innovation management and sustainability

We touched on two topics in the third lesson of TWC, firstly on technology and industrial development and specifically on how both aspects are heading towards sustainability. Secondly, we also addressed the issue of innovation management and how there is a need for innovation into existing and available or new technologies.
One of the observations made was that creating new cyclical business and industrial models driven by sustainability present an opportunity for innovation, growth and value creation that promises to bring both economic and environmental well-being. Hence, other than ensuring that we do not reduce the amount of options for our future generations but also, humans do have much to gain from the creation of these technologies, benefitting economically.

Also, while there might be certain trade-offs in industrial development versus the use of sustainability or the need for sustainability, i feel that there is a need for companies or countries to conduct such research or precautions. When these organisations carry out such a research, there would be an eventual benefit that they will enjoy usually in the long run, with lesser costs due to lesser resources needed or the fact that they might be able to sell off their patented technology if proven successful. Hence in this aspect I feel that the government has much to play and they could spearhead such research via sponsoring these companies or providing incentives to companies who are researching in such an area.

Few of the takeaway points are that despite the long and tedious work of innovation and having to go through the processes of research, development, application, we need to realise the importance of conducting such research. However in the research and development process, companies do need to exercise wisdom into creating a balance for their employees to have space to think, create and innovate then again, there’s also a need to reinforce certain supervision to ensure that people do not misuse their advantage. The entire process might not entirely be clear cut and could probably differ from company to company.

Overall I think sufficient points were raised up in class and I found it an interactive and thought-enriching one, reminding us the importance of sustainability and managing innovation to that the Earth can sustain itself for our future generations. So I’d rate the session a 7 out of 10.

TWC lesson 2 (:

We delved in the aspects of global dominance of a country and how technology plays a part in influencing it as we explored what qualities or characteristics would attribute to a rising, dominant or falling country. Secondly we explored how technology affects human development thus allowing us to gain a greater understanding of ourselves, our capabilities. On the other aspect, on how technology can also have detrimental effects on the human development.

“Unless you’re open to getting information from outside, you’re likely to get isolated and hence less likely to rise up the social ladder and emerge tops.” I feel this aptly explains the need for countries to avoid being self-satisfied but rather, be radical to changes and welcome new technologies to accelerate their growth and global dominance. Indeed, change is inevitable and necessary; the transition process may be often difficult and painful for some. Yet despite the paradox faced, there is a need for many, in fact majority of countries to undergo such a situation.

We watched a YouTube video on Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its proved that despite the various improvements, developments and advancements of any developed or developing countries, poverty rates are still ever increasing. Infant and pregnancy mortality rates do not decrease despite the advancements in medical technology. People are still surviving in slums despite developments on infrastructure throughout the times. Shocking statistics of what the world is still undergoing was reflected to us through the video and what caught me thinking was, “why was it so?” Perhaps we humans have been so caught up in the rat race, striving to become better while leaving these developing countries behind when they have lesser chances and opportunities to help themselves. We have been too busy and self-centred in helping ourselves that we have neglected what these technologies was created for, which ultimately, was to aid humans and developments.

I hoped that this topic was discussed to a greater detail in class as we could have explored the reasons as to why the developing countries are not exactly improving as rapidly as the developed ones are and whether it was the issue of the developed countries or the developing countries that cause the widening gap or was it due to the lack of the transfer of technology from the developing countries. This would enable us to understand the reasons for global dominance of certain countries.

Overall I felt the lesson was very informative especially in all the three presentations so I’d rate the lesson a 7 out of 10!

First TWC lesson :)

Today’s lesson on technology and world change addressed mainly the issues of how technology affects civilizations and how technology can potentially impact human health, as we discussed the probable effects of technology on the human race.

Few of the things I remember was the video of Guns, Germs and Steel of Jared Diamonds on his quest to uncover the roots of inequality in Papua New Guinea. The main point of the video, was a statement from a New Guinean to Jared Diamonds,” why you white men have so much cargo and we New Guineans have so little.”

No, it was not an issue regarding race. Instead it was a question that had set Jared Diamonds, pondering on why and what had caused the US economy to be richer or having more cargo as compared to the New Guinean economy. And he discovered that it was the use of technology. The technological improvements that have continually been taking place in US and they were able to harness the use of technology that spurred their economy to flourish and climb up the economic ladder.

Also something that caught my attention was the effect of technology on the physical landscape of countries. As seen in the video, Papua New Guinea is a country with vast wildlife and greenery whereas countries like Singapore for eg. are mainly bound by roads, lights and buildings.Technology does affect the physial landscape of a country immensely.

One take home point of this is that people are after all, in a technological race, in a bid overtake, advance or outdo others. Even though the New Guineans live vastly different lives as compared to the US, they too desire and demand for “more cargo” and this largely would require the use of technology.

Another takeaway from this lesson was with regards to the probable effects of the human race, physically. There are various reasons to how or what the human race would become as depicted during the session but what I think really affects the physical size of humans depend on the people themselves. Technology should not be the reason as to why humans could potentially become obese but it is the onus of the people to exercise or eat healthily.

Lastly we watched a video on ted.com regarding a comparison between developed and less developed countries and how various countries have fared over the last decades. It would have been great if we had some airtime regarding this issue and discuss on why countries can continue to sustain itself in the long run and how they have managed to do so.

Finally, I would rate the session a 7 out of 10 because I think the session was not only interactive but  thought-provoking as we also watched informative videos and discussed about the issues regarding technology that really had set the pace for future lessons!