Comments for Building an Innovation Ecosystem at http://cornellalumnimagazine.com , comment 0 to 7 out of 7 comments http://cornellalumnimagazine.com Sat, 25 May 2013 00:42:08 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_346 Bullseye, David Morthland! - Ralph Coryell Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:34:18 +0100 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_342 David Morthland talks about academia being hostile to business. I would rather call it "clueless" and uncomfortable. I have been teaching design and innovation at RPI for the past 20 years. Prior to that I started 4 companies making medical equipment. I teach Inventor's Studio, where engineering students find unrecognized needs, define and understand the users and the needs and then provide solutions. Emphasis is on first finding the needs without being told what to do, then following a structured process to create a technological solution. The engineering students also write their own patent applications and create a business plan, without help from MBA's. Several new businesses have started in the class, including www.ecovativedesign.com, a direct sustainable replacement for Styrofoam and Bullex Digital Safety, new fire extinguisher training systems. Our students are motivated to make the world a better place. They need strong support, encouragement and some "seed money". NCIIA, www.nciia.org has been a key supporter of the course and of the student teams. More exposure to faculty with industrial experience would certainly help spark innovation and new ventures from our students. They are so smart and passionate about creating meaningful innovations. A little more encouragement can really make a difference. I would be happy to share details of my experience with others. - Burt L. Swersey Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:05:07 +0100 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_338 This is an article which is difficult to follow. The title iteself is confusing: Building an Innovation Ecosystem". Is the goal an ecosystem for innovation, or to build an innovative ecosystem or what? Reading the article it is clear that the expertise of the author is in business, but I find no specifics, no concrete concepts or even a definition of what is meant by "ecosystem". Efforts to develop innovation always seem disappointing to me. I guess Thomas Edison was innovative not because of some state-wide program to guide him to become innovative. So, I would like to see from an obviously very experienced person real recommendations to a clearly defined problem with stated results. - Robert Hastings Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:08:58 +0100 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_336 I was really excited when I saw the title/subject of your message this month. How disappointed I was after I read it and read it again and again, at least four times. I think I can comprehend the"ultimate conclusion" of the task force as stated at the outset, also the finding about state level needs. But when it I got to the higher education part of the message's "findings", I got lost among the superlatives and buzzwords of "sustainable", "empowered champion", "leverage", "quality of interactions", "strategic" this and "strategic" that and the lack of any real definition or explanation as to how anything is really going to get done. It raised a most basic question. "What does "innovation ecosystem" really mean?" Upon reflection this all seems more than a bit ironic considering that this issue of the magazine also contains a most interesting feature article "Word Perfect" on Strunk's "Elements of Style". But most important, in my plain speak sort of way, is the absence of any finding about the undisputed and undeniable fact of hostile anti business, anti capitalist attitude throughout much of academia today. This absence, I simply cannot comprehend. I believe the failure to confront this aggressive bias ( or should I say virus) is shocking. It exists everywhere, reflected in the classroom influencing students from grade school to graduate school. It is of pandemic proportion. Academic leadership's silence on the topic is deafening. Sadly, Cornell University is no exception. Even more shocking is the business community's tolerance of this total lack of attention as it continues to give millions and millions of dollars to academic institutions which turn right around continually sponsoring activities, supporting candidates and legislation, developing policies and scribing doctrine replete with anti business purpose and anti business sentiment. Perhaps at some point the economy will become bad enough that business will wake up and stop supporting those institutions which continue this course. Unfortunately, it seems nothing will happen to curtail it short of that. How refreshing it would be to see just one major academic institution acknowledge the truth, make a finding, take a stand, and in turn, pledge to an action plan to do something about it. Maybe others would then follow and a real innovation ecosystem could begin to germinate. Without confronting this major hurdle openly and forcefully nothing will happen no matter what the rhetoric, no matter what the spin, "empowered champions" notwithstanding. In the meantime academia's silence on the subject remains deafening. The work of your task force substantiates it. How unfortunate! David W. Morthland Class of 1962 - David Morthland Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:00:07 +0100 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_334 David Skorton, I applaud your efforts and focus in harnessing the educationation capital of Cornell University in promoting an "innovation ecosystem". Having attended the CU - College of Human Ecology I am highly sensitive to the functioning of human social interactions, human developmental processes and the nexus between the biological matrix and cognitive and intellectural matrix in promoting enterprise, innovation, technological advancement or a coherent strategy for sustainable development, both within the public or private sector economies. Currently, as CEO/Chancellor of the Ikologiks Center for Global Studies I work daily with globalization issues from the "ground-level" view to the battling with the top echelons of our emerging global society. My sense, having lived and taught at two Universities in South Korea (Keimyoung & Youngsan) between 2003-2006 and now living three years in India, is there is a disconnect in consciousness as it pertains to economic focuses in driving globalization and the greater human/civic consequences. So I think highly of your efforts in association with NYS Govenor's office, however, I must suggest that a true innovation ecosystem must not leave out the interests of civic society, nor the importance of elevation in consciousness, spirituality and human transformation. Finally, I might also add that with my experiences both in South Korea & India there seems among students and businesses in those countries a competitive edge rooted in national pride/identity and a determined interest in rising to the top. Unfortunately, in contrast America is increasing becoming a divided nation, and we no longer seek to be at the "top" since we perceive we are "already there". The arrogance that promotes is often seen not only in our foreign policy, domestic politics, but in the assumption that American business is "divinely ordained" in continuing to lead the world. We must rethink the entire equation and certainly an innovation ecosystem is a good start! - Roger Martin Davis Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:16:18 +0100 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_333 There's an interesting article in the January-February Atlantic by James Fallows who recently spent a couple of years in China. He is optimistic about the future of the U.S. vis-a-vis China for several reasons. He said he met a lot of expatriates from the United States and Europe in China, but almost none who planned to immigrate and stay permanently there. Almost all were there temporarily for specific business or other purposes. In contrast, Fallows pointed to the fact that one-quarter of the members of the National Academy of Sciences were born abroad, an indication that America, much more than China and most other countries, still attracts many of the best and the brightest immigrants from around the world. Here's a link to the article http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/american-dec Unfortunately, to access it I think you have to be an Atlantic subscriber. - Ralph Deeds Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:04:22 +0100 http://cornellalumnimagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=649&Itemid=9#pc_327 Delighted to see that Cornell is playing a central role in stimulating cultures of innovation. I direct a center for community engagement at Amherst College, where I argue that we need to develop social entrepreneurship skills in our students as a key way to solve public problmes. - Margaret (Molly) Mead Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:27:01 +0100