What's New! May 30, 2013 - How Mobile and Social are Transforming Innovation Models: Flipping the Paradigm-  This will be our first Mack Center conference on the West Coast.  In addition to supporting the conference, I'll be meeting with innovation managers from Intel and our new partner firm, Nissan Motor.  Attendees include colleagues from Google, PayPal and many other innovative firms.  Scott Snyder & Harbir Singh are the conference organizers. Feb. 22, 2013 - The Future of Medical Miracles (15th Annual Emerging Technologies Update Day)-  It's hard to believe this was my 15th year hosting the ET Update Day.  This year I was fortunate to  get all of my first choices for speakers, including several nanomedicine pioneers who are featured in my new book (NanoInnovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know).  Presentations included updates on gene therapy, broad spectrum antivirals, space medicine, organ regeneration, mobile patient monitoring...to name a few.  John Wingfield from the National Science Foundation gave the keynote presentation. December 13, 2012 - Leveraging Big Data for Innovation, Discovery and Decision Making-  It was a pleasure to organize this Mack Center/Wharton workshop - the team of panelists/discussion leaders and attendees were superb and made this a great event.  The workshop format included knowledge building in the morning (expert panel presentations) and an afternoon of knowledge-sharing (small group discussions led by academic/industry experts).  This was our second "focused theme" workshop, and was proposed by Mary Gros at the Mack Center's industry partner Teradata.  The plan is to host one of these workshops each year based on topics proposed by our industry partners.   December 3-5, 2012 - 2nd International Conference on Nanotek and Expo (Philadelphia) -  I was delighted to co-chair the Nanomedicine session(Dec. 4) - my presentation focused on nanomedicine, bio-imaging and examples of nanoinnovations.   November 16 - Rome, Italy - A.R.T.O.I. - IV Conference of Integrated Oncology Specialists - I keynoted this event which included some of Europe's most distinguished cancer specialists.  More than 200 people attended plus webcast viewers.  I also had a chance to visit the Coliseum and other Roman sites.  The photo (below) shows my great friend Dr. Carlo Pastore (left, who hosted my visit), other conference speakers and Dr. Max Bonucci (next to me on the right), president of A.R.T.O.I. Video Game/Computing Museum - Rome, Italy - 18 Nov. 2012 - You can see photos from my VIGAMUS presentation in Rome on my Facebook page.  I gave a presentation on the Birth of the Home Computer: 30 Years Later. Marco Accordi Rickards, the museum director, translated while I spoke.  I posed for about 50 photos, autographed VIC20s and t-shirts, and had an absolutely fabulous time!  Most of the Commodore collectors are in their 20s and 30s which was surprising.  The photo below shows my friend Dr. Carlo Pastore, Italy's foremost Commodore collector (left), Marco Accordi Rickards, and me.  During my visit, I gave an interview to a grad. student doing her master's thesis on the VIC20, and an interview for a video game magazine.  I also autographed VIC20s and t-shirts and had so much fun, Nancy and I are hoping to get back on vacation next spring or summer.       November 9 - "Organizing for Innovation in the 'New Normal': Profiting from Uncertainty."  Our Fall Mack Center conference featured presentations by Wharton faculty and industry best practice firms including Inder Sidhu at Cisco and Intuit co-founder Roy Rosin.  Prof. Saikat Chaudhuri who organized and hosted the conference, invited me to co-chair the small group breakout session.  More than 100 people attended.  Prof. Chaudhuri did a great job designing a superb event!   November 8 - Annual Industry Partner Dinner - I was pleased to co-host, with our faculty directors, the first annual dinner for our industry partner representatives.  We included exclusive faculty presentations providing extra insights into cutting-edge issues involving technological innovation.   October 10, 2012 - Governance & Mgmt of Chinese Firms - I was invited to co-teach a Wharton class on China's Solar Industry: Struggling for Survival.  It was an enormous pleasure collaborating with Prof. Marshall Meyer, one of my favorite Wharton faculty.  Marshall is an authority on Chinese business.  I provided an update on the global solar industry in the context of the China-US-Europe trade dispute.   September 6, 2012 - Presentation: "Game Changing Innovations: What's Needed & What's Possible" -  Panelist at a meeting of economic analysts for a government agency/sector in Washington.  My presentation focused on radical innovations with economic impact - focus points included the need to replace rare earth materials with "earth abundant" materials, and the need for environmental innovations to offset the impending impact of global climate change. The IEEE-1784 initiative to develop standards for the use of nanomaterials in electronics is now the Joint Project Team for IEC 62659 (IEEE1784) - I've been serving on the senior leadership of the IEEE committee and now serve on the joint committee. We are making final changes to the standard, based on input from engineers in the global community.   Earlier This Year   July 2012 - National Academies of Science -  It was a privilege to be invited to share some of my ideas with a committee of the National Academies, where I offered a few ideas for goals for the National Nanotechnology Initiative - my ideas included a strong focus on convergence innovation, the next generation of nanoscale imaging (vital to medicine), translational research/commercialization, desktop nano microscopes for high schools and colleges, and a concept for a student nanotech competition.  I gave my presentation remotely from a cabin near the Canadian border, where we were vacationing.   June 19-21, 2012 - Nanotech2012 - Santa Clara, CA: Served on a panel hosted by Zyvex Technologies.  Santa Clara is where I worked when I was with Commodore pioneering the first home computers in the 1980s.  Zyvex is a terrific nanotech pioneer - they designed the first boat made with carbon nanotubes.   June 6- Quoted on "Privatization of Space": Quoted in a knowledge@wharton article:  (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=3018) article commenting on privatization of space travel. I noted that we have to promote space travel, not just to colonize space but also because learning to live in space teaches us to live on Earth if the environment turns hostile.   June 9, 2012 - Mack Center Spring Conference at Wharton - "Learning from Failure in Innovation" Our annual spring conference was hosted by Paul Schoemaker, who expanded on concepts in his terrific new book "Brilliant Mistakes."    May 22, 2012 - Innovation Panel Participated on a panel at a Philadelphia conference for medical device software developers. One of my main insights involved the use of smartphones for portable medical apps.   I've been flattered and humbled by several requests this year to do interviews on my involvement in the development of the first home computers, and on innovation and where we are heading today.  Most of these requests are coming European websites.  In the past few months I've done interviews for websites in Austria, Italy, Germany and most recently, Poland - a photo of me from 1981 graces the cover of the Feb. 2012 issue of this Polish magazine (see photo).  My bio was recently translated into Romanian which was really cool.   In early April, my mentor Jack Tramiel, the founder of Commodore, died and I was privileged to know Steve Jobs.  With the passing of these home computing pioneers, there is renewed interest in the home computer revolution, where I was privileged to play a role.  In March I did a video interview for Joerg Droege at Scene World reminiscing about my experiences at Commodore in the 1980s.  In April my comments were included in an article in Gamasutra.     Feb. 2012 - I hosted the 14th Annual Emerging Technologies Update Day at Wharton which was entitled "The Future of Nanoinnovation."  Mike Roco, the "godfather" of nanotechnology in the U.S., keynoted the event.  Presentations included DNA analysis, using nanotech to extend biopharma patents, commercialization of graphene, the first carbon nanotube boat...and much more.  In my opening remarks, I shared some insights from my book-in-progress (NanoInnovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know).  This is an annual event I originated in 1998 to provide an "intraveneous injection" of innovation to our partner network and faculty/students at Wharton.   October 2011 - Turning Inventions Into Ideas and Innovations was the title of my presentation to in-house inventors, lawyers and innovation managers at a large media company.   It was an enormous pleasure to be invited to be the first speaker as part of their inventor development initiative. The world is changing and media giants will either be at risk or at the cutting edge, depending on their innovation strategy and ability to adapt. In my presentation, I discussed Steve Jobs' contributions in the context of the "The Innovator's DNA" which is a great new book by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clay Christensen. Jeff Dyer was nice enough to send me an advance copy to read. Great book - I highly recommend it! The key point is that innovators can be trained and groomed - they are not necessarily "born" - the DNA they're talking about is a zest for discovery and an insatiable curiosity that is essential to drive the future. October 2011 - I taught the first session in a new Leadership Certificate program at the Univ. of Pennsylvania Engineering School - my presentation focused on how to become a world class innovator. Sept. 2011 - Presented a Wharton Exec. Ed. session to a group of 50 IDC business school students, on Opportunities in Emerging Technologies.  June 2011- My week at the University of Leeds in the UK was intellectually stimulating and culturally refreshing.  See more photos and insights HERE.   June 2011 -Internal Venturing: Issues, Opportunities & Challenges - Mack Center at Wharton.  I helped organize this interactive "focused theme" workshop (led by Paul Schoemaker), and facilitated one of the 3 breakout sessions (see photo), designed to capture insights/best practices for corporate venturing.  This workshop is a pilot for future events, where our industry partners will be invited to propose topics.    May 2011- Webcast to Intel's Innovation Advocates Network - My topic was "The Ambidextrous Challenge."   May 2011 - Olympus Corp. Annual Management Meeting - "Sustainability and Enterprise Innovation."  A poignant occasion, the last company appearance by retiring CEO Mark Gumz.           April 2011 - Scientist-philanthropist Fred Kavli gave me some great comments for my "Nano" book – Mr. Kavli was at Wharton to receive the Bower Award from the Ben Franklin Institute.   March 2011 - Attended the annual conference of the Wharton School's Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL) - a few reflections are included on the Insights Page.     Feb 2011 - Emerging Technologies Update Day, at Wharton - "Turning Science Fiction Into Science Reality."Hard to believe 2011 was the 13th year I hosted this event! I initiated this conference to give industry partners, faculty and students an "intraveneous injection" of radical innovations that can really change our industries and markets if they achieve commercial success. Speakers included Bobby Braun, NASA's chief technology officer, Michal Lipson, one of the world's top researchers on nano-optics including "invisibility cloaks" and Bill Christensen, from technovelgy.com. Feb 2011 - Wharton Aerospace Conference I led the innovation panel at the annual communities of practice event at Wharton - a few personal insights and takeaways are summarized on the INSIGHTS page.