innovation to develop more sustainable transportation. “Hybrid” seems to be a key word and in that sense many of these solutions are intersectional too.

The examples of hybrid cars are plentiful. Volvo’s plug-in concept car is interesting since it challenges basic assumptions in car design by having one electric motor on each wheel. Read more about it here. I will soon be back with more examples of energy-saving methods developed at intersections. 

/Kristian Ribberström

Mixed teams boosted creativity at game developer Dice

Tobias Dahl is lead animator at Dice and read The Medici Effect about a year ago. Since he works in a typically creative field it was easy for him to link the examples in the book to his job. One thing that struck him was that the concept of mixed teams had the potential of improving innovation in their own studio; closer interaction between professionals from different fields simply made a lot of sense. At least it was worth trying.

At Dice (EA Digital Illusions CE), most well-known for the Battlefield series, innovation is an absolute necessity. “The success of this company is built on its IP and if we are not constantly creative we will not survive in this business” says Tobias. Therefore it is natural for them to try different methods that stimulate ideas and when he suggested a change that he thought would heighten creativity he was immediately allowed to implement it.

In the original organization the animators and the programmers were sitting apart and handed each other specifications and requests via e-mail or sheets of paper. It worked just fine. But what would happen, he thought, if they were forced to work closely together?

His team had started working on a game called Mirror’s Edge when he put the programmers and the animators in the same room. Right next to each other. Not unproblematic. “To some extent a mix of animators and programmers will be a mix of artists and engineers and for a while I thought that the friction would put an end to this experiment.” Tobias says. However, as time went by the close collaboration between these two groups turned out to be extremely fruitful and quite soon the conflicts were just a minor problem. The advantages became too obvious for people to want to go back to the way they had worked before.

The difference is that now the animators can tell the programmers directly what they need and show them why. The programmers, in their turn, can explain why they can’t do certain things but also what they can do instead. “The fact that they get a thorough understanding of each other’s working processes makes things a lot easier”, says Tobias. The possibilities and the limitations of the two respective fields are now known to everyone and we solve problems not only at meetings but throughout the process in constant dialogue and cooperation. All this has had tremendous impact on the innovative performance of the team - the atmosphere has become highly creative. It is not like we are doing crazy things like playing with Lego to produce unexpected ideas - we are, after all, Swedish – but the ability to generate many ideas and higher quality ideas has increased dramatically.

This has given the team confidence. The phrase “How hard can it be” has become a mantra with which they attack problems and challenges that arise. For instance, the project has required many advanced technical solutions that simply didn’t exist before and had to be created from scratch. Sometimes it seemed impossible but with input from the animators the programmers did it. “These processes helped us achieve truly new and original things in movement and animation which are the most important parts of Mirror’s Edge and we are sure that is what will set it apart from other games.” Tobias even believes it has the capacity to break the stagnation that has prevailed in game design for years. “Whatever people will think about it they are going to have to admit that it is unlike anything else. I am convinced that the mix of people has been instrumental for our ability to generate and develop these groundbreaking ideas”.

Considering the advantages that were gained it is interesting that there were no costs involved. “All we needed was a room. And then, after a while, a bigger room when more people wanted to join the team that seemed to have such a flow”. He hopes that they will be able to work in the same way on new projects and he thinks that other teams will follow.

After this glimpse behind the scenes it will be interesting see how Mirror’s Edge is received when it is released next year. I will surely find reasons to revisit the team at Dice before that, however, and report about it here.

/Kristian Ribberström

Interdisciplinary research behind surgery simulator and underwear

I just wanted to share two different cases of successful interdisciplinary research and development in the field of medicine.

In France a team of experts – surgeons, computer scientists, didacticians, and psychologists – have developed a groundbreaking computerized simulator that will provide surgeons and students with very realistic practice. Read more about it here.

In Denmark Coloplast, who specialize in medical equipment, decided to produce an aesthetic and practical underwear-line for colostomy patients. They contacted fashion designer Anette Meyer who contacted textile-designer Astrid Krogh. Soon they involved textile-company Tytex and together the two designers and the R&D departments of the two companies developed the product line Corsinel. It took three years but today it is sold all over the world. Read more here.

/Kristian Ribberström

Music: New combinations will open people’s ears

I would never have guessed that a live band at a private party last weekend would turn out to be the best music experience of the summer. To me it sounded like typical techno, but with one important difference: They didn’t use synthesizers and computers. Instead the five-man band played electric guitar, drums, two bass guitars (!) and organ. The music wasn’t new and the instruments are actually quite old, but the combination! It was techno with a nerve and a presence that at least I don’t associate with that genre and the audience was spellbound.

In The Medici Effect it is described how music composer Mike Oldfield put himself in the avant-garde in the seventies partly by using instruments and arrangements in genre contexts where we don’t usually hear them. When I heard the live performance last Saturday it struck me how powerful this method is when it comes to creating something fresh and unique in the field of music, and for skilled musicians that intersection is always within reach.

On Youtube, which is a seemingly unlimited source of things you never expected to see, this duo shows how they take advantage of this possibility. A violinist or a DJ would have to do something quite spectacular to be “viewed” 285,000 times but this combination of a violinist AND a DJ really deserves the attention. Enjoy!

/Kristian Ribberström