Dementia Vaccine?

Via a loose connection I have with IdeaConnection.

Novel dementia vaccine on track for human trials within two years   By Rich Haridy

(But note in the comments there are some seemingly legit issues with the health science involved)

Crowd Sources Autonomous Vehicle Training

From Ideaconnection, offer of sale or licensing of  a US patent:

Crowd-sourced Autonomous Vehicle Training

Definitions: When driving, human drivers encounter non-events (expected events like traffic lights turning red) as well as events (unexpected events like an unaccompanied child standing at the edge of the road).

Events are captured from crowd-sourced participants driving their own cars during their routine lives. The determination that a particular scenario is an unexpected event is carried out automatically (without manual input) by sensing eye, foot and hand positions and movements, and comparing it to a map. This arrangement can not only sense the driver’s actions to change speed or direction in response to such unexpected events, it can also detect the driver’s intentions to do so. It can also determine various driving attributes and mental components of the driver. This in turn allows drivers to be scored and ranked in each geographical region, so that expert drivers can be identified. 

Signatures for events extracted from the driving patterns of such expert drivers are more reliable, and form better training routines for improving autonomous vehicle software. A database of thousands of such signatures, and their variations, are obtained by crowd-sourced expert drivers. These signatures are then used by autonomous vehicles to identify potential or real events, and react to these events in a human-like manner. 

Companies developing AVs need not wait for a history of “millions of miles tested”, but instead can rely on extremely quick, cheap and highly reliable, human-like training sub-routines extracted from crowd-sourced drivers.   .... " 

Wearable Goal Cockpit Concept

Displays based on predicted goals are generated and produced

An innovative wearable cockpit in design by BAE could lighten the load on both fighter planes and their pilots.

The wearable cockpit concept would rely on modern technology, such as gesture and eye-tracking technology, that would eliminate many of the physical components typically manipulated by the pilot. In their place, the pilot would wear a VR-enabled helmet that would project the readouts and controls in an efficient and reconfigurable way. 

According to the team, however, the standout feature of the system is its ability to infer the pilot’s goal based on where they are looking, using AI to help anticipate the necessary tools. ... "

Airbags for Robots (To protect the Humans they Work With)

From Idea Connection.  Includes a video.  Via Ideaconnection. 

Airbags for Robots Protect Co-Workers 

Inflatable airbags for robots could help to protect their fragile, human co-workers.

As robots begin to work more closely with humans, there is also an increased risk of accidental injury. To help reduce that concern, researchers from Germany’s Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics developed a Robotic Airbag that would be inflated automatically as the “cobot” (collaborative robot) moves about at high velocities. This cushion would eliminate the need for extra safety sensors, while also allowing the co-bot to work at maximum efficiency. .... " 

Open Innovation at Fujitsu

Via Ideaconnection.com

Open Innovation Gateway
is dedicated to activating innovative practices — faster

Open Innovation Gateway uses a collaborative approach to innovation that mirrors Fujitsu’s brand promise of “shaping tomorrow with you.” Our promise - about shaping the future of business and society - invokes our way of doing business, building on long-term relationships with our customers, partners and society as a whole. ... 

At Open Innovation Gateway we look for more than technologies. We look for partnerships, relationships. When we brought in Oblong's amazing Mezzanine technology that began a relationship between the two companies that continues to grow and deepen.   Video. ... 

Tertill Weeds Gardens

Really like the premise.  From my IdeaConnection affiliation. I have decades of experience managing garden plantings, big and small, so pardon me for having considerable skepticism about the practical application.  Even more so at commercial scale.  But particularly like the potential to do this in a swarming way as well.   But the garden can be a hostile place.  Would love to give it a practical test. Will certainly follow.  Kickstarter.

The Tertill solar powered weeding robot from Franklin Robotics removes weeds without chemicals.

A bit like a Roomba for the yard, the Tertill travels the garden to seek out weeds and cut them down with a small ‘weed-whacker’ thread at its base. The Tertill will treat all small plants as weeds, so intentional plants must first be protected by the provided plant collars. Any plants tall enough to touch the device’s sensor will trigger the Tertill to turn away, and seek weeds elsewhere. .... " 

Textile Muscles

Textile Muscles Could Power Clothing

Textile Muscles Could Power Clothing ...   In IdeaConnection.
Textile muscles made of flexible polymers could open the door to powered clothing able to provide a muscular boost when needed.

Developed by teams at Linköping University and the University of Borås, the artificial muscles are made from cellulose yarns that have been coated with a flexible, electrically conductive polymer. Applying a current to the polymer will trigger it to flex, and altering the style of the weave will cause the material to react in different ways. 

The team believes the soft muscles could be used to create assistive clothing that comfortably conceals its real purpose. .... " 

Packaging Sensor Innovation

Ideaconnection sends a request.   If you have packaging experience, take a look at the idea below.  I don't have the time to participate.  An IOT connection?  Much more detail at the link.

Packaging Sensors for Shelf Stable Products  ... 
Client seeks disruptive packging and low cost sensor or indicator technologies that have the potential to dramatically improve the product lifetime of shelf-stable food and beverage products in a 5-10 year timeframe. Client also seeking technologies that provide information relating to quality management, in-store product flow, consumer insights, and inventory awareness for supply-chain management of shelf-stable foods and beverages.  ... " 

Open Innovation at Electrolux

Open Innovation at Electrolux. Appliance manufacturer we worked with for a while.  The how is always interesting, but also the kinds of application being addressed:  " ....   she presented several Electrolux open innovation success stories, including one of a company that approached the multinational offering a system to automatically calibrate assembly lines.  They didn’t want any money, but were looking for partners to help them test their solution and share risks.  Today, that company is a trusted supplier. ... " 

Frugal Innovation

Frugal Innovation,  by Navi Radjou and Jaideep Prabhu, The Economist, Book brought to my attention.  Today we have many more resources than ever before. Via IdeaConnection.

Skin Patch Monitors Health

From IdeaConnection:

A discrete new 'skin-like' health monitor could be used to monitor a range of conditions from dry skin to cardiovascular disease.

Created by a team from Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the monitor measures less than a square inch and is designed to be worn continuously. It is embedded with thousands of liquid crystals that will change color in response to heat, which could allow the wear to track blood flow rate—a sign of cardiovascular health—as well as when the skin has become dry (which is indicated by a change in thermal conductivity). The team also developed an algorithm that processes the temperature information into an "accurate health report" in less than 30 seconds. ... "

IdeaConnection Re Connect

It has been a long time since I talked to them, but just reviewed their offerings.  A nice idea, whose newsletter is always worth examining for innovative ideas.  " ... IdeaConnection gives you access to a worldwide network of experts, thought leaders and industry veterans. By getting access to these brilliant minds outside of your company, you will be able to solve technical problems, break development bottlenecks and find technologies faster and more efficiently than your competition. Find out how IdeaConnection can accelerate your innovation today. ... Working confidentially with companies large and small. ... " 

Innovation Request: Food Monitoring

A client has asked me to provide this link more publicity, from Ideaconnection, which connects innovations to product needs:   " ... Technology Wanted: Consumer Food Monitoring Device
A client is seeking a device, or enabling technologies to perform, real-time monitoring of food for pesticide residues, veterinary residues and adulterants in a consumer device. .... ".  Note how this kind of sensor, gathering data,  could be used with analytical methods.  More details.

Tagtal Touchscreen Copying Stylus

I found this capability on the IdeaConnection site.   Tagtal is a stylus that lets you copy  from one touch surface to another,   " ...  "digital dropper", is an innovative capacitive stylus which can be used to pick up, hold and drop down data on from one touch screen surface to another ... "
A specialty use capability, I can see it being used to copy information from a mobile tablet to a specific place on a large screen touch display.

Idea Connection

I was reminded of IdeaConnection recently.  A site that connects innovative ideas and their uses.   I had the opportunity to chat with them for the enterprise a few years ago.

Lego and Open Innovation

From  IdeaConnection:  Good piece about how Iconic toymaker Lego uses open innovation.  " ... Lego is an open innovation pioneer, one of the first companies to develop practices and platforms to engage external contributors to innovation processes. Being open to the ideas of others has helped to transform the company’s fortunes. ... " 

Ideaconnection Blog

Check out the IdeaConnection blog.  They are writing about Amway and Open Innovation.  " ... Since 2005, global consumer goods company Amway has launched 17 high-impact products in 55 markets and generated more than $700 million in revenue. And the credit is largely due to its engagement with open innovation. Open innovation is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are still many companies hunkered down between their own four walls wanting to keep things the way they are, steadfastly refusing to engage with external expertise. But OI is rapidly becoming the norm and to those who are still unsure about its benefits new research by Frost & Sullivan may allay fears and answer questions ... "

Waitrose CrowdSources With its Shoppers

From IdeaConnection:   The UK retailer Waitrose is using crowd sourcing techniques with its customers to develop new products.  We will continue to see more of these techniques used:

  " ... In May 2011 a new product hit the shelves of upmarket UK supermarket chain Waitrose. What made this particular item so special was that it was the company’s first customer-created product and followed an eight month crowdsourcing contest that saw hundreds of customers send in their ideas....  A crowdsourcing competition is not only a cost-effective and rapid way to acquire a solution to a specific problem that a company may be facing, but it can also be used to generate new product ideas, promote a brand through free marketing (competitions can attract media attention), as well as helping to forge a deeper relationship with customers ..." 

MillionBrains

I am doing some re-exploration of crowd-sourced innovation ideas and I discovered this: Via IdeaConnection: " ... MillionBrains (MB) is a professional social innovation network that facilitates and enables both internal and open innovation. MB focuses on sustaining a true innovation culture and game-changing mind-set through meaningful collaboration and talent mobilization on a global scale.

The MillionBrains platform system is deployed internally in companies, NGOS and governments as a platform for collaboration around ideas, challenges, groups and projects. Corporate users include sectors such as technology, foods, medico and services. The platform can flexibly open up to include outside ecosystems in the innovation process (e.g. suppliers and partners) as well as external talent (in-sourced intelligence, specialist expert talent pools) .... "

Productive Obsessions

Intriguing Ideaconnection interview.  The role of a kind of obsession in thinking. " .... IdeaConnection Interview with Eric Maisel, Co-author of Brainstorm, and Creative Recovery, and Author of Coaching the Artist Within, Fearless Creating, The Van Gogh Blues, and Thirty-One Other Books  "A productive obsession is an idea that you choose for good reasons and pursue with all your brain's power….Productively obsessing is the mind-set of the creative person." ... " .   Yes, have seen this kind of thing in my own creative experience.  It works, but can also be personally disruptive.