Inspiration can come from unexpected sources. When planning new uses for technology, it always pays to spread your creative wings as far as possible. "Gather ideas from many sources," Gartner advises. "Creativity thrives on eclecticism, and ideas for growth can come from anywhere. That's why it's important to engage people who have a wide range of views and experiences."
You might not even need to look any further than the games console in your lounge room. One project, currently being carried out by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Construction Innovation in Queensland, is looking at ways to combine 3D gaming technology with existing computer-aided design (CAD) packages to change the way in which architects design buildings.
"The associated plans could be studied interactively by planners, builders, suppliers, residents, even traffic authorities or environmentalists," says Stephan Egan from the CSIRO's Division for Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology (CMIT), which is participating in the research.
Elsewhere in the CSIRO, the group's Molecular and Health Technologies division is working on Hidden Image Technology (HIT), which promises to allow manufacturers to minimise counterfeiting by imprinting invisible characters on labels or other packaging. The "tags" can't be seen in normal light, but instantly become visible when viewed through a specific filter. "The digital encoding of the hidden image is complex, impossible to copy, and able to be added to existing packs or cartons without changing designs," explains project leader Peter Osvath.
It doesn't take too much imagination to see how such models could be extended into other areas of business. ID cards that can't easily be duplicated could be a useful addition to security-sensitive businesses, for instance.
Innovation need not be earth-shattering in its immediate scope to have an eventual impact. In one recent example, IBM has been working with the US National Geographic society to improve data collection methods for its Geographic Project, which maps DNA samples to provide a better indication of human population patterns over time. While the idea of exploring DNA sounds suitably high-tech in a CSI kind of way, IBM's assistance was on a more pragmatic level: moving data collection from its roots in people taking down observations via pencil and paper to a more digital model.
"The task of gathering genetic and associated data into a combined format that is usable by scientists and researchers remains daunting in its complexity," says Ajay Royyuru, a senior manager at IBM's Computational Biology Centre and one of the key staffers on the project. While that might seem like an obvious development, turning it into a concrete reality requires considerable patience.
In a similar vein, one project at National ICT Australia (NICTA), the government-backed IT research institute, is examining the eye movements and head position of drivers during accidents, with the aim of minimising accidents caused by a lack of alertness on the job. Again, it isn't difficult to visualise other potential applications. Injury rates in factories could be reduced by tracking the movements typical of someone exhausted or not concentrating. Even in white-collar environments, tracking systems could identify poor posture and other behavioural cues associated with repetitive strain injury.
At its most basic, innovation is finding a way to do something better, using what technologies you have available. A good example of this is a NICTA project that is aiming to exploit wireless networking -- a familiar technology -- in a quite unexpected way. The Water Information Network will use a custom wireless networking system to track water utilisation on farms, making it possible to use scarce resources more effectively. Again, this kind of tracking approach could be adapted for other industries and supplies.
Of course, success can be a difficult thing to measure. Most casual observers would agree that Wi-Fi technology has quickly been an enormous success, but that hasn't necessarily translated into the most obvious commercial operation -- Internet access for people on the move.
A Gartner survey of 2000 business travellers found that just 25 percent in the US and 17 percent in the UK regularly made use of Wi-Fi. The problems? Even those who use Wi-Fi find it too expensive, and not always available in useful locations. At the same time, Wi-Fi has proven ideal for business and home networking. Thus an innovation which appeared set to benefit telecommunications companies now appears poised to be taken over by the community at large -- and used in ways that no one would have originally dreamed of.
The lesson in all of this? When innovating, it pays to expect the unexpected.
This article was first published in Technology & Business magazine.
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