Spreading the Knowledge to Open Up
Great presentation on open innovation by Brazilian entrepreneurs Gian Carlo Martinelli, Bruno Rondani and Rene Fernandes. Some Portuguese required. Even though presented in 2008, it is still very valid.
Thoughts on “The New Industrial Revolution”
Following Local Motors tweet, commenting next month’s Wired magazine cover story, the New Industrial Revolution Issue:
On the cover, Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson puts: “The factory, the investors, the workers – obsolete. In the age of DIY manufacturing, all you need is a garage and a great idea.”
Even dough I also (and sometimes naively) think so, I have heard the opposite many times.
All I know is that this new industrial revolution has in deed already started. New forms of value creation have already been proven to spark new kind of enterprises and products, just look at Linux, Arduino and Threadless. And Letsevo is on this wave, trying to figure out how product design innovation will thrive in this new wiki-reality.
Among the open questions are:
- Is the world going to get any better with DIY manufacturing and garage entrepreneurs building up their ideas?
- And what are the skills needed to put these ideas in practice?
- How are Universities going to adapt to this new industrial scenario?
- who is joining in with us?
I would love to get some thoughts on this and can not wait to grab this issue.
Join the new Letsevo Project: e.Moped – Open Development of an Electric Mobility Device
Today is the offcial start of the e.Moped Design Project. After having talked to some friends about Letsevo’s plans to start a open source project of an electric scooter, the wishes have finally come to reality.
I spent a a couple of hours programming and setting up the space for this project here at Letsevo.
Colaborators are wanted, we need engineers, electrical mechanics, motor developers, test riders, designers….any one wanting to evolve this idea further.
I know this a pretty daring task, to build such a vehicle from scratch. But for me, the wish of some day, be cruising around the neighborhoods on what we built, is much greater than the fear of failling. Not to mention having in the end, collaborated for more clean ways of transporting ourselfs around our planet!
So Let the journey begin!
How Widgets Are Going To Revolutionize Brands
I am experimenting with the concept of Widgets which lets you take peaces of webcode from PLACE A and embed in PLACE B on the web. A common use of it: An embed youtube video on a Blog makes use of an Widget to do it.
My interest on widgets grew by believing that with the simplification of communication technologies on the web, users are actively reshaping media and forming opinion, more than ever before.
With the growing need of customizing the experience on the internet, a number of services emerged to make it possible for people to personalize their web experience. Netvibes and Igoogle are two examples. With them you can make a personalized Start Page with all the relevant information to you (weather, to do lists, Email Inbox, you name it…)
What is the relevance for open design and development?
In a real-time integrated design platform, widgets enable the flow of information without having to rely on centralized decisions. Widgets make it possible to quickly spread ideas and to communicate project updates through whatever platform or website one wants.
Imagine you have a small bike factory in your garage, and you are developing a new concept for a bike frame and you have chosen to “Open Design it”, like we are doing in the ecosk8 project, you are openly talking about our ideas before they become reality. You came up with new geometry concept that’s going to sweep 3 seconds out every rider’s downhill time a the local Downhill track, and for this frame geometry the special aluminum tubing that can handle the curving of this new geometryis just not available any where you look. A widget could be used, containing information like that, to spread the word for you on different suppliers websites.
Now imagine this same small bike factory and it’s team of 3 Amateur riders. Every one of them having a blog or myspace page where they publish their latest results, photos and tips. Doing the widget thing you could easily embed their blogs onto your factory website and vice-versa. Boom! evolution.
Think of this now:
Every time the rider puts up on his blog, a picture of him, on the podium, wearing your brand’s t-shirt, the picture shines on your website, and he gets a reward! Sponsoring on demand?
Brand, your next factory bike video needs a new sound track!? Boom! Click Click and the whole myspace community knows about it!
Of course Letsevo Lab couldn’t sleep a night to figure out how to have its own Blog widget. I’m no programmer (I wish I was) but looking around I found out that there are some platforms that enable we, the people, to easily create a widget for your Blog. Here are some of them: SpringWidgets, WidgetBox and Yourminis.
Using Widgetbox I made what can be proudly called the Beta Version of Letsevo’s “wherever you want it to be” widget.
Letsevo Widget on my Netvibes Page
Lets Evo Widget on my Igoogle Page
Those brave enough to give it a shot can do so by going to: http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/lets-evo-blog
and placing it where ever they want! Feedbacks are welcome!
