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From Booklist: Joachimsthaler offers another book that promotes use of reinvented basic marketing principles to assist highly innovative companies. The author describes his DIG model (Demand-First Innovation & Growth), which consists of three interlinked parts: explore the demand for their products and services through an in-depth understanding of how people behave and live their lives and how they consume; apply an innovative routine of structured thinking to identify opportunities that customers cannot articulate; and formulate a strategy for effectively pursuing new opportunities. We learn that although most companies conduct some type of market research, they may fail to look for real opportunities and quantify them or fail to develop viable action plans that lead to results. This model illustrates how to become an unbiased observer of people's consumption and usage behaviors and offers a new approach to identifying and executing a company's growth strategy. Joachimsthaler, a consultant, reports that "successful opportunities for innovation and growth are right here, in front of us, and we often can't see them or don't act on them." Mary Whaley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

BNN talks with Kamal Hassan, CEO, Skymeter Corp. Hassan thinks a "pay-as-you-drive" technology will help solve the 3 evils plaguing our road system: under-funding, pollution and traffic jams. Sept 4, 2009

Kevin Werbach, a professor of legal studies and business ethics at Wharton, spoke recently with David Yaun, an IBM executive, about the company's Global Innovation Outlook project. According to Yaun, "traditionally, companies have identified innovation with gadgets and gizmos, but that thinking is being transformed." The definition of innovation is being broadened -- it is becoming more open, collaborative, global and inter-disciplinary. "The barriers to innovation and collaboration have come down dramatically," Yaun says. This was the second in a series of interviews about themes to be featured at Supernova, a conference Werbach organizes in collaboration with Wharton in San Francisco.

Tom Rand states "everyone knows piezoelectricity works ... the question is where it is cost-effective

Tom Rand states "everyone knows piezoelectricity works ... the question is where it is cost-effective.

Since ancient times, people have believed that breakthrough ideas come from the brains of geniuses with awesome rational powers. In recent years, however, the paradigm has begun to shift toward the notion that the source of creativity lies "out there," in the network of connections between people and ideas. In this provocative book, Richard Ogle crystallizes the nature of this shift, and boldly outlines "a new science of ideas." The key resides in what he calls "idea-spaces," a set of nodes in a network of people (and their ideas) that cohere and take on a distinctive set of characteristics leading to the generation of breakthrough ideas. These spaces are governed by nine laws--illuminated in individual chapters with fascinating stories of dramatic breakthroughs in science, business, and art. "Smart World" will change forever the way we think about creativity and innovation.

In Municipal Mind, Toronto's Poet Laureate offers a blueprint for building sustainable cities in a global era, predicated on city soul. By weaving bold and savvy strategies for urban creativity and civic prosperity together with a reasoned appeal for mutual respect, understanding and interaction among citizens, he persuades us that - in the delicate balancing of universal values and individual needs - cities can do far, far, better. Municipal Mind offers up a whole new way of civic being and thinking that puts wonder before commerce and nothing before human encounter.

Canadians are behind Java, the Blackberry, Yahoo!, Jeff Mallet, and eBay. Through an array of profiles, Innovation Nation sets out to show Canadian innovative thinking, entrepreneurial drive, and leadership capabilities.

Canada ranks #1 in global access to capital index from Milken Institute, apparently thanks to our stable equity market and sound economic policy framework. That means entrepreneurs here have more support than elsewhere in the world. And we're STILL complaining about lack of start-up money? Think about how hard it must be to be everyone else.

The Rise of the Creative Class gives a provocative new way to think about why people live as they do today--and where they might be headed. Weaving storytelling with masses of new and updated research, Florida traces the growing role of creativity in the economy.

Dedicated to the Revolutions, a theatre show by Small Wooden Shoe at Buddies in Bad Times, March/April 2009. A show about the scientific revolutions that changed the world and their effect on our lives and how we think. These guys showed up a couple of years ago at MaRS to present "I Keep Dropping Sh*t" as part of the Toronto Fringe Festival -- this one about Newton's Gravity revolution. It was a riot and a real collaboration between science and art. The format is truly innovative. Definitely a good fit for MaRS.

The New Atlantis attempts to clarify the nation's moral and political understanding of all areas of technology-from stem cells to hydrogen cells to weapons of mass destruction. They hope to make sense of the larger questions surrounding technology and human nature, and the practical questions of governing and regulating science. Challenging policymakers who know too little about science, and pushing scientists who often fail to think seriously or deeply about the ethical and social implications of their work.

As McKinsey & Company's business journal, The McKinsey Quarterly offers public, non-profit, and private management "new ways of thinking." Focus is placed on strategy, corporate finance, governance, economic studies, IT, organization, marketing, and operations. Articles are free (dating back to 1992), a selection of which are available with free registration. Some "premium" articles are available to Premium Members (paid subscribers).

The Institute without Boundaries at George Brown College is a centre of research and learning focused on design innovation and inter-professional collaboration. The Institute comprises of a post-graduate program that teaches design collaboration to professionals from diverse backgrounds; a research division, which conducts applied research on global issues; and a think tank, which offers design consultation to clients.

Advice for the Starbucks CEO ... or anyone in a start-up. If Starbucks can learn, so can you.

Global Heart Hour is a new grassroots global initiative to make a better world. This new concept was launched on Valentine's 2009 in Toronto. This year's event was held at the University of Toronto on Tuesday February 9th, 2010, with the theme "Think Haiti and Rethink the World.

Brett Virmalo of Foward Thinking writes a great must-read about what the "new marketing" really is: your customers and your employees and really great products. Stop marketing. Start being genuinely good. It's the "new" secret sauce.

Stanford Technology Ventures Program's Executive Director Tina Seelig shares rich insights in creative thinking and the entrepreneurial mindset. Her talk, based on her 2009 book, What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20, cites numerous classroom successes of applied problem-solving and the lessons of failure.

Sept 2009 - Global VC Blog Directory - originally published in May 2009. These are the blogs of venture capitalists and VC firms from around the world - ranked by their number of Google Reader subscribers.

An article by Roger Martin and Jennifer Riel from the Rotman School of Business on how leaders who demand proof that a new idea will work can inadvertently stifle innovation. Breakthrough innovation requires entering into the unknown, thinking beyond what could be right now and focusing instead on what could be in the future.