J.C.'s Profile

I feel skeptical about Open innovation at NASA. This is an organization which is responsible for a lot of critical information and I am not sure that how the organization plans to go about sharing ideas with the outside world. I am also skeptical to the value add to the organization. NASA does not need new idea. NASA needs solutions to current intellectually challenging problems. Also these solutions cant be discussed in an open forum. And therefore I am not sure if OPen Innovation at an organization like NASA would be too successful.

Its interesting to think about external(open) vs internal innovation and aligning the organization in the direction that promotes both. Till now I was feeling that open innovation is more suited to companies that are services than products. But this article made me think differently. Brands like L’oreal are highly customer facing and external innovation will definitely add value. One way I can think about reducing the conflict between the two is by identifying problem statements from external innovation and then finding solutions to these problem statements through internal innovation.

Scaling additive manufacturing does have a lot of challenges today. The cost is high and the demand is low to tap on utilities of scale. But I think over time with advance in technology , much like other industries, the cost of additive manufacturing will lower, creating more demand for these products and it return tapping on utilities of scale. But till then companies like NIKE should keep promoting products from additive manufacturing to create the buzz around this and turn this into demand when the time comes.

It is an intriguing article on the application of 3D printing. I feel that the way mobile phones disrupted the telecom industry in just a few years, this technology too has that capability to disrupt not just the fashion industry but even related industries like home furnishings, etc. I do see a printing machine at each one of our house’s which could be synonymous to (or even a replacement to) our laundry machine. We could be just printing out new clothes by recycling the old ones. Also, the fact that this does not require any new input and does not produce any wastes, makes the success of this technology even more probable.

It is a very interesting question that actually keeps coming up in different aspects of using AI, i.e. how much intervention do we need and who has the responsibility.
I think that the auto companies should not take the full responsibility of autonomous driving. Atleast for the next some years till AI has proven itself in this sector, companies like TESLA should beware of such risks and share equal responsibility with the owner/ driver of the vehicle. Technology can never pay for someone’s life and therefore it is extremely critical for TESLA to use the safest form of software and technology to ensure complete driver safety.

It is definitely hard to draw a line between customization and privacy and it is a challenge for all budding e-commerce service companies that tries to connect buyers and sellers. I would try implement the learnings from the FRC case of “Alibaba” which used different ways to build the trust between buyers and sellers and drew a firm line to protect privacy of both parties. AI and ML can be used to track past incidents of mistrust and then use it to predict and mitigate this risks in the future.