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The value of trans-disciplinary work has been demonstrated in a number of areas, proving its capacity for driving innovation. In fact, one good definition of “creativity” is simply putting together two or more things that would ordinarily remain apart. Numerous academic centers are explicitly inter- or trans-disciplinary. Stanford, for example, is attempting to incentivize such research with a dedicated grant program; Bio-X (interdisciplinary research related to biology and medicine, including engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, and other fields); and the d.school (for multidisciplinary innovation); note that normal academic incentives and pressures serve to compartmentalize disciplines into hyperspecialized silos. While SFIP is in the vanguard of applying trans-disciplinary techniques to practical problem solving, it is certainly not alone.
Several recent and unusual pairings bring this idea, and the general necessity of cross-sector collaboration, into sharp relief. Especially within the context of the massive and urgent changes that must be accomplished on a global scale, we may all have to learn to work with the unexpected (and even “unsuitable”) partner in order to get the job done.
For example, the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate recently published Renergizing America’s Defense, which “…details steps the armed forces are taking to address their energy use and carbon emissions. Read the rest of this entry »
This post is a call to action to the SFIP community, in support of essential infrastructure for Santa Fe’s “innovation ecosystem.”
As many will have already read or heard, Google has announced a program under which it will install (at no charge) gigabit capacity fiber-optic telecommunications infrastructure in a few select communities, nationwide. This will be an open-architecture system, allowing any and all ISPs to utilize the bandwidth, encouraging experimentation and competition, and reducing costs, to the benefit of the consumer.
This level of telecom capacity will be essential to SFIP’s operations, to the ability of all of Santa Fe’s outstanding innovation centers to collaborate, and to connect with the fuller outside community of resources and participants.
It will also serve as essential infrastructure for economic development and equity for the entire Santa Fe community; quality of life enhancements in education, medical care, emergency services, and information and entertainment; and the City’s ability to attract and retain young, smart, and talented people along with leading institutions.
City staff will be leading the charge in preparing the formal application, and they deserve our appreciation and support. Here’s how to show it, easy as 1, 2, 3: Read the rest of this entry »
As most of our local community members know, SFIP is part of a broader effort to diversify Santa Fe’s government- and tourism-based economy, and capture the city’s unique assets and attributes in a way that can propel the region into the innovation economy of the future.
Santa Fe Complex is among the more interesting and promising elements in this “innovation ecosystem,” and one with great complementary resonance for SFIP. According to its newly revamped website, “The mission of sfComplex is to create a collaborative workspace that fosters applied complexity science through interdisciplinary education, outreach, and development of innovative technologies to address real-world problems, enable social cooperation, and create economic opportunities.” Read the rest of this entry »
President Obama, in his first State of the Union address, told us that other countries are making the investments needed to seize the opportunities present in meeting the world’s grand challenges, and that the U.S. risks being left behind. He’s right.
The National Science Board’s biennial Science & Engineering Indicators suggests that as early as the 2012 edition, the U.S. will no longer lead the world in total R&D expenditures – unless corrective action is taken (graph here). And Senator Jeff Bingaman, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, recently told a Senate hearing that “…our investments in new energy technologies, and the science underlying them, have been surprisingly deficient over the last 20 years…. our national R&D investments in medicine and biotechnology, as a percentage of sales, are about 40 times greater than our research and development investments in energy.” Read the rest of this entry »
Over the past few weeks, a chorus of voices from around the world has started to sound like a warning buzzer for U.S. competitive and innovation strategy. Thomas L. Friedman, writing in the New York Times, reported back from Denmark that that country has succeeded in levying a susbstantial energy tax (deemed politically impossible here), and applying the proceeds to renewable energy innovation, development, and deployment.
Bruce Nussbaum from Business Week completed a tour of Asia, impressed everywhere he visited with the attention being paid to design as a critical innovation element at all levels (including national policy), leading to what he called “Designomics” in his speech to the Design Korea 2009 International Conference: “The global economy is emerging from the Great Recession… with a very different shape, a very different trajectory and a very different set of growth engines. Read the rest of this entry »
The good news in our prior post is sadly updated to reflect new guidance, released by DOE shortly before the submission deadline for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant Level 2 application, regarding applicant eligibility criteria. This new information disqualified the Sonoma County Transportation Agency, which was to have served as the lead applicant for the Applied Solutions Coalition partnership proposal (see prior post here), including SFIP.
However, ASC and its federal experts fully intend to continue seeking funding for the partnershp’s projects, including SFIP’s energy program as previously detailed. Stay tuned for more information.
This post is updated as of December 14. DOE released additional guidance on applicant eligibility on Friday, December 11, just prior to the submission deadline, which unfortunately rendered the lead applicant for this partnership ineligible. See the new post here for additional information.
SFIP and its energy/climate program have been invited by the Applied Solutions Coalition (ASC) to join in a multi-partner grant application to DOE, through the department’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). Sonoma County, California will act as the lead applicant, along with partners Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico; Story County, Iowa; Buncombe County Schools, North Carolina; Sonoma Mountain Village; Applied Solutions Coalition; and SFIP. The total request among all partners is approximately $5 million. Read the rest of this entry »
SFIP is pleased to welcome its new alliance partner, the Business Innovation Factory. Based in Providence, RI, BIF is a national leader in systemic and business process innovation, hosts a top-rated annual thought leaders summit, and is focused on the elder care, energy, and education areas. Together, BIF and SFIP plan to launch the Code Green Energy Innovation Laboratory, a user-centered residential consumer lab for new energy products and systems.
Here’s some fascinating trans-disciplinary and highly innovative work in the architectural design field (with some very cool pictures, too):
HOK, one of the world’s largest architectural firms… formed an exclusive alliance with the Biomimicry Guild, a Montana-based consulting organization that pairs consulting biologists with designers, seating architects and ecologists together at the drawing table.
http://harvardmagazine.com/2009/09/architecture-imitates-life
