THE WORKSPACE OF THE FUTURE AN ARCHITECT’S BLUEPRINT -
INVENTING A NEW LIFE FROM NAZI GERMANY TO MULTIMILLION DOLLAR DESIGNS -
SUPERMEAT IMPROVING THE WORLD, ONE PLATE AT A TIME -
ISSUE 9 OCT 2016
THE INVENTORS ISSUE WE TALK TO INVENTORS AND INNOVATORS TRYING TO CHANGE THE WORLD, WITH THEIR PRODUCTS AND IDEAS.
FOUNDER James O’Flynn CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aidan Creed SALES Hannah McKinney Published by SoMoGo Publishing/ admin@somogopublishing.co.uk/ www.somogopublishing.co.uk Global Innovation Magazine is published every quarter /Copyright SoMoGo Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be stored or transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying, scanning, or otherwise without the written permission of SoMoGo Publishing Ltd. Views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publishers. Acceptance of advertisements does not imply official endorsement of the products or services described. While care has been taken to ensure accuracy of content no responsibility can be taken for errors and/or emissions. Readers should take advice and caution before acting upon any issue raised in the magazine. The publisher reserves the right to accept or to reject advertising and editorial material supplied. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the safe return of unsolicited photography, art or writing.
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CONTENTS
OCTOBER 2016
002 | FOUNDERS VOICE THE INVENTORS ISSUE 004 | SUNSCREENR THE VIEWER THAT HELPS YOU APPLY SUNSCREEN SAFELY – INTERVIEW WITH DAVID COHEN CO-FOUNDER 006 | SUPERMEAT THE MEAT OF THE FUTURE – INTERVIEW WITH SHIR FRIEDMAN.
018 | MONETARISING INNOVATION THE STEP BY STEP GUIDE – INTERVIEW WITH MADHAVAN RAMANUJAM
010 | AN INNOVATOR AT HEART INTERVIEW WITH THE INVENTOR - JAMES KOUMIS
022 | INTERVIEW WITH SCIENTIST AND INVENTOR WILLIAM H.ZURN
012 | THE INVENTORS DILEMMA THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF H. JOSEPH GERBER – INTERVIEW WITH DAVID GERBER
024 | INTERVIEW WITH HAMID AKBARI CEO AND FOUNDER OF BLANCLINK
016 | THE WORKPLACE OF TOMORROW - TODAY 026 | NEWS INTERVIEW WITH TOM ALEXANDER, DIRECTOR AT A FEW THINGS THAT CAUGHT OUR GAZE GLOBAL ARCHITECTURE FIRM, AUKETT SWANKE.
FOUNDER’S VOICE Innovator seems to be an interchangeable term for ‘Inventor’ these days, and I’m probably as guilty as the next man for my flippant use of the terms, certainly in this issue, so apologies are needed. Is it fair to say that an inventor is imagining, designing and creating for the first time? And an innovator is improving on, or contributing to a thought process, product or design? Either way this edition, whilst not intentionally setting out to be an inventors issue, features a few. Notably the interview that David Gerber gave about his father who was an inventor from a very young age, living in a concentration camp, fleeing Nazi Germany and ultimately setting up a very successful company with innovation at its core, sticks in my mind. That’s a story that you hopefully won’t forget. What struck me whilst interviewing innovators and inventors for this issue is their passion. They may be at different places on the spectrum of design but the passion and love for what they do, radiates through. That connects both groups. I hope you find reading about their journeys as interesting as I did when interviewing them. As always if you have a story about an idea, invention or innovation just get in touch with me. Best James O’Flynn Founder
JAMES@GLOBALINNOVATIONMAGAZINE.COM
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
FOUNDERS VOICE |002
SUNSCREENR
YOUR TIME IN THE SUN HAS COME.
David Cohen is Co-Founder and CEO of Voxelight a company
I’m interested to know about
whose first product, Sunscreenr is solving a problem that is so
how the idea came about?
common it’s astonishing that it has taken until 2016 for it to be developed. Alongside his co-founder Jon Meyer, the pair have
concepts for future product lines to address numerous other market opportunities.
My business partner came up with
come up with a way of detecting all the areas that you missed
the idea, his mum has struggled
Explain the product a
when applying sunscreen. The product gives you a quick way
with skin cancer for many
little more.
of seeing where you need to apply sunscreen to provide all
years, nothing too serious but
over protection from the sun’s rays. Any parent will know
still it was a burden and a great
the joy of applying sunscreen to their children and how much
concern for the family. He had an
that allows you to see your sun
they moan, wriggle and do absolutely anything to get out of it.
interest in photography and so he
protection. Some old sunscreens
Sunscreenr enables you to crack the task, first time, safe in the
looked around and was thinking
like white zinc cream you can see
knowledge that the kids are covered with protection.
about how he could assist his
just fine, but modern sunscreen
James O’Flynn spoke to David about the products birth and
mum. Through his reading he
creams and sprays are hard to
the challenges they have faced making the business a reality.
Sunscreenr is a simple viewer
understood that skin cancer is one
see if not completely invisible.
of the most prevalent cancers but
As we know, sunscreen’s job is
also one of the most preventable
to stop UV rays from reaching
Tell us a bit about
Yes, I had worked for both large
cancers. He bought some filters
your skin and it does its job but
yourself David
and small organisations I was
and equipment and tried to work
either absorbing or physically
a technology developer and
it out, but he ended up bring up
blocking that invisible UV light.
I have a PhD in bio chemistry from
technology scout for
the idea to me.
the University of North Carolina,
Kimberly-Clark, but I have
If you had the ability to see only in the UV spectrum where
and for most of my career instead
also been with several start-
He asked three questions. One did
sunscreen works then sunscreen
of actually doing bio chemistry
ups as well. I also worked for a
I think it was a good idea? Two,
on your skin would look dark
I actually built machines that
consultancy. I have done a lot of
can it be done at a consumer price
and areas that are unprotected
assisted with bio chemistry,
really interesting things in my
point? Three, is this patentable –
would appear white. Sunscreenr
everything from simple pregnancy-
career, I am not fresh faced and I
can we put a business around it
is special camera designed to do
style test strips to miniaturized
have a good understanding of the
and protect it? I thought it was a
just that – it sees the invisible UV
DNA sequencers and forensic
challenges.
great idea so I did some research
rays that sunscreen blocks. Even
analysers. When my business
into how I thought I could make
though it’s a camera we call it a
partner and friend Jon came up
The jump to working
the technology affordable and
viewer because we designed it
with the idea for Sunscreenr, I had
for yourself was a big
into the relevant patent literature.
for simplicity. We actually went
the right technical background to
one though?
I have twenty-three issued US
to great lengths to figure out the
patents and I have a good idea
right product form and features as this a new-to-the-world product.
be able to figure out how to do it. Also throughout my career I built
It can be daunting, but once you
of how this area works, without
up knowledge of manufacturing
have seen the inner workings of
being a lawyer. We came up
and product development so it
how big and small companies
with a few different technical
What does the product
evolved nicely from there.
work it gives you a good basis
approaches so we filed patents
look like?
though. As we take Sunscreenr
and we built the business from
Had you worked for other
to market that insight has helped
there. The genesis of the idea
It’s a small oval device, smaller
companies in those areas?
enormously.
came from Jon. We also have
than a pack of cards, it’s meant
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
to be very portable. The idea is
something that was
of the Mac and is a successful
that you put your eye up to it and
previously invisible you never
venture capitalist. His book is
look through it. What you see is
want to go back.
a great primer into the things
a previously invisible world. It’s
Tell us about some of the
He does it in a really accessible
the type of thing you can clip onto
highs on the journey?
way so I would recommend
made it very simple with the idea
We are right at the first
considering starting up a business.
being it is a viewer not a camera,
anniversary of when Jon first
you can use it to quickly check
brought the idea to me. It has
a view of the world in ultraviolet,
like the pitch, business plan etc.
your beach bag or belt. We have
that to your readers if they are
things out and go back to having
been barely a year and it has been
fun. We focused very hard on the
a whirlwind. We did a Kickstarter
usability or what’s called in the
campaign to test the market
medical device world, human
as well as to raise capital, we
factors. We worked with a local
wanted to know essentially if the
product design company on that
world needed and wanted this
and we threw the doors open with
new product. A lot of work goes
them and really explored lots of
into a successful crowdfunding
different forms to find the one
campaign so a highlight was just
that we felt best suited the needs
even getting to the start line. We
of how we expect people to use
are so grateful to the many people
Sunscreenr.
who backed Sunscreenr to make
With three young children
from around the world was just
I must say that one of the
amazing. We have had people
most frustrating experiences
from forty-four countries buy
it successful and the response
of beach time is putting sun
Sunscreenrs. A great interest
screen on the kids and not
from distributors as well. We
knowing if they were truly
thought we may have to knock on
covered.
doors but so many companies and people have reached out directly
You have to be vigilant. I have
to us which has been brilliant.
had similar experiences with my kids. It’s easy to get burnt not
Any books or films that have
just in water but as you play with
inspired you that you would
the kids or towel dry yourself,
recommend?
it happens. It gives not just parents but everyone a way to
Not so much inspired but Guy
better protect themselves from
Kawasaki’s book, The Art of the
the sun. And that’s the power of
Start helped a lot. He was Apple’s
Sunscreenr, once you can see
chief evangelist for the launch
SUNSCREENR |004
“THIS IS NOT SCIENCE FICTION THIS IS SOMETHING PEOPLE UNDERSTAND AND WANT TO HAPPEN”.
SUPERMEAT Interview with Shir Friedman, VP of Marketing for SuperMeat. The dichotomy for many meat eaters, is that they love the
CHANGING THE FUTURE OF MEAT CONSUMPTION – 100% MEAT, 0% ANIMAL SUFFERING People have been thinking about
the company’s co-founders is
it for many years. Worldwide
Professor Yaakov Nahmias who
there are about 4 companies
developed a lot of impressive
taste of meat, but are not entirely comfortable with the mass
looking at this now. Having only 4
technology in regards to this
production, livery and slaughter methods used to produce
companies considering this though
area. We are going to use this
our every growing appetite for meat. Well the future is just
is mind blowing, because of the
technology and modify it to raise
around the corner and it could offer up several solutions for
potential scale and impact of the
chicken tissue for cultured meat.
that type of meat eater.
idea. The first cultured burger was developed by Professor Mark Post
SuperMeat are offering a solution that cultures meat in
in the Netherlands.
a replicated environment, tastes exactly the same as the meat we know and harms no animals in the process. Global
Could you explain what cultured meat is?
this was possible and what the process exactly was.
of a gothic novel something fantastical, futuristic and perhaps alarming. Yet some
It is meat, not a plant based consumption by 2050 is going to
interesting here, in that this sounds like something out
Innovation Magazine spoke to Shir Friedman to find out how
Tell us about yourself Shir
There is something
parts of the meat industry
substitute. It is completely
itself and many types of
identical to what we eat today but
food production today also
double, and we had to think of a
it’s different in how its produced.
have this element of alarm attached to it, but people
global, realistic solution. When we
Instead of being grown inside an
for SuperMeat and have been a
heard about the idea of cultured
animal’s body it is grown outside
don’t want to know that, they
vegan and an environmentalist for
meat both myself and Koby Barak
an animals body in very sterile
ignore it.
around 11 years now. We consider
(one of the co-founders) decided
and safe conditions. We take a cell
ourselves at SuperMeat as being
to study biology to learn more
sample, from the chosen animal,
an ideological start up. We want to
about the field. Onwards from
in our case a chicken. This is not
to what we are doing. Since we
bring cultured meat to the public
there we started the business.
invasive and the chicken gets to
started we have got very famous
first and foremost for the animals
live happily ever after. That one
very quickly so you can’t help but
but also for the planet. The meat
Was this something you
cell sample can supply meat for
get a variety of different feedback.
industry can be cruel to animals
developed then?
I’m the vice president of marketing
unsustainable for the planet. As time goes by you see that meat
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
the entire world. It is really mind blowing. We are the first company
and many researchers feel it is No the idea of cultured meat has
promising to do this without
been around for a century almost.
using any animal serum. One of
Responses are really diverse
SUPERMEAT |006
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
This is often dependent upon
but if that’s what we need to do to
We hope to have the preliminary
product. It is not just a moral
that person’s diet actually. Most
replace the slaughter of 50 to 60
product completed in 2 years
issue regarding the slaughter of
meat eaters are usually very fond
billion chickens per year, then I
maximum and then to be in the
animals. It is about our children
of the idea. If they can eat meat
think it is worth it.
market in 5 years’ time.
and grandchildren and how we
a great bonus for them. Vegans
Where is your market for
Can you tell us about the cost
we can’t keep on going in the same
and vegetarians generally love
this? Is your model to
and taste of the product?
direction. Go to
the idea also, but some have
become a manufacturer of
responded with some scepticism.
meat or to work with the
In terms of taste it will be
Perhaps due to being quite
meat industry?
completely identical. We can
without hurting animals, that’s
need to change the meat industry,
health conscious people, they ask questions about it being
Most people think we are going to
www.cowspiracy.com You can find out more about
control growth of the tissue, so if
SuperMeat at
you have a meat making machine
www.supermeat.com
genetically modified, which it is
compete with the meat industry.
in your home you could decide
not. We don’t change any DNA.
We are not going against them
what type of product you would
There is no modification, it’s
but with them. We are planning
like. If you like a bit of fat on your
quite natural actually. We will
to give the industry the product
meat or lots of protein for example.
use the healthiest chicken, it
to sell, that will be cheaper and
will be handpicked and it won’t
greener. We have been contacted
The price we expect to be around
have antibiotics and other added
by the industry and once its online
$5 per 1 kg of meat. We hope it
elements to it. A natural piece of
we believe that we will be working
can come in lower, which seems
meat from a happy animal that
with them on this. We hope to
possible. 45% of the planets land is
won’t be slaughtered.
work hand in hand with them.
occupied for food manufacturing
It’s not ‘Franken-food’. As you say
Where are you on
those resources, so it will be very
so many foods today are
the journey?
cost efficient and cheaper.
undergone so much testing and
Out research is going to start
The meat machine at home?
have so many have additives. I
in about 2 months. We are
That’s sounds interesting.
agree we interfere with food today
crowdfunding on Indiegogo. We
but people don’t like to think
are after 2.5 million dollars in
and we will be using nothing like
produced in a factory and have
about that.
The vision is that people will have
total but not all from
their own special ovens, whereby
crowdfunding. We wanted to ask
you can put cells and you can set
Are people interested
people for a minimal contribution.
the taste, quality, protein levels
to know about the
It is less about the money but to
etc. and the oven will produce
donor animals?
show the world the support for
the meat. We expect this to be in
this product. This is not science
people’s own homes in around a
Vegans are very concerned and
fiction this is something people
decade. This meat will still come
interested. The 2 main questions
understand and want to happen.
from the original cell sample.
are surrounding what will happen
Consider the crowdfunding
to the chicken? And if we will
element to be a big survey,
Any books or films you would
use serum? The answer to both
gauging reaction. We have been
recommend to our readers?
of them is we will not use serum
very happily surprised by the
and the chicken will live happily
public’s reaction. The industry and
ever after and the process will be
investors really see the potential
people watch the documentary
non evasive for the chicken using
here. This is where we are heading.
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability
local anaesthetic. It is not perfect, the animal didn’t give consent
I would recommend that
Secret. Why? it gives you a It’s a 5-year trajectory?
feel about the necessity of our
SUPERMEAT |008
AN INNOVATOR AT HEART We all know that bringing a product to market, or starting up
INTERVIEW WITH JAMES KOUMIS INVENTOR OF THE AQUABRUSH. I almost went bankrupt, almost lost everything. I went through a few
a business is far from plain sailing. When your soul, money
businesses. I always worked for myself but I took a wrong turn at one
and every ounce of effort you have goes into that journey it
point. A few family problems as well. Lots of emotions at the time flying
can be quite hard hitting. James Koumis knows this all too
around and I had started a building company, had a big mortgage not
well. The serial inventor discusses how difficult that journey
much money saved, and I went through a year of hell mentally. I was
has been at times and provides some words of truth to others
quite depressed at the end of all that, if I’m honest.
looking to follow in his footsteps. I met a few positive people around this time who shared several books with me that really focused on trying to turn things around, about looking Tell me about your background James
for positives and living in the moment. I must have read over 200 books during this time on philosophy and self-help. Since then I have slowly
I grew up in East London in a fairly strict Cypriot family, there were 6
clawed myself back to a good place.
siblings, I am the youngest. My parents came from Cyprus back in the 1950’s. We moved to North London when I was around 15. The family
Tell me about your first invention?
were in the catering business. Mother and Father ran a fish and chip shop. As I say they were very strict, there was a lot of screaming and noise growing up, which I struggled with.
I have always had a passion for ideas. My first idea came to me when I had my first kid, about 15 years ago. It was a child’s security device based around a watch. You would be able to track where they were and get a
I always felt that I was different to other people, never really knew what I wanted to do. I left school at 16 and got into the building industry with my brothers. The family then had a restaurant so I was working during the day but also at evenings and weekends in the family business. At 18 I had really had enough of that environment so I left without a penny to my name if I’m honest. In terms of my interests growing up I was very good at snooker, I was on the pro/am circuit. I loved snooker and when I bought my first house I built a big shed at the back of the house and bought myself a full sized table. I’m now married and have 3 kids, I’m 45 and live in Potters Bar in the UK. It sounds like it wasn’t all plain sailing back then? No I did go through some difficult times in around 2006, 2007. I have written some accounts of this time, incorporating some self-help advice, and the books have been published. One book is about trying to encourage parents to nurture and support their children, and to always try and be positive. The other is more general advice and self-help lessons really, outlining what I had experienced and the difficulties because of that.
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
geographical location on the child, it also had an alert button they could
press if they were in trouble. I tried to get a patent and met someone who
comes. We are in a few mail order companies now, so slowly things are
was doing some similar work and invested quite a lot of money into the
starting to mature.
idea. Unfortunately, that idea didn’t pan out for one reason or another. You mentioned that when you went through the difficult times, But that didn’t put you off trying again?
reading really helped?
No. Absolutley not. I have dozens and dozens of ideas. I recently just
Yes it gave me something to focus on. I have turned my mindset around
pitched about 30 ideas to a group of people I work with who are in
now, and as a kid I was always focused on money. Now I’m focused on
manufacturing and design. I’m passionate about UK manufacturing. Out
producing a great product and a great company rather than just thinking
of this 30 odd ideas, we are looking to really try and push a few and get
about money and its place in the whole inventor’s journey.
them to market which we believe we can do this year. The ‘Aquabrush’ was my first baby though.
We were going to be homeless at one point but because of reading the right
Tell me about that product
leave the unimportant things in their place.
It’s a multipurpose tool that can clean a multitude of things. It can
It seems like the ideas and designs you constantly have, help you
clean boots, shoes, wellies. It can be used for oiling saddles, cleaning
to remain positive as well perhaps?
books, and changing my mindset things are on a much more even keel. I
bikes. It has a pop up valve and attaches to a bottle that you fill with the appropriate liquid. It has multi-functional bristle pads and the water jets
Yes they do. Even my wife has made that observation. When I am thinking
out to clean things.
of ideas or design, I wake up in the middle of the night and I’m trying to get ideas down on paper, I just zone in on it. Nothing else matters at these
The idea came to me back in 2010. We love taking the kids and dog’s
times and I love it. I have loved the journey on my recent product because
for walks and every time you came in the car it was getting dirty. So I
it has helped me to learn so much, I have really developed. I love doing
designed the product to clean the shoes, that was a unit all together.
something different. Sometimes having too many ideas is the problem
We also sell into the golf and equestrian world so you can clean a horse’s
go into a shop and look at a product and think how I can improve on it,
shoes, clean saddles, clean golf equipment and even brush and clean the
simplify it. I just enjoy it.
though. It does become easier with each idea and product however. I can
horse itself. What advice do you have for inventors? You have come up with lots of ideas, but it’s not that easy is it? You have to get a product to market.
Well if you enjoy ideas just try and enjoy the process, don’t let it get to you as you’ll be missing the journey. A lot of people tell me about their ideas but
Correct and that has been challenging. I found a product designer back
they don’t really take them forward. I’m here to help people in that sense,
in 2012 but it didn’t really go forward back then. My full time job is as a
so at least that person can move forward with their dream. I really like
building contractor and I was doing a project and met a customer who
helping people. I like to tell my children that it is so important to be positive.
became a friend and helped me to take some of the manufacturing aspects forward.
Any books or films you could recommend to our readers?
I have spent lots of time, energy and money to get the product to where
There a few actually. A Happy Pocket Full of Money by David Cameron
we are today. Scrimping and saving to get things done. It took a few years
Gikandi and The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles both of
and several other people getting involved to move forward.
which I return to every so often.
How is it going now?
In terms of films and TV I have been catching up with a series called Touch which is an American supernatural thriller television series created
Well the first year we brought it out was 2014 and it sold several thousand
by Tim Kring and starring Kiefer Sutherland.
units and this year is the same. We are engaged with salespeople now who are selling the products. We’re doing tradeshows but this is the hard
You can find out more about James and his work at
part. We have got over the easy part and now it’s launched, the hard work
www.jkscreations.com/ and at www.etree.biz/jks-creations/
AQUABRUSH |010
THE INVENTOR’S DILEMMA:
THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF H. JOSEPH GERBER
There are jobs, and there are callings.
biography and I began working at Gerber Scientific. I had two weeks of free
Long before ‘innovation’ was an industry, or before
birthplace, to retrace the places of his childhood and where the events of
consultants/experts could be parachuted into an organisation
the Holocaust took him. At night we shared a hotel room, and we would
to help you achieve ‘innovation nirvana’ it was something that
talk about the day’s events as well as his ideas and values. When my dad fell
time between jobs. I asked my dad to travel with me to Vienna, Austria, his
a select few, lived and breathed. Joseph Gerber was one of
asleep, I would go into the bathroom and sit in the empty bathtub and jot
these people. Inventing, and innovation was something which
down what we had talked about.
he had to do, both out of the situation he would find himself in, and through his undeterred passion for development, which was all encompassing.
A couple of years later my dad started on his own memoirs. I preferred not to interfere in his writing his account, and suspended my work on my book. After a few months, he had a stroke. He regained the ability to talk, and
The Inventors Dilemma: The Remarkable Life of H. Joseph
produced a meaningful but incomplete rough draft. I didn’t return to my
Gerber, written by his son David Gerber, tells the remarkable
book until many years later.
story of an inventor who endured and fled Nazi rule and came to America as a penniless and fatherless boy in 1940. Fifty-four
It sounds like you had the kind of relationship with your Dad
years later he received the U.S. National Medal of Technology
whereby he would talk to you and discuss his early life?
for pioneering automated manufacturing systems for making cars, clothes, electronics, newspapers, shoes, maps and eyeglass lenses. The things that make up our day to day lives.
That’s true in some respects, but not in all. He didn’t discuss his life during the Holocaust period. My sister and I asked him ‘why not?’ as we grew up, and my dad replied that he didn’t want this to give us nightmares. In
Global Innovation Magazine’s, James O’Flynn, spoke to David
1989, when I asked him to travel with me to Vienna and we discussed this
Gerber, the author of the book, about the remarkable life of his
period, it was perhaps a more reflective time for him and he knew that I was
late father.
genuinely interested. He was willing to share then. What was the spark that led to you completing the book then?
Tell me a little about your background David After my dad died, the company brought in professional management from I graduated Columbia College with a Bachelor of Arts in political science,
outside. The culture and approach changed so fundamentally that it brought
and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor of Science in
my dad’s approach into clear contrast—and why his approach was unusual.
engineering. I went onto the University of Virginia Law School, edited the
The new management team’s approach was typical of 1990s thinking, and
Virginia Law Review, and I worked for a short time in a corporate law firm
it made me realise how unusual and striking my dad’s achievements were. I
in Manhattan. I then took a job at Gerber Scientific, the company that my
was concerned that this new thinking threatened technological innovation—
dad founded, doing corporate legal work but also leading a programme of
specifically the type of innovation that is needed to combat manufacturing
technology licensing and litigation, mostly focused on patents. When my
losses from low-cost foreign competition and to improve manufacturing
dad became ill, I redefined my role at Gerber Scientific. I took a business-
productivity in the increasingly competitive global business environment.
focused position, looking at new product opportunities. I also served on the company’s board of directors.
As I began writing the book, I sensed a parallel between our times and the historical environment in which my dad was born—a society which
Had you always had a desire to write a book? grappled with the impact of immigration and globalization as a result of Not ‘a’ book, but ‘this’ book yes. My dad and most of his early colleagues
the industrial revolution; and which faced the question of whether to turn
and friends were still alive in 1989, when I first thought about writing his
inward and fight over existing wealth, or to grow the society and economy
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
through innovation. The story of an inventive boy growing up in this environment, his thinking shaped by this cultural conflict and the duress of the subsequent Nazi period, and then in America finding the opportunity to innovate and ultimately playing an important role in the second industrial revolution, struck me as poignant. When you look back was there one thing you think he was most proud of in terms of his innovative thinking and inventions? I would cite three inventions, if I may. I believe these were significant for different reasons. The first was the Variable Scale—my dad’s first product. He had come to America as a refugee a few years earlier, and was in engineering school on scholarship. He was doing a project around the design of an aircraft. He didn’t know how he would get the work done on time, when it occurred to him that he could perform the computations using, of all things, the elastic waistband of his pyjamas. He took the waistband out, drew a scale on it, and was able to complete all the needed computations. When the professor graded and returned his project, the answers were correct. My dad apologised, because he felt that he had in some way cheated. But his professor called in several colleagues, and they thought it was a revolutionary method of solving problems. My dad hadn’t improved on the slide rule, which you would normally use in performing such computations, but he had come up with a whole new approach, which avoided the need for a slide rule in solving these problems. The second invention was the digital plotting and drafting systems. My dad introduced first machine ever to plot graphics under true digital control. This was in the 1950’s. He then pioneered automated drafting and electronics fabrication, which included photoplotting machines, digitizers and related design functionality. This grew into what we know as computeraided design. The third invention was the automated cloth cutter and related system for making apparel. Apparel manufacturing had defied automation for almost a century, and was perhaps the last great industry to be automated. It was a complex, spread out and across lots of different intertwined contractors. Inventors for more than a century attempted to solve the vexing technical obstacles of cutting tall, squiggly stacks of cloth. When my dad conceived a way to overcome these obstacles, manufacturers still saw “no problem in the cutting room.” Industry experts concluded that the market was for only “two or three machines.” Today, my dad’s automation has been widely credited as changing the industry from craft-based into a mass production model. His view was that his new approach to cutting would enable a whole new system of
JOSEPH GERBER |012
apparel manufacture. He developed the automated cloth cutter, and then many additional parts of this system, from automated design to the first numerically controlled sewing machine. Would you care to lay out the culture your dad had built at Gerber Scientific? My dad was an inventor of systems, mainly in the manufacturing field. He didn’t look to improve on existing methods, say, by improving engineering slide rules or improving cloth-cutting knives. Rather, he looked to create new ways. His Variable Scale obviated the very process that relied on slide rules for many classes of engineering problems. His GERBERcutter changed the entire approach to cutting cloth, and indeed making garments. Gerber Scientific’s culture was designed to facilitate this kind of inventive activity. It was innovation driven, and focused on transforming. We use that term so much today but it had a specific meaning for him. He started the company so that he could invent. The lifeblood of the company remained developing and inventing systems of manufacturing for different industries. Interestingly, it was in some ways more like Google than it was like the corporate research outfits of his time, like Bell Labs or Xerox PARC, which relied on scientists secluded in labs applying formal theoretical analysis. My dad expected that most novel product ideas and inventions would come from his employees within its operations, and he encouraged them to experiment in solving problems and finding product opportunities. He built the company as home to new startups by himself and by other employees. He and his team designed roles, processes, and organizational structures to facilitate systems-level innovation. This approach later became prominent in business literature. Did Gerber Scientific as a company develop from here into what you could call successful? It grew to be about half a billion-dollar global company. My dad started with a three-thousand-dollar investment to produce Variable Scales. He got a patent, and drove around the country selling the product. But on these sales trips he wanted to know about his customer’s problems as much as he wanted to sell existing products. To this end he was getting insight into new problems, driving all around the country year after year in the 1950’s. Some customers would create list of problems for him to solve, and the following year he would return with products and solutions. On one of his trips he stopped at a military facility, and spoke with a colonel who needed a precise plotter to map enemy positions. The army needed greater accuracy and my dad proposed a solution for a digitally controlled plotter. He pioneered the whole area of digital plotting. Once he had this model of moving tools precisely under computer control he looked at other industries that could be improved. The opportunities
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
grew from one industry to another: from cars and aircraft, to electronics and
what motivates people and corporate cultures, and in recognizing inventive
printing and eyeglass lenses, and so on.
ideas and opportunities.
All the way through this story, I’m seeing a picture of a man
A somewhat related point is to develop the trust and skill to listen to your
who was very close to the people he was trying to solve
inner voice, which may be feint. You might have the kernel of a creative idea,
problems for. Was he always this way? Did he always remain
which must be nurtured; the feeling that something just doesn’t make sense;
close to his customers?
or a question so simple and straightforward that you dismiss it as seeming too basic.
My dad remained close to customers’ problems and new technologies, even as the company grew in size and scope. He attended trade shows. He visited
This includes honouring what I call “partial solutions”—the ideas, which are
customers, to understand a significant problem. He invented solutions to the
not immediately useful but someday might be complete if conditions or if
problem, sometimes at the customers’ site, in his machine shop, or at home
a new resource (the “final puzzle piece,” as I think of it) becomes available.
or driving in his car. He was always working on something. He would fax
Similarly, value the ideas of others, even if fully thought through; they may be
ideas into the shop and the next morning he would work with engineers
onto something that helps to identify and frame the question. I don’t mean
and machinists. He set up a small design group just off the corporate isle by
limit debate. The Gerber Scientific story demonstrates that, if based on ideas
his office.
and on the organization’s best interests, sharp debate can be the best way to nurture these ideas.
As the company grew, he had to have lots of people like him doing that work. He cloned himself. My dad looked for inventive people and entrepreneurs to
How did your dad’s early life make him the innovator that
move the business forward. He structured the company this way; even in a
he became?
time when hierarchy was the model for mode most businesses, my dad split up his company and gave his employees a lot of autonomy. He looked for
My dad was a born inventor. He was inventing little devices at a precocious
‘can do’ types of people and new problems to solve. In many other companies,
age. His parents told him that he had to learn the violin. He became bored
when employees have a product idea or people in an industry that the
with repetitive practicing, and worked out how to automate the violin. After
company does not serve present a need or product wish, they are told that
the Nazi invasion of Austria, when life became quite difficult for my dad,
that idea doesn’t fit with the company’s strategy. In my dad’s company, many
he employed his talents to solve practical and imminent problems. He
development projects came from those ideas and wishes. The attitude was,
and his father were jailed and put on a train headed toward the Dachau
“We’ll invent a solution.” This culture of openness to finding and receiving
concentration camp. On the train, my dad figured out how to disengage
problems came from the period when my dad took those trips around the
the latching mechanism on a ceiling door, allowing him and his father to
country, when he was always looking for problems I think.
jump from the train. During one extremely cold winter, when his father was shipped on a transport, my dad built a hand warmer made out of an
Are there any books, plays or films that you have seen that have
old kerosene stove for his father to bring. He amplified the reception of his
inspired you in some way?
family’s radio to pick up wider stations that helped them understand the world picture during these times.
My wife and I recently attended a performance of Chaim Potok’s The Chosen, about the friendship between orthodox and modern Jewish boys in 1940s
The Holocaust shaped my dad’s personality, making him a more successful
New York and their relationships with their fathers who pulled them in
inventor. Under Nazi rule, my dad was placed in situations in which he
different directions. This performance resonated with me, partly because the
had act and take risks; if he didn’t act, he would die. As an inventor an
play deals with some similar themes as The Inventor’s Dilemma but in a very
entrepreneur, he had the willingness to take calculated risks; and this would
different context. These themes include a boy’s coming of age and pursuing
be at the core of his company’s culture. The company took risks in new
the truth and religious identity; navigating between tradition and modernity;
technical areas; it invested in R&D and was experimental. He and his team
and the importance of father-son relationships.
ventured out and acted, and the company was filled with people who were obsessed with solving problems. My dad looked for those people and those
First day at work, what advice would you give to yourself?
people where very highly valued at Gerber. Also, embedded in my dad’s personality—and later the company’s core thinking—was a firm belief of the
When I wrote The Inventor’s Dilemma, I attached a note to my desk: “Always,
relationship between imagination and hope.
always, always look for the contradictions. Then explain these contradictions.” This imperative directive drove exploration of character and story in my book. I believe this is also important in the business world—both in understanding
JOSEPH GERBER |014
INTERVIEW WITH TOM ALEXANDER The building that works with us, not against us. What a simple
DIRECTOR AT GLOBAL ARCHITECTURE FIRM – AUKETT SWANKE. Tell us about your study?
and desirable thing. When I was designing educational buildings I noticed that they were The idea is not new. Create a workspace that allows us to be
being influenced by offices particularly from California, the tech offices
our best. A building that is much more than a desk, a canteen
from what some people call the TMT sector, the creative industries, tech
and a meeting room. A space that encourages us to connect
companies like Amazon and Google. They have been changing the way
with each other, to collaborate and to be creative. Often the
people work, and influencing design across different sectors.
preserve of the TMT sector (Technology, Media, Telecoms) Global Innovation Magazine spoke to Tom Alexander about a
Our practice designs for buildings old and new, as well as master planning,
new study he has published which unveils a new innovative
and doing R+D and we like to create a story for each design, a narrative
workplace model, that could one day be a reality for the many,
as such. We are very much about designing for now and the future, for
rather than the lucky few.
people’s children as well as their parents, so we are responsible for a building’s legacy in that sense.
Tell us a bit about your background Tom.
The original premise was originally how do you design a new office building for the creative industries that could evolve over time, possibly
Born and bred in west London. I have lived here most of my life apart
becoming learning or living spaces? I had some observations about how
from a spell in Hong Kong for about five years during the nineties. I
things were changing in the workplace. When I was designing schools,
have a family, two kids, one of whom has just completed her first
ideas were creeping in from California tech companies, like break
GCSE’s. I have always had an interest in architecture, deciding at 13
out spaces, and atriums. You never saw those in schools before, and
what subjects to study at school. I loved design, art, English, maths and
universities have now picked up and embraced these environments. It
science and they all come together in architecture.
encouraged a more mature learning approach, self-learning as well as
I did a degree at Kingston University, then I made the decision to take
have the choice of the traditional office or something more akin to their
two years out, including working at the Richard Rogers Partnership,
educational experience that is influencing general workplace design.
being taught. When that generation goes into the workspace they will
followed by my diploma at the Architectural Association. I have been with Aukett Swanke for 12 years, I’m a Director and I sit on the
If you look at nurseries they have a lot of the elements that are found in
UK board.
creative offices. You can have a teamwork table, a teaching cluster with cushions, and a quiet reading sofa all in one loose space where people can
Architecture gives you the opportunity to tap into so many
interact. Many schools also utilise outdoor spaces which are simple to
different areas.
create with canopy’s so people can work outside in the fresh air. Schools often now have atriums with amphitheatre steps, a staircase with places
Yes it does. Some people call it rightly or wrongly a renaissance career,
where you can sit. You can get the whole school meeting in one area,
because you are doing a range of subjects. Certainly its creative, so
playing in one area, eating in one area, almost like a 3D village green.
imagination and sketching are important, but I would say that fundamentally it’s a philosophy, then the tools that help you design can
In Universities people can learn anywhere on the campus through digital
be legislative, hand crafted, maths, engineering or writing, often poetic.
connectivity, and because UK students now pay to study, they care much
All the subjects at school that I enjoyed.
more about the design quality throughout. Social spaces have changed, rather than being like an old pub they are now becoming spaces where
People tend to specialise once they are in the business of architecture. At
you can socialise, eat, drink but also study in one collective place. As
Aukett Swanke we have a scale that means we can focus on a variety of
customers, students are also motivated by the employability offered by a
different areas.
university, creating a driven and spatially aware new cohort of workers.
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
This is influencing the shape and provisions of the workplace.
valued by our shoes, square foot metrics, rather than our wellbeing, which is not appealing to an
So what do we want from
evolving workforce.
workspace? So what’s the proposal for the When we work during the day we
new offices of the future then?
need a variety of spaces. Not just open plan, not just quiet spaces.
Activity based working which
There has been a big debate about
allows lots of connectivity, and the
open plan and cellular but it’s not
opportunity to be more flexible
really about that, it’s more that we
in customising the space. A focus
need a choice of settings to enable
on volume of space rather than
a variety of activities. Generation
square footage. We’re proposing a
Y has a different approach to work,
3D canvas that anyone can amend,
with social media, smart devices
you can move floors and walls in a
and Wi-Fi becoming so prevalent,
high space. People will really want
it has liberated them. We asked
to occupy these spaces which is the
TMT tenants what they wanted
most important element, designing
from a workspace and they said
places for people with fresh air
likeminded people, multi-cultures,
and daylight across multi levels.
short leases, high ceilings, daylight,
Our R+D study has designed a
community facilities, and agile
structural frame to span every two
layouts. Fundamentally they
floors, which gives you a space
wanted interesting spaces to work
in the middle to do with what
and meet. Well so do most people,
you wish. It can be like an art
so our study grew at that point.
gallery although most businesses
Making a good office space helps
would put platforms in there. It
you win the war for talent. Simply
gives you a visual and physical
put, great people want to work in
vertical connection, so is much
great workspaces. Simple things
more interactive. The stairs act as
like adding stairwells in open floor
vertical breakouts and impromptu
areas where people can meet and
meeting spots so no volume is lost.
chat between levels. Bumping into
One idea is to use an engineered
each other on half landings can be
timber panelling system so you
incredibly powerful as you share
can quickly assemble and change
things in a succinct and rapid way.
walls and floors. You walk into a
A mixture of buzzing extrovert,
large volume space which is yours.
and quiet introvert spaces need
This is what’s offered in older light
to coexist, and can be shaped by
industrial buildings so popular
volume, opaque and transparent
with the creative industries, but in
panels, platforms, materials and
limited supply so we need to build
colours. Putting refreshment
new options.
points in shared spaces is very productive for knowledge sharing. Fundamentally we need to design workplaces for people first, as established in learning and living spaces. Sometimes the office is
TOM ALEXANDER |016
We started modelling this
have indicated their approval for
as a series of boxes, which is
the approach. We are looking at
challenging as its doesn’t look like
people in volumes rather than
traditional offices, with volumes
shoes on the floor, square footage.
pushing in and out, but it’s evolved
If we think about the person,
through expert input into a much
then volume is a better way of
more efficient and compact
measuring their wellbeing through
design, either in a low building
the quality of air, light, space,
or a tower. It can also be a place
movement, acoustics, views and
where you live, and experience a
health, so enhancing the value of a
whole social structure. The variety
building, and an employer, for the
of spaces and uses have an elastic
best talent.
relationship to be assembled in ways to suit different locations and
We are talking to a number of
needs. You can have big public
interested parties about it and
lounges, double height volumes,
would love to pursue the approach
walking areas and quieter spaces
in part or even fully on real sites
in a variety of configurations. A
with real briefs.
vertical campus space where you can work, learn, live and play is
Any books or films that you
for us an exciting and liberating
could recommend to our
proposal, whether you are a start-
readers Tom?
up or a more established firm. They benefit from each being in
Films I have enjoyed include Diva
the same building as each other by
by Jean-Jacques Beinneix, and
swapping talent and investment, a
Life is Sweet by Mike Leigh.
unique and valuable opportunity. Books I would recommend are The What do people think?
Pardoner’s Tale by Chaucer and Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley,
Property agents are really positive
and recently The Secret Race by
about it, as are the industry
Tyler Hamilton and Daniel Coyle.
experts in general, from which we have received direct specialist
What advice would you give
input and words of encouragement.
to your younger self on your
Quantity surveyors think it
first day at work?
can be cost neutral which is also important. It’s not lots of
Ask questions. Don’t be shy about
new ideas but a blend of some
not knowing something, that’s
proven activities with a few real
what R&D is all about.
innovations, then framing them in a new spatial chassis. The structure can be simple, a steel or concrete frame, like a car chassis on which you can change the bodywork and interior fit out. We have to provide a choice of spaces to enable our evolving working patterns and our commentators
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
MONETIZING INNOVATION
THE ESSENTIAL NINE STEP APPROACH
Madhavan Ramanujam is a board member and partner at
program when I was in seventh grade. From that point on I was hooked on
Simon-Kucher & Partners based in their San Francisco/
technology – a passion that has only grown stronger over the years.
Silicon Valley office. Advising companies of all sizes from Fortune 500s to start-ups, Ramanujam has led more than 125
Were you good academically?
monetization projects for Internet, software and technology clients, helping bring numerous new products to market.
I accelerated in certain subjects – usually the ones that involved design and numbers. I was fortunate to attend some of the best schools, including
If that isn’t enough to fill his day he has recently co-authored
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Stanford University. For IIT, we
‘Monetizing Innovation’ a book that delivers the blueprint
had to pass an entrance examination and the acceptance rate was less than
in how to take ‘innovation’ forward, ultimately making
one percent. Stanford had a similar acceptance rate. Overall, it was difficult
the monetarization aspect of innovation, part of your
to obtain admission at both schools. When I look back from where I am
company’s DNA.
today, it was worth the effort as I learned a great deal from both institutions. Tell me about the idea for Monetizing Innovation: How Smart
Tell us about yourself, where did you grow up?
Companies Design the Product Around the Price.
I grew up in Chennai, India – the biggest cultural, economic and
Innovation is a clarion call for every business… in every industry… in every
educational centre in South India. It was named one of the top ten cities
corner of the world. It’s the most important driver of growth and, in today’s
in the world to visit in 2015 by Lonely Planet; National Geographic
marketplace, critical to survival. But successful innovation – measured in
ranked it as the world’s second best food city (the only Indian city
dollars and cents – still remains elusive. Companies invest substantially
featured on the list).
in designing and building products, yet they struggle to monetize them. Billions of dollars are spent and lost every year because more than 70
Tell us about your background?
percent of innovations fail to meet financial goals – or fail entirely. It’s wasteful. It doesn’t have to be this way. And it needs to stop. We wrote this
My family is from a middle-class background in India. My father is a
book so companies can take their billions back and monetize innovation
chartered accountant and my mother is a housewife. Growing up, I loved
with confidence and certainty. In other words, using concepts found
math and learning through numbers. It’s a passion I think I picked up
in Monetizing Innovation, companies will move from hoping they will
from my father. I also learned to play chess with him when I was four
monetize to knowing they will.
years old and learned calculus when I was in ninth grade. Tell me about your route from idea to publishing, how did What was early school like?
this happen?
During my time at school in the 1980s, the craze with computers was just beginning. My father purchased a Commodore 64 for me and I learned to
MONETIZING INNOVATION |018
When I was at Stanford, I was part of a start-up team in charge of our
Key positive moments on this journey?
marketing efforts. Like many entrepreneurs, we were passionate about our ideas. In one of our business pitches I was asked the question, “How do you really know you will monetize?” Even though I had some
Working with Georg as my co-author was a very positive moment in this journey. He has more than 25 years of pricing experience and I learned
projections, I honestly didn’t know. That question stuck with me and
many things from him through our collaboration. The discipline of pricing
I was really intrigued by it. After Stanford, I joined Simon-Kucher &
continues to fascinate me and there is so much to learn. It’s a bit like
Partners – the world’s largest monetization strategy consulting firm –
playing poker – it is easy to start learning but takes a lifetime to master.
to help other companies answer that very question. I’ve been with the firm more than eight years and have been a partner for the past five. I
The other big and positive moment was working with some of our
advise companies of all sizes – from Fortune 500s to start-ups – and
partners and clients in developing content and testing our own writing. In
have led more than 125 monetization projects for internet, software and
this regard, it was amazing to work closely with Matt Johnson (Managing
technology clients, helping bring numerous new products to market.
Partner at Simon-Kucher), Eddie Hartman (Chief Product Officer at Legal
After gaining this experience at Simon-Kucher, one of my key
John Cline (Head of Pricing at Western Union) on developing content for
observations was that companies were routinely building a product
the book.
Zoom), Cary Burch (Chief Innovation Officer at Thomson Reuters) and
and trying to make it perfect, without getting any customer insights on whether they valued the product and would pay for it. These companies
Key negative moments on this journey?
would then slap a price on the product, move forward with launch and hope for the best. Through this experience, Georg Tacke (who is CEO of
There weren’t any negative moments, to my recollection. It was and
Simon-Kucher and also co-authored the book) and I learned this was
continues to be a positive journey all the way.
the root cause for most innovation failures – these entrepreneurs and companies operated in the dark and threw their products at the wall to
What 3 bits of advice would you give yourself if you walked
see what stuck. If these companies designed the product around what
through the door of your company, about to start your first job?
customers needed, valued and were willing to pay, they would have dramatically increased their odds for success.
1. Learn from others and learn by doing. Always be passionate about learning, otherwise you will become stagnant.
This was the genesis of the idea and concepts found in Monetizing Innovation. Most companies assume they should discuss pricing with
2. Listen to your colleagues and clients. When you listen and truly
customers, when in reality they don’t have any other choice. The only
understand where people are coming from and what their pain points are,
thing they can control is when to have that conversation. If companies
it helps with the learning process.
have these conversations early, the feedback enables them to prioritize the features to develop based on whether customers will pay for it. If
3. Have fun at work. You need to develop a desire for the subject in order
these conversations occur for the first time when the product is ready to
to enjoy what you do. After this, sit back and watch the magic happen.
launch, then it is too late. What book or film would you share with someone that has Stemming from all of this, we then wrote Monetizing Innovation as a
inspired you?
proven actionable guide (not merely based off theoretical concepts) to spread this message. The book describes exactly how to make
One of the books that inspires me is the “Autobiography of a Yogi” by
monetizing innovation part of any company’s DNA and applies to
Paramhansa Yogananda. I share this with people because there are so
most industries on a global scale. We boiled the secrets of monetizing
many opportunities within this great literature to learn by looking at the
innovation – gleaned from 30 years of Simon-Kucher experience and
spiritual side of things.
more than 10,000 projects – down to a nine-step integrated framework for success, and included rich examples from leading companies across
What key advice would you give to someone starting a business/
the B2B and B2C sectors (e.g., Porsche, Swarovski, Uber, Optimizely,
innovative idea?
Dräger, LinkedIn). When it comes to monetizing your products or services, have the We started the writing process in 2013; it’s been a long and
willingness to have the pay talk early with your customers. You won’t be
fulfilling journey.
able to prioritize without it.
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
What, in your opinion, is the key to innovation? The key to innovation is putting customer feedback on value and pricing at the core of your innovation process. There is ample literature on getting the right product-market fit. In my opinion, the framework should really be product-market-pricing fit. Think of it this way, if you ask someone whether they value a feature, you might hear the answer “yes,” but if you ask them “Would you value this particular feature at $20?” the whole conversation is different. Without this pricing conversation, you run the risk of hearing what you want to hear. I truly believe that building products that have the right product-market-pricing fit is the key to innovation. What’s exciting you currently with your work or business? We are growing and doubling our company size every 4-5 years; we are continuously hiring and training talented people to do what we do. This is exciting to me because I love teaching and I also get to interact with people from various backgrounds who offer fresh perspectives. Growth is exciting! What’s next for the business or your industry, or your longerterm vision? What’s next for my industry focus (technology) is helping companies in the space of AI, AR, VR, IoT, etc. that need to monetize innovation. I’m looking forward to working with more of these types of organizations. ABOUT THE MADHAVAN RAMANUJAM Madhavan Ramanujam is co-author of Monetizing Innovation: How Smart Companies Design the Product Around the Price (Wiley, May 2016), with Georg Tacke, and a board member and partner at Simon-Kucher & Partners based in its San Francisco/Silicon Valley office. Advising companies of all sizes from Fortune 500s to start-ups, Ramanujam has led more than 125 monetization projects for internet, software and technology clients, helping bring numerous new products to market. Follow Madhavan on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
“THE KEY TO INNOVATION IS PUTTING CUSTOMER FEEDBACK O N VALUE AND PRICING AT THE CORE OF YOUR INNOVATION PROCESS”
MONETIZING INNOVATION |020
INTERVIEW WITH SCIENTIST AND INVENTOR
WILLIAM H. ZURN
We all probably know someone who has had the need for
I served for 4 years, spent around
tragedy which I wanted to better
a cardiac intervention, necessitated by the presence of
9 months in around Vietnam
understand. I put my skill set to
blockages or a build-up of atherosclerotic plaque in the
during that time (on Navy vessels).
work and, as a result I developed
coronary arteries or peripheral vascular arteries. Clearing
My son was born in 1968, and we
an untethered catheter, in other
vessels of the cardiovascular system and repairing and
have a large family now, so that’s a
words it is NOT connected to a
supporting human arteries with medical stents are not
bit about my family background.
catheter wire. That patent was
In terms of work I worked in the
readers may be familiar with
semi-conductor industry from 1971
traditional catheters, which are
uncommon procedures; approximately 2 million coronary stents were placed globally in 2014.
issued around 4 years ago. Your
I have some personal experience of this as my Father recently
to about 2002 so about 40 years’
flexible wires inserted through
had a stent placed in one of his coronary arteries to allow
experience. The beginning stages
narrow openings, which can be
for continuous blood-flow through that artery. Although this
I worked in maintenance, then
used for many different
was a quick and relatively straightforward operation, any
I worked through management,
medical purposes.
mention of the words ‘heart’ and ‘operation’ together in the
went to national university and
same sentence can cause worry, and a heightened sense of
got an undergraduate degree in
So your inspiration came
apprehension. The current systems can involve using tethered
business whilst working. I also
from a TV personality?
devices (i.e. catheter guide-wires), which essentially function
worked in marketing in and
by pushing a thin wire to and through the affected areas of
around the digital industry for
the cardiovascular system. Very often, and more frequently
several years.
in the 21st Century (as more patients live multiple decades with significant vessel atherosclerosis) surgeons are forced
Yes, his wife stared a foundation (The John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health) to start looking
Since 2002 I have been
into the area further. He was a well-known star in the U.S.. I had
to push these guidewires through extremely small vessel
an inventor and now I am
diameters, obstructed by heavily and very densely calcified
commercialising my products.
no experience in this area before.
atherosclerotic plaque (some surgeons have analogized this
This developed through my time
I have had a lot of people say to
plaque to concrete). If you can recall the film the ‘Fantastic
in product marketing, that skill set
me “How could you manage this?,
Voyage’ you’ll get the picture.
was my background.
you have no medical experience or background”. Well often I think
William Zurn is a prolific innovator and proprietor of patent
How did you become involved
that can be a help rather than a
development and research firm Alpha IP www.alphaip.net.
in medical devices?
hindrance, as it helps you to think
We discussed a couple of his new devices which hold the
outside the box, not to necessarily
potential to usher in a new, 5th revolution in interventional
I became aware of a person named
be constrained by your previous
cardiac procedures hopefully further reducing any associated
John Ritter, who was the leading
knowledge. Not much had
risks and significantly improving outcomes for patients.
actor of a very popular 70s/early
changed in this area in 30 years,
80s television show called Three’s
so perhaps it needed an outside
Company. He died in 2003 of
person? My invention is the
Tell us a bit about your
years, and worked in my parent’s
an aortic dissection which is
world’s first untethered catheter,
background William?
concession, starting at 7 years old,
essentially a tear in the inside
and I do now have an extensive
so I have had a long haul as I’m 70
of the aorta, which can quickly
knowledge in this area (through
I was born and raised in the state
now. I enlisted in the navy in 1964,
lead to a lack of blood flow to the
conducting extensive research).
of Iowa, which is the central part
I went to electronic school -- that’s
heart. He was a relatively young
of the United States of America. I
where I developed my background
man (54 years of age at the time of
One of the problems across many
lived in a small resort town for 18
interest in science & technology.
his death), and I thought it was a
disciplines is that when standards
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
and the traditional way of doing
catheter is powered by a magnetic
the same point, both entry and
wouldn’t form a team until l had
things are ingrained is that you
field outside of the body and also
exit. This device can go through
done that. Surround yourself with
get ‘group think’. People often
employs piezoelectric crystals to
several entry points, the smallest
experts in the field, surround
don’t want to step outside the box
navigate and control the modules
catheters are pretty small but
yourself with people who are
because you can be ostracised
through the body. We have
we project that our device will
connected in the financial
and criticised, so it is important
to power the device, so non-
be half the size of the smallest
community and people who know
to listen to people outside of the
destructive energy from outside
catheter. We will be using laser
how to commercialise.
community to get a rounded view.
the body is projected to the device
bursts to eliminate blockages.
and changed to an electrical signal
That technology already exists;
Where do you expect to be going in the future?
Can you explain what the
that powers lasers which vaporise
we are just looking to untether
devices do in laymen’s terms?
the blockage. In essence, then
the catheter, in other words, we
what you have is a device that
remove the wire and guide the
With respect to where I’m going
A catheter is a device which is
can move through the body and
catheter by an electro-magnetic
from here, I plan to develop
inserted into the body to remove
eliminate blockages by emitting
field. The guide-wire introduces
additional patents related to
blockages. Untethered catheters
laser beams.
its own challenges and we look to
implanted medical devices, and
take those out of the equation as
form another company (in order
just one element of the device.
to commercialise said devices).
don’t have a wire and that’s the distinction here, that’s one of the
The device goes into the body and
features that makes my invention
then it’s removed. With tethered
different, it isn’t tethered. My
catheters you usually go through
Tell us a bit about the journey to becoming a business? We’re working on a proof-ofconcept at the moment. We are looking to prove that you can move an implant or simulated implant through moving fluid and we are working on this presently. The reaction so far has been really positive from people that we meet in the medical industry. Once we can prove that this navigation can occur through the human circulatory system, it will be great step in the right direction. Are you able to give advice to people with products or an idea as to how to move forward? Always patent and protect your intellectual property (IP). I
WILLIAM H. ZURN |022
RIDE ON TIME
INTERVIEW WITH HAMID AKBARI CEO AND FOUNDER OF BLANCLINK.
Earlier this year, Toronto based BlancLink launched a
The fascinating thing about our
We didn’t want to be direct
ride sharing app called Nekso in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s
company is that we built it to
competition but we did want to
second largest city. The app is a hybrid platform used by
be global from day one. In a
be successful. We partner with
taxi companies and independent drivers, which ultimately
way this is not traditional, you
taxi lines and bring them under
gives customers improved choice and flexibility. Since its
normally go local, then national
one brand and we offer them
introduction Nekso reports that it’s pick up rate has been
then to neighbouring countries,
safer and improved technology. Taxi lines are using our platform
faster than Uber and Lyft in their early years. It seems this
incrementally I guess. From
app is destined for great things in the Americas, and beyond so
day one we were in Toronto and
in the hundreds. We give them
Global Innovation Magazine spoke to the academic, founder
Venezuela jointly. We optimised
a dashboard which makes
and innovator Hamid Akbari to reflect upon the journey so far.
our value chain activities this way,
things more efficient for them,
Tell us about your
How did you juggle studying
background Hamid?
and business?
I grew up in Iran. In Iran you
I studied engineering because
have a very competitive system to
I was in love with technology. I
get into school, I ranked high so
started the business based on
I got into the best school. As well
my technical love but as we
as being competitive you learn a
grew the focus was on people,
lot from each other. At University
marketing etc. I then needed to
I met some great people, and in
learn how to do business. The
the third year I started my first
biggest challenge at the time
company a software company, it
was intellectual property. We
grew fast, became successful and
simply weren’t able to defend our
whilst at school I had 30 people
intellectual property meaning
working for me. Since I was a
that other companies could
teenager I have been in love with
imitate our products and brand.
code, algorithms and building
That became tough to defend as
software. We built educational
Iran didn’t have a strong regime
software in the company and we
for IP at this time. Other people
grew to 40 different cities.
could just copy us. When I went forward that was at the forefront
I then got a job at a German
of my mind. When I started
consulting company and then I
BlancLink I really focused on this
moved to Canada to do a PhD,
and protected my team.
and then I got a job as a Professor. In 2013, I started BlancLink.
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
Tell me about BlancLink?
this was in 2013 and we built some
payments can be cashless and we
ride-sharing technology as part of
allow independent drivers and
our core offer.
taxi drivers the opportunity to work under local taxi lines. It
Uber is quite strong in this
is super safe and adapted to
field; didn’t that concern you?
local markets.
Why do they need you?
people, that we are doing about 2
assess people who want to work
On self-development I love a
thousand rides per day. We have
with us. Everyone is looking at
book called The Art of Possibility:
Number 1 the taxi lines get more
about 4 thousand ride requests per
creative ways to solve problems.
Transforming Professional and
business. They have a wider reach
day so it has been quite successful.
We operate as a family and I mean
Personal Life by Benjamin Zander
and a traditional line can increase
In six months we have hit a great
this. We take care of each other, we
and Rosamund Stone Zander.
look at each other as family. We put
their fleet. It is more efficient.
position. At full scale we want to go
When a driver goes to point A,
to seven Latin American countries.
people and society first. We build
In terms of business Contagious:
they used to just turn around and
We expected success but not this
and grow as a family whatever our
Why Things Catch On by Jonah
go back, but now they often have a
level, it did come as a surprise. The
level of success.
Berger It looks at how you build
customer waiting at point A, so it
team are behind the success though. Don’t look for money, look for
about them which is fascinating.
is improving efficiency also. More
products and why people talk
rides per hour. The operating cost
Good to hear you praising
what is great and the money will
is getting lower.
the team
then come. We do what is right
In terms of fiction I love A Song
and things follow from there. Build
of Ice and Fire by George R. R.
How are things going?
They are unique. Since day one we
great products first.
have had a set of values. We have
Martin which I believe the TV series Game of Thrones is based.
We launched in January and we
passion and we come to work to
Would you recommend some
have seen, in one pilot city that has
enjoy what we are doing. Ability is
films or books for
a population of around 1 million
really important and we rigorously
our readers?
Can you share some advice a family member has given you? My father has always imprinted in my mind that everything is possible as long as you can dream and work hard towards it. Resilience and rising to the challenge will help you achieve your goals but only if you work hard enough.
RIDE ON TIME |024
GLOBAL INNOVATION | OCT 2016
NEWS Space to Innovate
A FEW THINGS THAT CAUGHT OUR GAZE
internal and external spaces. Each
The worlds smartest
space uses the most advanced
tape measure?
Pope Wainwright Wykes are
technology to improve all areas
excited to reveal their latest work
of the research and development
for GlaxoSmithKline.
business, including features such
Nostalgic Bluetooth Boombox
Have you ever held 150w of power Bagel is a smart tape measure that
driving two huge 10” woofers in
as the changing room, which
helps you measure, organize, and
your hands? Well its here. The
Immersive Intelligent
is designed with augmented
analyse any size measurements.
BumpBoxx “FreeStyle” Bluetooth
Manufacturing is GSK’s first
reality lab attire instruction and
It can also save measurements,
Boombox. Get back to 1983 with
research and development
compliance – indicating if the user
record voice memos, and send
this “Nostalgic” design with a
facility designed to test new
is gowned correctly.
data to its mobile app, where
modern technological twist. Get
you can easily organize and
your very own BumpBoxx and be
technology and bring the future of manufacturing to life.
Describing the future of
analyse your measurements.
the king of your block. Currently
PWW designed the facility to
pharmaceutical manufacturing,
Select one mode from three
crowdfunding at
demonstrate how state-of-the-art
Patrick Hyett, head of GSK’s IIM
different measuring modes, take a
systems and technologies can be
digitisation project said, “We
measurement, then click the save
www.indiegogo.com/
combined in a manufacturing line
wanted to build a facility we can
button to save your data. Easy.
projects/bumpboxx-
and environment.
point to and show the art of the
Currently crowdfunding at:
freestyle-nostalgic-bluetooth-
possible.” The facility is set within a 7500sq
boombox#/ www.indiegogo.com/
ft industrial space and is made up
The IIM facility is now being used
projects/bagel-the-world-
www.facebook.com/
from a number of environments
to accelerate technology adoption
s-smartest-tape-measure-
bumpboxx/
that connect together to form
within GSK.
gadgets#/
NEWS |026