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Friday, February 28, 2014
Innovation: The MIT Way
Five tips for building a successful manufacturing innovation hub, straight from MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.
In his recent State of the Union Address, President Obama promised that 2014 would be "a year of action." He wasn't kidding.
In just the first two months of 2014, Obama announced the creation of three new National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI) hubs designed to do nothing less than to disrupt, revitalize and transform American manufacturing.
All told, these innovation centers, set up in Detroit, Chicago, and Raleigh, N.C., wield over $600 million in public/private investments and the commitment from 160 manufacturers, universities and industry organizations. The Detroit project alone – the "American Lightweight Materials Manufacturing Innovation Initiative "(ALMMII) – is expected to single-handedly bring10,000 new jobs to the region.
And that's just the start – by year's end, Obama has promised four more institutes created in manufacturing hotbeds across the country, all of them pulling together the right people, institutions and companies to push manufacturing and manufacturing technology forward.
Combined with the NNMI's pilot institute, America Makes (formerly NAMII), created back in August 2012, these eight centers and the nearly $1 billion of investment they carry are the first big push toward the ultimate goal of 45 centers set up within the next decade. They are also the proving grounds for the model they represent.
If all goes as planned, the next few years could see rapid advancements in an exciting array of technologies – new lightweight materials from Detroit, next generation power electronics from North Carolina, advancements in digital manufacturing and design in Chicago, 3-D printing disruptions from Youngstown, and who knows what else.
It has the potential to breathe new life into American manufacturing and really set off the resurgence we've been waiting for.
But only if it goes as planned.
These new groups have a lot of work ahead of them, a lot of investments to make and a lot of systems to create. After all, these are high potential, highly funded hubs created out of nothing in the center of a highly charged political spotlight.
With so much invested in these centers and so much resting on their outcome, we turned to one of the real experts in innovation – MIT's Deshpande Center for Technological – to see how, and if, they can succeed.
Five Tips from MIT
Since 2002, MIT's Deshpande Center has worked steadily to transform markets and transform lives with everything from better batteries to better cancer treatments. It has spun out 28 startup companies worth over $400 million in that time, all of them pushing cutting edge technologies from the fringes of academia into the mainstream market. It is where good ideas are born and where they are groomed for the world.
In the process of this work, Executive Director Leon Sandler has learned a few things about innovation and making innovation hubs like the NNMI projects work.
Pulling from that experience, he has five key pieces of advice for the new innovators entering the field – advice critical for innovation success in NNMI projects or your own R&D centers.
1. Expect to Fail
"Part of innovation is trying new things. If these innovation hubs are themselves innovative – which they should be – you would not expect them all to work. You would expect there to be failures. You expect along the way people would learn what works well, what doesn't work well, how they need to be restructured.
"Part of innovation is trying new things. If these innovation hubs are themselves innovative – which they should be – you would not expect them all to work. You would expect there to be failures. You expect along the way people would learn what works well, what doesn't work well, how they need to be restructured.
"That's the thing: Don't expect that everything will turn out really well. It will be a learning experience."
2. Choose Your Leaders Carefully
"Whether these projects will succeed or fail will come down to execution and leadership – to who is running them and if they able to execute properly.
"Whether these projects will succeed or fail will come down to execution and leadership – to who is running them and if they able to execute properly.
So, If you're trying to make a go of this, the first thing you need to do is hire very, very good people in your organization that are going to run it.
It starts with the leadership – a the leadership and then the team below the leadership. You need highly competent people – very competent and innovative people.
3. Empower Experts
"You really want to allow the people running the hubs and the people below them to be able to make decisions. "The minute you tie this up in a bureaucratic decision-making system where everything needs to be moved up to higher and higher levels, you're going to make the wrong decisions.
"You really want to allow the people running the hubs and the people below them to be able to make decisions. "The minute you tie this up in a bureaucratic decision-making system where everything needs to be moved up to higher and higher levels, you're going to make the wrong decisions.
"There's often a level of feel and judgment that goes into this stuff. You cannot do it all just by mechanical ranging and scoring. So decisions need to be made on the level where people have really deep knowledge about whatever that decision is."
4. Think Long-Term
"If you want to measure progress in innovation, you have to have a very, very long time scale – way longer than any politician's time scale. You need to be thinking 10-20 years before you measure anything.
"If you want to measure progress in innovation, you have to have a very, very long time scale – way longer than any politician's time scale. You need to be thinking 10-20 years before you measure anything.
"If you start measuring short term, you'll change the behavior and you'll never get the big innovations, just those that can be accomplished quickly.
"The big innovation stuff takes a long time; the really tough stuff doesn't happen easily."
5. Value People over Technology
"The interesting thing is, this stuff is actually not about technology. It's about people and it's about relationships. It's about people working together, communicating, exchanging ideas. That's how this stuff will happen.
"Yes, you need the labs and you need the very expensive equipment and all that. But it comes down to having people work together to make this happen. That is the essential element for success."
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Bhutan to Become Green Car Showcase in Deal with Nissan
Nissan plans to set up a network of charging stations across Thimphu, which industry experts see as vital in persuading motorists to shell out for an electric vehicle.
THIMPHU -- The remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan signed a deal withNissan (IW 1000/31) Friday to become the ultimate showcase for electric cars, taking advantage of its abundance of hydropower.
The announcement was made during a visit by Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn to Thimphu, the picturesque capital of Bhutan.
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay said electric vehicles would help meet a target of zero emissions.
"An important part of that plan will be sustainable and environmentally-friendly zero emission transport," he added at a joint press conference with Ghosn.
"We don't want to rely on and we don't want to buy fossil fuel," he added.
To mark the announcement which came on the birthday of Bhutan's revered king, Nissan said it was donating two of its Leaf electric vehicles to the government.
It will also supply Bhutan's pool of government cars and fleet of taxis with the same model for an undisclosed price.
Nissan plans to set up a network of charging stations across Thimphu, which industry experts see as vital in persuading motorists to shell out for an electric vehicle.
Wedged between India and China, the 'Land of the Thunder Dragon' is famed for its Gross National Happiness development model that specifically takes into account the environment as well as psychological well-being.
Landlocked and mountainous, Bhutan is teeming with rivers and waterfalls that enable it to operate four hydroelectric plants with a combined capacity of 1,400 megawatts -- equivalent to a powerful nuclear reactor. Most of the electricity is sold on to India but Bhutan also has to import traditional fossil fuels to meet the needs of its motorists.
"(Electric vehicles) will help Bhutan to reduce the use of fossile fuels and the need to import foreign oil," said Ghosn in the press conference.
Ghosn said the deal would make Bhutan an environmental role model, predicting that the government investment would encourage consumers.
"What we are talking about is the very initial step. Because of this vision that we see for Bhutan, you can expect hundreds or hopefully thousands of Leafs (to be) sold in Bhutan," added Ghosn.
Self-sufficiency
Tobgay, who came to power after winning Bhutan's second ever elections last July, sees electric cars as a way of becoming more self-sufficient and of demonstrating the rapid development of a nation that only introduced television in 1999.
The prime minister acknowledged that the high price -- the Leaf costs around $20,000 in the United States -- could scare off motorists but said he was hoping for outside help. "If we can get international agencies and individuals to support us to subsidize one third of that price, it becomes very affordable," he said.
While other capitals in South Asia are often cloaked in pollution, the residents of Thimpu enjoy a largely pristine climate.
As all vehicles have to be imported and are heavily taxed, car ownership is relatively small and taxis are widely used.
Nissan has emerged as the world leader in the electric car market having invested four billion euros with its French partner Renault, which owns more than 40% of the Japanese company.
Launched in 2010, the Nissan Leaf is now the best-selling electric car in history after becoming the first model to pass the 100,000 mark for worldwide sales at the end of last year.
One of the Leaf's chief attractions is its special fast charger which can be fired up in just half an hour, a vast improvement on the eight hours that it takes to recharge batteries linked up to the mains electricity.
It can reach speeds of up to 93 miles per hour and has a range of 200 kilometers.
The limited range of most green cars and their relatively high prices have proved major hurdles to a growth in sales.
But while the market remains tiny, industry experts expect demand to grow sharply in the next few years as emissions standards across the world are toughened.
-Patrice Novotny, AFP
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
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Blackberry Unveils Smart Phones Made by Foxconn
Blackberry debuted two devices to help it claw back market share in a new a five-year partnership with Foxconn.
BARCELONA – Struggling Blackberry (IW 1000/412) unveiled Tuesday its first smartphones built by new Taiwanese partner Foxconn as it fights to recover from huge losses.
Blackberry showed off two devices to help it claw back market share in a new a five-year partnership with Foxconn.
"We are definitely here to compete and to win back some lost ground before the end of the year," Blackberry chief executive John Chen told reporters at the February 24 to 27 World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.
Blackberry reported a $4.4 billion loss in the third quarter of 2013 last December but cheered investors by announcing it was teaming up with Foxconn, which is also a key supplier to a chief rival, Apple Inc.
The first handset is the Q20, which has Blackberry's trademark physical keyboard and is to be released later this year.
The second, the Z2, has touch screen and is aimed at the Indonesian market, going on sale in April for less than $200, Chen said.
Now joined with Foxconn, which is the marketing name for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (IW 1000/24), Blackberry will focus its comeback fight on selling phones to its traditional marketplace, the corporate sector, he said.
"Our turnaround strategy is to focus on enterprise," Chen said. "We are always known as the number one in security."
The Blackberry boss said he aimed to improve the company's liquidity position this fiscal year before making a return to profit in the following year.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
Rolls-Royce Unveils Future of Plane Engines
Rolls maps the course for a new generation of fuel-efficient, low-emission civilian aircraft engines.
DERBY - Rolls-Royce (IW 100/234) on Wednesday unveiled designs for its next generation of fuel-efficient plane engines, aimed at powering civilian aircraft of the future.
Two weeks after announcing a shock profit warning with government cutbacks on defense spending impacting its military engines business, the British group revealed plans to build on its successful Trent XWB engine, which is exclusively powering Airbus A350 long-haul passenger planes.
"A big bulk of the (aircraft cost) efficiency is coming from the engines, so we have an important role to play to support our customers," Eric Schulz, in charge of Rolls' large civilian jet engines unit, said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters attending a media presentation in Derby, central England.
Rolls said that Advance, the development name for one of its future engines, will burn at least 20% less fuel -- with a corresponding drop in CO2 emissions -- compared with the first generation of Trent engines that entered service in 1995. The Advance could be ready by the end of the decade, it added.
An even more fuel-efficient model, UltraFan, could be ready for service from 2025.
"One simply cannot rush new technology along so it is something that has to be held in store," said aerospace analyst Sandy Morris at financial group Jefferies.
"If there is a snag, it is that we may have to wait up to a decade before we can start to picture the new aircraft onto which the latest-technology engines could be fitted.
"Even then, Rolls-Royce will doubtless face stern competition," he told AFP.
Rolls is the sole engine provider for the Airbus A350 XWB, a long-range, wide-body plane that is slated to come into service at the end of the year. It makes engines also for the Airbus A380 super jumbo and Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, competing for business here with U.S. conglomerate General Electric (IW 500/6).
Like the Trent XWB, the future engines will make extensive use of light carbon-based composite materials that significantly reduce fuel consumption and costs for manufacturers and airlines.
"They are designed to deliver... even better fuel efficiency, reliability and environmental performance," said Colin Smith, Rolls-Royce director of engineering and technology.
In Derby, where Rolls assembles jet engines for both European planemaker Airbus and its US rival Boeing, the company added that both new engine designs were the result of research and development investment totaling about £1.0 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.2 billion euros) a year across its aerospace and non-aerospace businesses.Bumps Ahead
In the short term, Rolls faces harder times despite its success in the market for large civilian plane engines.
Earlier this month, the company said that its profit and revenue would flatten in 2014, as government cutbacks on defense spending end the company's decade of rampant growth.
News of a 41% slump in annual profits sent Rolls-Royce shares diving earlier in February.
On Wednesday, Schulz shrugged off the impact of a bribery probe over Rolls' operations in Asia.
"I think our customers are confident that the management of this company has the right level of ethics and the right level of processes and governance in place," he told journalists.
Rolls in December revealed that it was facing a formal investigation by Britain's Serious Fraud Office into alleged bribery linked to its overseas operations.
The firm warned that it might be prosecuted over alleged "malpractice" in Indonesia and China after passing on information related to bribery concerns to the office.
- Ben Perry, AFP
Tesla Unveils 'Gigafactory' to Ramp up Mass-market Car
The Gigafactory is designed to reduce cell costs much faster than the status quo and, by 2020, produce more lithium ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013.
NEW YORK -- Tesla Motors unveiled plans Wednesday for a so-called "Gigafactory" for advanced electric car batteries as part of a plan to move from niche manufacturer to mass market carmaker.
The maker of pricey and coveted electric vehicles said the new battery factory calls for an investment of $4 billion to $5 billion, and will include partners, with some reports saying Japanese group Panasonic was in talks on the deal.
"The Gigafactory is designed to reduce cell costs much faster than the status quo and, by 2020, produce more lithium ion batteries annually than were produced worldwide in 2013," the company said.
"By the end of the first year of volume production of our mass market vehicle, we expect the Gigafactory will have driven down the per kWh cost of our battery pack by more than 30%."
Tesla said it would invest $2 billion of its own funds in the new factory, and announced at the same time an offering of $1.6 billion in notes.
"At full implementation, the Tesla Gigafactory is expected to have 6,500 dedicated Tesla and production partner employees," the company said.
"The Tesla Gigafactory is currently expected to attain full production capacity in 2020, which is anticipated to be sufficient for the production of approximately 500,000 vehicles annually and stationary storage applications."
The company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said it had not selected a final site for the facility, but "we currently expect that it will be located in one of the following states: Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico or Texas."
The Japanese daily Nikkei said new facility, expected to handle everything from processing raw materials to assembly, is intended to go onstream in 2017 and to produce small, lightweight batteries for Tesla and possibly for Toyota Motor and other automakers.
Panasonic has worked with Tesla on developing next-generation auto batteries and last year expanded the contract to supply lithium-ion units to the firm to about two billion cells until 2017.
Panasonic said it is "studying every possible way to strengthen ties with Tesla" without confirming the report.
Tesla hinted at the plans last week as it reported a quarterly loss of $16 million, with revenues were up 43% from the prior quarter at $615 million.
Consumer Reports this week called the car Tesla Model S the top vehicle of 2014 to buy, calling it a "technological tour de force." The Model S the magazine tested had a sticker price of $89,650, compared with an average of about $34,900 for the remaining nine best model categories.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014 Boeing Self-Destructing Smartphone: Do Not Try to Open
Any attempt to break open the spy phone triggers functions that would delete all data and software, rendering the device inoperable.
NEW YORK -- Boeing (IW 1000/14) is launching a self-destructing smartphone to help spies, diplomats and others keep secrets secure.
Don't even think about trying to open or tamper with the Boeing Black phone, the company warns.
"There are no serviceable parts on Boeing's Black phone and any attempted servicing or replacing of parts would destroy the product," Boeing says in documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
"The Boeing Black phone is manufactured as a sealed device both with epoxy around the casing and with screws, the heads of which are covered with tamper proof covering to identify attempted disassembly.
"Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable."
The company says its Boeing Black phone, which uses encryption both in its stored data and transmission will use the Google Android system with "enhanced software security."
"Boeing's Black phone will be sold primarily to government agencies and companies engaged in contractual activities with those agencies that are related to defense and homeland security," Boeing says
"The device will be marketed and sold in a manner such that low level technical and operational information about the product will not be provided to the general public. Detailed technical information distributed at trade shows will be limited or protected by non-disclosure agreements."
Boeing has not announced when the phone would be available, but a spokeswoman said it would be "soon."
The device should not be confused with the new encrypted Blackphone, developed by the U.S. secure communications firm Silent Circle with Spanish manufacturer Geeksphone. The Blackphone, which is on sale to the general public, offers encrypted communications and protection against snooping.
Boeing's website says its device was developed because there was nothing on the market to meet the needs of the U.S. defense and security communities.
"Despite the continuous innovation in commercial mobile technology, current devices are not designed from inception with the security and flexibility needed to match their evolving mission and enterprise environment," the website says.
The device "is built upon layers of trust from embedded hardware, operating system policy controls, and compatibility with leading mobile device management systems."
The U.S. military has long used BlackBerry phones, and more recently commercially available Android and Apple smartphones, for U.S. armed phones.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2014
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