Description
Engineering Innovation And Entrepreneurship
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Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Diane Amanti: Hi. My name is Diane Amanti, and I'm studying economics and management here at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Every great inventor is constantly aware of and questioning what's going on around them. This constant observation
allows them to recognize all the potential for innovation that the world has to offer. Today, I'm going to challenge
you to look at the world with a fresh perspective for innovation. Let's see all the opportunities for innovation that we
can find driving around Cambridge, the home of MIT.
Whoa! That was a close call. Did you see how that car nearly backed into me? I'm going to take a second and catch
my breath while this car continues to back out. We're going to pause this video. But in the meantime, I have a
question for you first. What does that near accident have to do with inventiveness? Talk with your teacher. Talk with
your classmates. And I'll be back soon to continue our discussion.
**First Break**
Diane: Welcome back. I hope that you had a nice class discussion. Imagine how many people get into accidents
every single day because they have to back out of a blind driveway, just like that one. What if these people had some
sort of device in their driveway that could rotate the car 180 degrees? Then they wouldn't have to back out into the
street. Imagine all the accidents and aggravation that could be avoided if there existed such a car turntable device.
Huh…so that near accident was actually an opportunity for innovation. I challenge you to look for more
opportunities for innovation just like that one. As Marcel Proust said, “The real act of discovery consists not in
finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”
As we've been driving around, I've seen lots of dangerous and inefficient situations that pose great opportunities for
invention. Now it's your turn to talk with your classmates about some of the opportunities for engineering
innovation that you noticed. You don't have to limit yourself to things that you just saw. Look around your
classroom, or think about your everyday life. The opportunities for invention are everywhere! See you soon.
**Second Break**
Diane: Welcome back. In addition to my coursework here at MIT, I'm also involved in MIT's Society of Women
Engineers. I'm actually the co-chair of the Women in Science and Engineering program, or WiSE, for short. WiSE is
a year-long outreach program that provides high school girls with opportunities to explore science and engineering.
I'm here with two past participants in the WISE program, Torie Muse and Priyanka Ram. We call them the WISE
girls!
During the break, we were discussing all the everyday opportunities for innovation that we noticed. Torie was
actually just mentioning some green opportunities for innovation.
Torie Must: Right. I walked down the street and see how wasteful people can be in terms of keeping their cars
running, or letting heat and AC out of windows.
Priyanka Ram: Maybe windows could be better reconstructed or newly shaped to promote insulation.
Torie: I also often think of green oriented technology to be created or iPod apps, since I'm young.
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Diane: Those all sound like great ideas. The WiSE girls and I also noticed a person struggling to maneuver their
wheelchair in the clip before the break. A group of students from Staten Island Technical High School recognized
this wheelchair insufficiency as an opportunity for innovation. Inspired by their motto, 'There are no problems, only
solutions', this group of students set about developing a wheelchair that can meet the unsatisfied needs of the
wheelchair bound.
Innovators see problems as an opportunity for advancement and invention. They have the courage and vision to
tackle problems that no-one knows the answers to. By looking at challenges through the lens of possibilities, you are
well on your way to creating the next great invention.
Can you think of any other inventions for those with physical limitations? Inventions that you might want to be a
part of developing? The WiSE girls and I are going to discuss this, while you also discuss in your classroom. We'll
be back soon.
**Third Break**
Diane: Welcome back. The WiSE girls and I had a nice discussion, and I hope you had a nice discussion in your
classroom as well. Please share with us your invention ideas for those with physical limitations on the Blossoms
website. Let's start a great discussion on the topic.
Torie: I know I often take for granted the innovative thinking behind everyday items. It is easy to forget the
innovation this light bulb embodies.
Diane: There were years of experimenting that went into developing the light bulb. The first time that Thomas
Edison tried to create the light bulb, he failed. After making several changes, he tried again, and failed again. But
what made Thomas Edison different from other people is that he stuck with it. And after nearly ten thousand more
attempts, he finally successfully created the very first light bulb.
Torie: But Edison did not think any of his failures were actually failures. Edison said,
Priyanka (as Thomas Edison): If I find ten thousand ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I'm not
discouraged. Because every wrong attempt discarded is just one more step forward.
Diane: Do you turn your mistakes into learning opportunities? Adopt the same attitude as Edison did. Learn from
your mistakes and be persistent.
Priyanka (as Thomas Edison): The light bulb wasn't the only thing I invented. I also invented the telegraph,
batteries, cement, and the phonograph, among many other things.
Torie: Edison, you're always so practical and observant.
Priyanka (as Thomas Edison): Well, the classic marketing philosophy says to fill the unmet need. So I invented
useful items that a majority of the population could use.
Diane: Every one of us has practical skills that we can offer the world. The world needs your talents and ideas just as
the world needed Edison's. More often than not, a great idea takes time, effort and perseverance in order to develop
into a successful invention. You have to learn from your mistakes, but sometimes mistakes can be inventions in
themselves. Sometimes inventions are simply stumbled upon.
Torie: Did you know ice cream was originally exclusively for the wealthy?
Priyanka: Yeah, but by the early 1900s, ice cream became affordable and vendors begin to sell it on street corners
from glass dishes for only a penny. Unfortunately, sanitation became an issue. And many people would accidentally
walk off with the glass dishes or break them. Eventually, paper cups and biscuit cups replaced these glass dishes.
Torie: My favorite way to eat ice cream is from a cone, though.
$
Priyanka: I wonder who thought of that.
Torie: Well, in 1904, at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, an ice cream vendor named Arnold Fornachou ran
out of paper dishes at the fair. A friendly Syrian waffle vendor nearby named Ernest Hamwi rolled some of his
pastries into a cone and give them to Arnold to hold the ice cream in.
Priyanka: I'm sure word spread quickly throughout the fair.
Torie: It sure did. Many other vendors began constructing their own waffle cones to sell ice cream in. Everyone
wanted to take credit for the new delicious invention.
Diane: That just goes to show you that you never know when or where innovation may occur. By constantly looking
for problems and opportunities for innovation, you greatly increase your invention potential.
So, girls, how are you going to increase your awareness of everyday opportunities for innovation?
Torie: I'm going to watch and read the news to look for opportunities for new safety oriented inventions, inspired by
real life accidents and tragedies. By keeping up with the news, I can be aware of trends in inventions as well as
concerns.
Priyanka: I'm going to deliberately take alternate routes to school and to my different activities so that I can always
be witnessing new things.
Torie: I'm also going to use social networking sites to post links in progress in the engineering field. As well as
things that excite me.
Priyanka: Yeah, like on Facebook and Twitter. That would be a great way to promote engineering in your own
community.
Diane: Those all sound like great ideas, girls. I'm sure you're going to be overflowing with new invention ideas soon.
So, the WiSE girls and I are working to increase our awareness of everyday opportunities for innovation. What are
you going to do to increase your awareness?
**Fourth Break**
Diane: Welcome back. I hope that you had some nice discussions with your classmates during the break.
Torie: I'm excited to keep looking for opportunities in innovation. But right now I can't stop thinking about that near
accident you had while driving around earlier.
Priyanka: Me too. I really think we should pursue some sort of driveway car turntable device. I think it has so much
potential. But I have no idea where to begin.
Diane: Well, girls. There certainly are lots of stepping stones and hurdles throughout the innovation process. But
thankfully, there are also lots of great resources out there that can help us along the way. Let's see if my friend Lou
Goldish can help us out.
Lou Goldish: Success as an entrepreneur doesn't just happen. Sure, you need an idea, but you also have to be willing
to work hard, to face challenges, and to persevere. And if that's OK with you, you can start at any time. Even in high
school. How do I know? Because I work with many entrepreneurs, who started in high school! I'm Lou Goldish,
senior adviser in the venture mentoring service at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We provide
experienced businesspeople to mentor students and other starting ventures at MIT.
In the process of creating a business out of your idea, you need to do three things: thinking, analyzing and doing.
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So far, you've been thinking. Noticing needs and coming up with ideas. Now, you might say, OK, I thought of
something, I'm ready to start a business. But wait. Does anyone want your product or service? Can your product or
service be sold at a price which you could make a profit? Now you have to start analyzing.
So what do we mean by analyzing? Or, to use business terminology, market analysis? You can't just Google the
people-- how many people want to buy my product and can I make a profit? Here's where the analyzing comes in.
You look for information that you can Google. Or that you can look up in the library, or in reports or magazines.
You ask potential customers questions they can answer easily.
Then you analyze all the information you've collected, so that you can determine do people want to buy my product
and can I make a profit?
Here are some of the issues you may want to look into. What am I enabling people to do that they couldn't do
before? Or can now do better? How many similar products are sold annually? How much are people paying for
those products? What do people think of my product when I describe it to them?
From analyzing that information, you can then answer questions such as: Whom should I sell to? How much should
I charge? How much can I sell over time? What will my profit be?
Pay attention to that word profit. The measure of your business success is not how much you sell, it's how much
money is left over after you make your sales. Remember, you have to pay the cost of building your product. You
have to pay the cost of running your business. Unless you're doing charity or social service, you're in business to
make a profit.
So, you've done your thinking and decided on an idea. You've done your analyzing and concluded that your idea is
worth pursuing. Now you're ready to start doing.
Diane: There's certainly lots of steps to go through in the invention process. But if we approach them methodically,
then the whole process seems a lot less daunting. So, you want to pursue this driveway turnaround device? Well,
what specifically is the problem that you want to solve? Or the device that you want to create? You want to have a
clear idea of exactly the problem in mind.
Torie: Well, the near accident occurred because the car was backing out of a long skinny driveway that was too
narrow to turn a car around in.
Priyanka: So we want to develop a device that can safely rotate a car 180 degrees and can fit in a narrow driveway.
Kind of like the cable car turnarounds in San Francisco.
Torie: The device has to also be affordable, so that it's feasible for the general public to purchase it.
Diane: Now that we have in mind precisely the problem that we want to tackle, it's time to evaluate the potential of
this innovative idea. This is the second step in the invention process. Novelty alone may mean nothing if your idea
does not have good commercial potential. People will buy a product only if they have a use for it and prefer it to
competing products.
Torie: Aren't there professional research companies that can conduct a market analysis for us?
Diane: Well, professional research companies are often much too expensive. Since your idea is still in the concept
phase, this is a very risky investment to make. It is best that you start by doing a market analysis all on your own.
Thankfully, there are lots of great resources out there that enable you to conduct a thorough initial market analysis
entirely on your own.
Priyanka: I know. How about I start by researching on the internet.
&
Diane: That's a great idea. The internet very well may be your main source of information. You have to be careful,
however. Much of the information that you find on the internet may be outdated or even inaccurate. When
researching on the internet, try to use as primary a source as possible, and always make sure that you evaluate the
reliability of every website that you use.
Torie: While you're doing research on the internet, I think I'll go to the library and see what I can find there.
Diane: That's another great idea, Torie. The library is another great and completely free resource for you to conduct
your market potential analysis. Many academic and large public libraries have business information departments that
are staffed by helpful librarians. Let's get to the research, girls.
Diane: So, how did all your research go? What did you find out?
Torie: When researching driveway accidents, I came across lots of child safety initiatives for the prevention of child
backovers, which is when a child is backed over by a vehicle in their own driveways. In the US alone, 50 children
are backed over each week, and 30% of deaths involving a motorist and a child occur when a vehicle backs over a
child.
It's not just children being harmed, though. In my research, I found lots of lawsuits for wrongful deaths involving
inattentive motorists backing out of their driveway and striking pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. Our driveway
turntable device could potentially really reduce these tragedies. Based on my research, there's a great need and
definite market for a driveway turntable device.
Priyanka: There definitely is a market. However, it was quite obvious to me after a little research that there are
already a lot of competitors out there. The competitors range in products offered. There are high-end, built-in
driveway turntable devices that go for upwards of $20,000. There also economy class devices that cost around $6-
8,000.
As I browsed through the competitors' products, I started thinking about all the desirable and necessary features that
a driveway turntable device must have. Consumers would need a product that is durable, weather resistant, capable
of handling heavy loads, child safe, and adherent to local and national regulations. Customers may also like a
product that is pleasing to the eye, quiet, fully automatic, easy to install, and dual rotational. Given all these features
and safety controls, I'm not sure if it would be feasible to create a cheaper product then what is already available,
while meeting the durability and safety requirements of the customers.
Diane: Great job with the research, girls. As you can see, it doesn't take lots of money and a professional research
company in order to conduct an initial market analysis that allows you to evaluate whether your idea has true
innovation potential. Our challenge-- your challenge-- is this. Might there be some innovation in designing an easy
to use driveway turntable device that breaks the cost barrier of about a thousand dollars? Let's have this be another
one of our ongoing projects, and let's start another shared dialogue on the BLOSSOMS website. Maybe we can
invent an inexpensive driveway turntable device together, and save lives.
Let's pause now and give you a chance to discuss with your classmates possible ways of bringing down the cost of a
driveway turntable.
**Fifth Break**
Diane: Welcome back. Did you make any progress on developing a cheaper driveway turntable? Once you have a
concept, for the driveway turntable or whatever, take the initiative to go out and build a proof of concept prototype.
This is an initial prototype that can be made of basic materials found around your house, trash piles, or in your local
hardware store.
Building a prototype allows you to prove the feasibility of your solution. Your first try at a solution won't be perfect.
But by testing and experimenting, you find out what works and what needs to be improved.
This is a toy prototype of a driveway turntable. But I'm sure that you can do better.
'
One of MIT's own, Rhonda Jordan, saw a need for energy and electricity in African households and was inspired to
find a way to combat this insufficiency. Let's find out how Rhonda and her team used prototyping to turn a problem
into an opportunity for innovation, and an opportunity into a growing business.
Rhonda Jordan: Hello. As Diane said, my name is Rhonda Jordan. And I'm a graduate student here at MIT. I'm also
a co-founder of EGG Energy Incorporated. Now, if you were wondering what EGG stands for, it means Engineering
Global Growth. We connect low income customers to electricity through a battery swapping service. We take
electricity from a grid connection, a wind turbine, or a solar panel. And we package electricity into small, portable,
rechargeable and affordable batteries. We rent each battery to our customer for a subscription fee, and our customers
can exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones at any time by paying a small swap fee at a charging station
or a swapping station.
Each a battery is about the size of a brick and it lasts five days in a typical Tanzanian household. It's strong enough
to power three lights, a cellphone charger, and a radio.
Diane: So, Rhonda, tell us how you recognized this business opportunity.
Rhonda: Well, on my very first trip to Africa I noticed that many of the residents didn't have access to electricity.
Instead, they used kerosene to light their homes or to run small businesses in the evenings. I also noticed that the
light was very dim, and soon found out that burning kerosene caused many respiratory illnesses. So when I returned
to MIT, I found that other people had the same experience. I joined EGG Energy and we decided that we wanted to
provide these residents brighter lights with fewer health issues.
But when my teammate, Yuka, went to Tanzania for the first time, he found that the residents didn't have enough
money to pay for even the newest solar technology. We did not know what to do, and our business model would fail.
So Yuka decided to spend time with the residents, observe how they spent money, and what energy services they
were purchasing.
He observed that residents walked on a regular basis to the nearby market. They spent a total of $125 on AA
batteries and kerosene.
Diane: So then how did you come up with the solution?
Rhonda: So our team put together a business model to install and distribute solar home systems that were going to
be affordable. Our product needed to cost less than $125 a year, and we knew that the residents were OK returning
to the market to purchase electricity on a regular basis. So, we decided to look into battery technologies and found
the absorbed glass mat battery. We found that it won't leak lead into the environment, and was large enough to
power multiple devices. So our team decided on a battery swapping service. Instead of providing homes with solar
home systems, we'll use solar to charge the batteries instead.
Diane: As we saw with Rhonda, and as we learned from Thomas Edison earlier, it takes trials, vision, and
perseverance in order to create a successful invention. Did you know that WD-40 got its name because there were
39 formulas before it that didn't work? You can't buy WD-27. Huh. I wonder if that's where they got the name 7-Up,
too. Did they try 6-Up, 4-Up?
All right. Let's get serious. Now it's your turn to start creating your solution to your favorite problem. It could be the
driveway turntable, or something completely different. During the break, take some time to start creating a vision for
your solution, and maybe even start drawing some prototypes. Have fun with it.
**Sixth Break**
Diane: Welcome back. I hope that you had fun sketching your prototypes. Hopefully it's just a start, and you keep
making more prototype drawings in the future as you either refine this idea or recognize new opportunities for
innovation in the future.
(
I hope that by now you're becoming competent in your ability to becoming the next great inventor. If you follow
your passions, stay determined and always be on the lookout for new opportunities, you may be amazed at what you
can accomplish.
We're going to close with one more real life story. William Sanchez has inspired me, and I hope that his story can
inspire you as well.
William Sanchez: Hello everyone. My name is William Sanchez, and I'm the CEO and founder of Cool Chip
Technologies. My story may resonate with many of you. It's a very simple story.
I was born in raised in the Bronx. It's an inner city community in New York City, a very tough environment to grow
in. But, my parents came from a dictatorial regime, out of the Dominican Republic in the mid-`80s. And they were
even tougher than the Bronx. And three things that they valued very highly, and instilled in me and my siblings,
were stewardship, integrity, and education. Everything that I've ever done reflects those three values.
I came to MIT in 2001, and MIT was a place that I did not know existed when I was in high school. In high school, I
remember the day crossing the street with a friend of mine, who mentioned that I should apply to this school named
MIT. And with the application due the next day, I sort of haphazardly and as creative a way as I could, filled out an
application, answering a simple question. What is, in 500 words or less, something that you really enjoy doing?
And as you know, they say a picture's worth a thousand words. And so that's what I submitted to my application.
You might imagine my surprise when I got admitted to MIT.
Now, I came to MIT, again, out of a very tough community in the Bronx, and decided to pursue electrical
engineering as my field of concentration. And throughout my undergraduate career, I founded my first company, a
dance company. It's not what you usually think about when you think entrepreneurship. But dancing is something
that I've always been passionate about. And so I wanted to share that passion with other people. So I wrapped the
business around it. It was an easy way to network, meet folks, and travel, perform, dance and just share something
that I enjoyed doing.
A year or two into that, I realized that I wanted to do something more impactful. And in the heart of the economic
recession, realizing opportunities in clean tech and the emerging energy revolution happening amongst us today, I
founded my first company, Vecarius, where we developed power and thermal management devices to address one of
the pressing issues of our time: energy efficiency. I spent a lot of time looking at heat sinks and thermoelectrics and
sort of ways of recovering waste heat out of the automotive industry. And that's really what paved the way to Cool
Chip Technologies, what is today a company enhancing the efficiency in data centers.
So, Cool Chip started from my idea of starting a dance company, if you can believe that connection. And where we
are today is, out of a pursuit of doing something that I once thought impossible, we won the MIT Clean Energy
Prize, a competition sponsored by the Department of Energy, and NStar, a local utility here in the New England
area. So if there's one thing that you should always keep in mind is, chase your dreams. If you believe in something,
if there's something pressing inside of you, you want to chase that, and not let anybody tell you otherwise. Because
there's no dream that cannot be accomplished.
Diane: Wow. It really is amazing how much William Sanchez has accomplished. He truly does follow his passions.
But with all that you've learned in this video, you are right on track to follow in his successful footsteps.
To wrap up all that you've learned today, and to give you a chance to tie together all the brainstorming that you've
done, I'm going to introduce you to the elevator pitch. Imagine the following scenario. You're waiting for an
elevator. The elevator doors open, and their stands your ideal investor. It's the chance of a lifetime. But the chance
only lasts as long as the elevator ride.
A great way to think of an elevator pitch is as a clear, concise, and well-practiced description of your business that a
friend or your mother could quickly and easily understand. Always have your best version of your elevator pitch
memorized, so that you can take advantage of opportunities whenever or wherever they may arise.
)
Of course, an elevator pitch isn't just restricted to only elevators. Rather, it comes in handy anytime you want a
concise description of your company. The average attention span of the human being is only 30 seconds. So you
have very limited time to make a powerful first impression.
So, William Sanchez, what's your elevator pitch?
William Sanchez: Well, Diane, data centers are huge hogs of electricity. More and more people are entering the
computing world and those already in are demanding more computing performance. So the real problem is that
there's no way to cool electronics efficiently. So at Cool Chip we found a way to do that. Ten times better than
what's out there today. And so it's a very big market that we're trying to address. And pave the way forward for
energy efficiency and clean tech. We're licensing the technologies out of MIT and Sandia National Labs in order to
build our first products.
Diane: What do you think of his pitch? Are you sold?
I hope that this video has inspired you to always be on the lookout for opportunities for engineering innovation. Up
on your screen right now is a summary of the key steps we have outlined for you. These can be printed out from the
website of this video.
Now, as we close, your final challenge is to create and give an elevator pitch for your product. Assume that we're in
a high-rise building so the ride is at least 30 seconds. Goodbye for now, and best of luck in all of your invention
endeavors.
*
Video Teacher’s Guide
Hello, teachers. This video lesson requires no prerequisite knowledge of engineering, innovation, or
entrepreneurship. I feel that any high school student, or even advanced middle school student, can participate in this
video's learning activities, and can benefit from viewing this video. I hope that you and your students enjoy
watching this video and are inspired on the path to engineering and innovation.
There are many ways that this video can be used, and that the breaks can be utilized I've suggested some activities to
be performed during the breaks, but I urge you to use this video as it will suit you and your students best. I hope that
you will share with me the ways that you have incorporated this video into your classroom.
Prior to the first break, I challenged students to think about what my near-accident had to do with inventiveness.
You can break students up into groups or have them discuss with their neighbors how problems and challenges can
be looked at as opportunities rather than as problems. During this break, I hope that students start viewing problems
as opportunities.
During the second break, I suggest that you give students a few minutes to brainstorm opportunities for innovation
that could either be inspired by the video that they just watched, or inspired by their everyday lives. What problems
and hassles do students face every day? Encourage students to look at these problems as opportunities.
The third break can be used to discuss further opportunities for invention and innovation. This break is supposed to
be targeted at thinking about inventions for those with physical limitations. And we hope that you will continue your
discussions on the Blossoms website in the future.
By the fourth break, students have spent quite some time brainstorming lots of innovative ideas. We hope that they
will continue this brainstorming in the future, and we hope that during this break, students can discuss with their
neighbors or in small groups, ways that they will continue to be mindful of innovative opportunities in the future.
You could have each group, or even every student, choose one thing that they're going to focus on in order to
develop their perspective for innovation.
The fifth break offers a pause for students to discuss possible ways to bring down the price of a driveway turntable.
This is another one of our ongoing projects, and we hope that you will share your ideas with us on the Blossoms
website.
In the sixth break, students, in groups or on their own, have the chance to focus on one innovative idea and really
develop a solution for it. We hope that they think about what their actual solution is going to be, and they can start
drawing prototypes of feasible solutions.
Before the final break, I challenge students to create and give an elevator pitch for their product. Some or all of the
groups could then give their elevator pitch to the class. Or you could make this a homework assignment and then
have an elevator pitch contest in a later class period.
If you and your students are really inspired by this video, and want to continue to develop your innovative and
entrepreneurial skills, I hope that you use this video as a launching point for a more in-depth discussion and more in-
depth study. If you go to the Blossoms website, you can find additional resources for a long term student project on
engineering, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Thank you for inviting me into your classroom, and I hope that you have enjoyed this video. I hope that you and
your students continue your discussions in your everyday lives and on the Blossoms website in the future. Thank
you.
doc_888109240.pdf
Engineering Innovation And Entrepreneurship
"
Engineering Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Diane Amanti: Hi. My name is Diane Amanti, and I'm studying economics and management here at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Every great inventor is constantly aware of and questioning what's going on around them. This constant observation
allows them to recognize all the potential for innovation that the world has to offer. Today, I'm going to challenge
you to look at the world with a fresh perspective for innovation. Let's see all the opportunities for innovation that we
can find driving around Cambridge, the home of MIT.
Whoa! That was a close call. Did you see how that car nearly backed into me? I'm going to take a second and catch
my breath while this car continues to back out. We're going to pause this video. But in the meantime, I have a
question for you first. What does that near accident have to do with inventiveness? Talk with your teacher. Talk with
your classmates. And I'll be back soon to continue our discussion.
**First Break**
Diane: Welcome back. I hope that you had a nice class discussion. Imagine how many people get into accidents
every single day because they have to back out of a blind driveway, just like that one. What if these people had some
sort of device in their driveway that could rotate the car 180 degrees? Then they wouldn't have to back out into the
street. Imagine all the accidents and aggravation that could be avoided if there existed such a car turntable device.
Huh…so that near accident was actually an opportunity for innovation. I challenge you to look for more
opportunities for innovation just like that one. As Marcel Proust said, “The real act of discovery consists not in
finding new lands, but in seeing with new eyes.”
As we've been driving around, I've seen lots of dangerous and inefficient situations that pose great opportunities for
invention. Now it's your turn to talk with your classmates about some of the opportunities for engineering
innovation that you noticed. You don't have to limit yourself to things that you just saw. Look around your
classroom, or think about your everyday life. The opportunities for invention are everywhere! See you soon.
**Second Break**
Diane: Welcome back. In addition to my coursework here at MIT, I'm also involved in MIT's Society of Women
Engineers. I'm actually the co-chair of the Women in Science and Engineering program, or WiSE, for short. WiSE is
a year-long outreach program that provides high school girls with opportunities to explore science and engineering.
I'm here with two past participants in the WISE program, Torie Muse and Priyanka Ram. We call them the WISE
girls!
During the break, we were discussing all the everyday opportunities for innovation that we noticed. Torie was
actually just mentioning some green opportunities for innovation.
Torie Must: Right. I walked down the street and see how wasteful people can be in terms of keeping their cars
running, or letting heat and AC out of windows.
Priyanka Ram: Maybe windows could be better reconstructed or newly shaped to promote insulation.
Torie: I also often think of green oriented technology to be created or iPod apps, since I'm young.
#
Diane: Those all sound like great ideas. The WiSE girls and I also noticed a person struggling to maneuver their
wheelchair in the clip before the break. A group of students from Staten Island Technical High School recognized
this wheelchair insufficiency as an opportunity for innovation. Inspired by their motto, 'There are no problems, only
solutions', this group of students set about developing a wheelchair that can meet the unsatisfied needs of the
wheelchair bound.
Innovators see problems as an opportunity for advancement and invention. They have the courage and vision to
tackle problems that no-one knows the answers to. By looking at challenges through the lens of possibilities, you are
well on your way to creating the next great invention.
Can you think of any other inventions for those with physical limitations? Inventions that you might want to be a
part of developing? The WiSE girls and I are going to discuss this, while you also discuss in your classroom. We'll
be back soon.
**Third Break**
Diane: Welcome back. The WiSE girls and I had a nice discussion, and I hope you had a nice discussion in your
classroom as well. Please share with us your invention ideas for those with physical limitations on the Blossoms
website. Let's start a great discussion on the topic.
Torie: I know I often take for granted the innovative thinking behind everyday items. It is easy to forget the
innovation this light bulb embodies.
Diane: There were years of experimenting that went into developing the light bulb. The first time that Thomas
Edison tried to create the light bulb, he failed. After making several changes, he tried again, and failed again. But
what made Thomas Edison different from other people is that he stuck with it. And after nearly ten thousand more
attempts, he finally successfully created the very first light bulb.
Torie: But Edison did not think any of his failures were actually failures. Edison said,
Priyanka (as Thomas Edison): If I find ten thousand ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I'm not
discouraged. Because every wrong attempt discarded is just one more step forward.
Diane: Do you turn your mistakes into learning opportunities? Adopt the same attitude as Edison did. Learn from
your mistakes and be persistent.
Priyanka (as Thomas Edison): The light bulb wasn't the only thing I invented. I also invented the telegraph,
batteries, cement, and the phonograph, among many other things.
Torie: Edison, you're always so practical and observant.
Priyanka (as Thomas Edison): Well, the classic marketing philosophy says to fill the unmet need. So I invented
useful items that a majority of the population could use.
Diane: Every one of us has practical skills that we can offer the world. The world needs your talents and ideas just as
the world needed Edison's. More often than not, a great idea takes time, effort and perseverance in order to develop
into a successful invention. You have to learn from your mistakes, but sometimes mistakes can be inventions in
themselves. Sometimes inventions are simply stumbled upon.
Torie: Did you know ice cream was originally exclusively for the wealthy?
Priyanka: Yeah, but by the early 1900s, ice cream became affordable and vendors begin to sell it on street corners
from glass dishes for only a penny. Unfortunately, sanitation became an issue. And many people would accidentally
walk off with the glass dishes or break them. Eventually, paper cups and biscuit cups replaced these glass dishes.
Torie: My favorite way to eat ice cream is from a cone, though.
$
Priyanka: I wonder who thought of that.
Torie: Well, in 1904, at the World's Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, an ice cream vendor named Arnold Fornachou ran
out of paper dishes at the fair. A friendly Syrian waffle vendor nearby named Ernest Hamwi rolled some of his
pastries into a cone and give them to Arnold to hold the ice cream in.
Priyanka: I'm sure word spread quickly throughout the fair.
Torie: It sure did. Many other vendors began constructing their own waffle cones to sell ice cream in. Everyone
wanted to take credit for the new delicious invention.
Diane: That just goes to show you that you never know when or where innovation may occur. By constantly looking
for problems and opportunities for innovation, you greatly increase your invention potential.
So, girls, how are you going to increase your awareness of everyday opportunities for innovation?
Torie: I'm going to watch and read the news to look for opportunities for new safety oriented inventions, inspired by
real life accidents and tragedies. By keeping up with the news, I can be aware of trends in inventions as well as
concerns.
Priyanka: I'm going to deliberately take alternate routes to school and to my different activities so that I can always
be witnessing new things.
Torie: I'm also going to use social networking sites to post links in progress in the engineering field. As well as
things that excite me.
Priyanka: Yeah, like on Facebook and Twitter. That would be a great way to promote engineering in your own
community.
Diane: Those all sound like great ideas, girls. I'm sure you're going to be overflowing with new invention ideas soon.
So, the WiSE girls and I are working to increase our awareness of everyday opportunities for innovation. What are
you going to do to increase your awareness?
**Fourth Break**
Diane: Welcome back. I hope that you had some nice discussions with your classmates during the break.
Torie: I'm excited to keep looking for opportunities in innovation. But right now I can't stop thinking about that near
accident you had while driving around earlier.
Priyanka: Me too. I really think we should pursue some sort of driveway car turntable device. I think it has so much
potential. But I have no idea where to begin.
Diane: Well, girls. There certainly are lots of stepping stones and hurdles throughout the innovation process. But
thankfully, there are also lots of great resources out there that can help us along the way. Let's see if my friend Lou
Goldish can help us out.
Lou Goldish: Success as an entrepreneur doesn't just happen. Sure, you need an idea, but you also have to be willing
to work hard, to face challenges, and to persevere. And if that's OK with you, you can start at any time. Even in high
school. How do I know? Because I work with many entrepreneurs, who started in high school! I'm Lou Goldish,
senior adviser in the venture mentoring service at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We provide
experienced businesspeople to mentor students and other starting ventures at MIT.
In the process of creating a business out of your idea, you need to do three things: thinking, analyzing and doing.
%
So far, you've been thinking. Noticing needs and coming up with ideas. Now, you might say, OK, I thought of
something, I'm ready to start a business. But wait. Does anyone want your product or service? Can your product or
service be sold at a price which you could make a profit? Now you have to start analyzing.
So what do we mean by analyzing? Or, to use business terminology, market analysis? You can't just Google the
people-- how many people want to buy my product and can I make a profit? Here's where the analyzing comes in.
You look for information that you can Google. Or that you can look up in the library, or in reports or magazines.
You ask potential customers questions they can answer easily.
Then you analyze all the information you've collected, so that you can determine do people want to buy my product
and can I make a profit?
Here are some of the issues you may want to look into. What am I enabling people to do that they couldn't do
before? Or can now do better? How many similar products are sold annually? How much are people paying for
those products? What do people think of my product when I describe it to them?
From analyzing that information, you can then answer questions such as: Whom should I sell to? How much should
I charge? How much can I sell over time? What will my profit be?
Pay attention to that word profit. The measure of your business success is not how much you sell, it's how much
money is left over after you make your sales. Remember, you have to pay the cost of building your product. You
have to pay the cost of running your business. Unless you're doing charity or social service, you're in business to
make a profit.
So, you've done your thinking and decided on an idea. You've done your analyzing and concluded that your idea is
worth pursuing. Now you're ready to start doing.
Diane: There's certainly lots of steps to go through in the invention process. But if we approach them methodically,
then the whole process seems a lot less daunting. So, you want to pursue this driveway turnaround device? Well,
what specifically is the problem that you want to solve? Or the device that you want to create? You want to have a
clear idea of exactly the problem in mind.
Torie: Well, the near accident occurred because the car was backing out of a long skinny driveway that was too
narrow to turn a car around in.
Priyanka: So we want to develop a device that can safely rotate a car 180 degrees and can fit in a narrow driveway.
Kind of like the cable car turnarounds in San Francisco.
Torie: The device has to also be affordable, so that it's feasible for the general public to purchase it.
Diane: Now that we have in mind precisely the problem that we want to tackle, it's time to evaluate the potential of
this innovative idea. This is the second step in the invention process. Novelty alone may mean nothing if your idea
does not have good commercial potential. People will buy a product only if they have a use for it and prefer it to
competing products.
Torie: Aren't there professional research companies that can conduct a market analysis for us?
Diane: Well, professional research companies are often much too expensive. Since your idea is still in the concept
phase, this is a very risky investment to make. It is best that you start by doing a market analysis all on your own.
Thankfully, there are lots of great resources out there that enable you to conduct a thorough initial market analysis
entirely on your own.
Priyanka: I know. How about I start by researching on the internet.
&
Diane: That's a great idea. The internet very well may be your main source of information. You have to be careful,
however. Much of the information that you find on the internet may be outdated or even inaccurate. When
researching on the internet, try to use as primary a source as possible, and always make sure that you evaluate the
reliability of every website that you use.
Torie: While you're doing research on the internet, I think I'll go to the library and see what I can find there.
Diane: That's another great idea, Torie. The library is another great and completely free resource for you to conduct
your market potential analysis. Many academic and large public libraries have business information departments that
are staffed by helpful librarians. Let's get to the research, girls.
Diane: So, how did all your research go? What did you find out?
Torie: When researching driveway accidents, I came across lots of child safety initiatives for the prevention of child
backovers, which is when a child is backed over by a vehicle in their own driveways. In the US alone, 50 children
are backed over each week, and 30% of deaths involving a motorist and a child occur when a vehicle backs over a
child.
It's not just children being harmed, though. In my research, I found lots of lawsuits for wrongful deaths involving
inattentive motorists backing out of their driveway and striking pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. Our driveway
turntable device could potentially really reduce these tragedies. Based on my research, there's a great need and
definite market for a driveway turntable device.
Priyanka: There definitely is a market. However, it was quite obvious to me after a little research that there are
already a lot of competitors out there. The competitors range in products offered. There are high-end, built-in
driveway turntable devices that go for upwards of $20,000. There also economy class devices that cost around $6-
8,000.
As I browsed through the competitors' products, I started thinking about all the desirable and necessary features that
a driveway turntable device must have. Consumers would need a product that is durable, weather resistant, capable
of handling heavy loads, child safe, and adherent to local and national regulations. Customers may also like a
product that is pleasing to the eye, quiet, fully automatic, easy to install, and dual rotational. Given all these features
and safety controls, I'm not sure if it would be feasible to create a cheaper product then what is already available,
while meeting the durability and safety requirements of the customers.
Diane: Great job with the research, girls. As you can see, it doesn't take lots of money and a professional research
company in order to conduct an initial market analysis that allows you to evaluate whether your idea has true
innovation potential. Our challenge-- your challenge-- is this. Might there be some innovation in designing an easy
to use driveway turntable device that breaks the cost barrier of about a thousand dollars? Let's have this be another
one of our ongoing projects, and let's start another shared dialogue on the BLOSSOMS website. Maybe we can
invent an inexpensive driveway turntable device together, and save lives.
Let's pause now and give you a chance to discuss with your classmates possible ways of bringing down the cost of a
driveway turntable.
**Fifth Break**
Diane: Welcome back. Did you make any progress on developing a cheaper driveway turntable? Once you have a
concept, for the driveway turntable or whatever, take the initiative to go out and build a proof of concept prototype.
This is an initial prototype that can be made of basic materials found around your house, trash piles, or in your local
hardware store.
Building a prototype allows you to prove the feasibility of your solution. Your first try at a solution won't be perfect.
But by testing and experimenting, you find out what works and what needs to be improved.
This is a toy prototype of a driveway turntable. But I'm sure that you can do better.
'
One of MIT's own, Rhonda Jordan, saw a need for energy and electricity in African households and was inspired to
find a way to combat this insufficiency. Let's find out how Rhonda and her team used prototyping to turn a problem
into an opportunity for innovation, and an opportunity into a growing business.
Rhonda Jordan: Hello. As Diane said, my name is Rhonda Jordan. And I'm a graduate student here at MIT. I'm also
a co-founder of EGG Energy Incorporated. Now, if you were wondering what EGG stands for, it means Engineering
Global Growth. We connect low income customers to electricity through a battery swapping service. We take
electricity from a grid connection, a wind turbine, or a solar panel. And we package electricity into small, portable,
rechargeable and affordable batteries. We rent each battery to our customer for a subscription fee, and our customers
can exchange depleted batteries for fully charged ones at any time by paying a small swap fee at a charging station
or a swapping station.
Each a battery is about the size of a brick and it lasts five days in a typical Tanzanian household. It's strong enough
to power three lights, a cellphone charger, and a radio.
Diane: So, Rhonda, tell us how you recognized this business opportunity.
Rhonda: Well, on my very first trip to Africa I noticed that many of the residents didn't have access to electricity.
Instead, they used kerosene to light their homes or to run small businesses in the evenings. I also noticed that the
light was very dim, and soon found out that burning kerosene caused many respiratory illnesses. So when I returned
to MIT, I found that other people had the same experience. I joined EGG Energy and we decided that we wanted to
provide these residents brighter lights with fewer health issues.
But when my teammate, Yuka, went to Tanzania for the first time, he found that the residents didn't have enough
money to pay for even the newest solar technology. We did not know what to do, and our business model would fail.
So Yuka decided to spend time with the residents, observe how they spent money, and what energy services they
were purchasing.
He observed that residents walked on a regular basis to the nearby market. They spent a total of $125 on AA
batteries and kerosene.
Diane: So then how did you come up with the solution?
Rhonda: So our team put together a business model to install and distribute solar home systems that were going to
be affordable. Our product needed to cost less than $125 a year, and we knew that the residents were OK returning
to the market to purchase electricity on a regular basis. So, we decided to look into battery technologies and found
the absorbed glass mat battery. We found that it won't leak lead into the environment, and was large enough to
power multiple devices. So our team decided on a battery swapping service. Instead of providing homes with solar
home systems, we'll use solar to charge the batteries instead.
Diane: As we saw with Rhonda, and as we learned from Thomas Edison earlier, it takes trials, vision, and
perseverance in order to create a successful invention. Did you know that WD-40 got its name because there were
39 formulas before it that didn't work? You can't buy WD-27. Huh. I wonder if that's where they got the name 7-Up,
too. Did they try 6-Up, 4-Up?
All right. Let's get serious. Now it's your turn to start creating your solution to your favorite problem. It could be the
driveway turntable, or something completely different. During the break, take some time to start creating a vision for
your solution, and maybe even start drawing some prototypes. Have fun with it.
**Sixth Break**
Diane: Welcome back. I hope that you had fun sketching your prototypes. Hopefully it's just a start, and you keep
making more prototype drawings in the future as you either refine this idea or recognize new opportunities for
innovation in the future.
(
I hope that by now you're becoming competent in your ability to becoming the next great inventor. If you follow
your passions, stay determined and always be on the lookout for new opportunities, you may be amazed at what you
can accomplish.
We're going to close with one more real life story. William Sanchez has inspired me, and I hope that his story can
inspire you as well.
William Sanchez: Hello everyone. My name is William Sanchez, and I'm the CEO and founder of Cool Chip
Technologies. My story may resonate with many of you. It's a very simple story.
I was born in raised in the Bronx. It's an inner city community in New York City, a very tough environment to grow
in. But, my parents came from a dictatorial regime, out of the Dominican Republic in the mid-`80s. And they were
even tougher than the Bronx. And three things that they valued very highly, and instilled in me and my siblings,
were stewardship, integrity, and education. Everything that I've ever done reflects those three values.
I came to MIT in 2001, and MIT was a place that I did not know existed when I was in high school. In high school, I
remember the day crossing the street with a friend of mine, who mentioned that I should apply to this school named
MIT. And with the application due the next day, I sort of haphazardly and as creative a way as I could, filled out an
application, answering a simple question. What is, in 500 words or less, something that you really enjoy doing?
And as you know, they say a picture's worth a thousand words. And so that's what I submitted to my application.
You might imagine my surprise when I got admitted to MIT.
Now, I came to MIT, again, out of a very tough community in the Bronx, and decided to pursue electrical
engineering as my field of concentration. And throughout my undergraduate career, I founded my first company, a
dance company. It's not what you usually think about when you think entrepreneurship. But dancing is something
that I've always been passionate about. And so I wanted to share that passion with other people. So I wrapped the
business around it. It was an easy way to network, meet folks, and travel, perform, dance and just share something
that I enjoyed doing.
A year or two into that, I realized that I wanted to do something more impactful. And in the heart of the economic
recession, realizing opportunities in clean tech and the emerging energy revolution happening amongst us today, I
founded my first company, Vecarius, where we developed power and thermal management devices to address one of
the pressing issues of our time: energy efficiency. I spent a lot of time looking at heat sinks and thermoelectrics and
sort of ways of recovering waste heat out of the automotive industry. And that's really what paved the way to Cool
Chip Technologies, what is today a company enhancing the efficiency in data centers.
So, Cool Chip started from my idea of starting a dance company, if you can believe that connection. And where we
are today is, out of a pursuit of doing something that I once thought impossible, we won the MIT Clean Energy
Prize, a competition sponsored by the Department of Energy, and NStar, a local utility here in the New England
area. So if there's one thing that you should always keep in mind is, chase your dreams. If you believe in something,
if there's something pressing inside of you, you want to chase that, and not let anybody tell you otherwise. Because
there's no dream that cannot be accomplished.
Diane: Wow. It really is amazing how much William Sanchez has accomplished. He truly does follow his passions.
But with all that you've learned in this video, you are right on track to follow in his successful footsteps.
To wrap up all that you've learned today, and to give you a chance to tie together all the brainstorming that you've
done, I'm going to introduce you to the elevator pitch. Imagine the following scenario. You're waiting for an
elevator. The elevator doors open, and their stands your ideal investor. It's the chance of a lifetime. But the chance
only lasts as long as the elevator ride.
A great way to think of an elevator pitch is as a clear, concise, and well-practiced description of your business that a
friend or your mother could quickly and easily understand. Always have your best version of your elevator pitch
memorized, so that you can take advantage of opportunities whenever or wherever they may arise.
)
Of course, an elevator pitch isn't just restricted to only elevators. Rather, it comes in handy anytime you want a
concise description of your company. The average attention span of the human being is only 30 seconds. So you
have very limited time to make a powerful first impression.
So, William Sanchez, what's your elevator pitch?
William Sanchez: Well, Diane, data centers are huge hogs of electricity. More and more people are entering the
computing world and those already in are demanding more computing performance. So the real problem is that
there's no way to cool electronics efficiently. So at Cool Chip we found a way to do that. Ten times better than
what's out there today. And so it's a very big market that we're trying to address. And pave the way forward for
energy efficiency and clean tech. We're licensing the technologies out of MIT and Sandia National Labs in order to
build our first products.
Diane: What do you think of his pitch? Are you sold?
I hope that this video has inspired you to always be on the lookout for opportunities for engineering innovation. Up
on your screen right now is a summary of the key steps we have outlined for you. These can be printed out from the
website of this video.
Now, as we close, your final challenge is to create and give an elevator pitch for your product. Assume that we're in
a high-rise building so the ride is at least 30 seconds. Goodbye for now, and best of luck in all of your invention
endeavors.
*
Video Teacher’s Guide
Hello, teachers. This video lesson requires no prerequisite knowledge of engineering, innovation, or
entrepreneurship. I feel that any high school student, or even advanced middle school student, can participate in this
video's learning activities, and can benefit from viewing this video. I hope that you and your students enjoy
watching this video and are inspired on the path to engineering and innovation.
There are many ways that this video can be used, and that the breaks can be utilized I've suggested some activities to
be performed during the breaks, but I urge you to use this video as it will suit you and your students best. I hope that
you will share with me the ways that you have incorporated this video into your classroom.
Prior to the first break, I challenged students to think about what my near-accident had to do with inventiveness.
You can break students up into groups or have them discuss with their neighbors how problems and challenges can
be looked at as opportunities rather than as problems. During this break, I hope that students start viewing problems
as opportunities.
During the second break, I suggest that you give students a few minutes to brainstorm opportunities for innovation
that could either be inspired by the video that they just watched, or inspired by their everyday lives. What problems
and hassles do students face every day? Encourage students to look at these problems as opportunities.
The third break can be used to discuss further opportunities for invention and innovation. This break is supposed to
be targeted at thinking about inventions for those with physical limitations. And we hope that you will continue your
discussions on the Blossoms website in the future.
By the fourth break, students have spent quite some time brainstorming lots of innovative ideas. We hope that they
will continue this brainstorming in the future, and we hope that during this break, students can discuss with their
neighbors or in small groups, ways that they will continue to be mindful of innovative opportunities in the future.
You could have each group, or even every student, choose one thing that they're going to focus on in order to
develop their perspective for innovation.
The fifth break offers a pause for students to discuss possible ways to bring down the price of a driveway turntable.
This is another one of our ongoing projects, and we hope that you will share your ideas with us on the Blossoms
website.
In the sixth break, students, in groups or on their own, have the chance to focus on one innovative idea and really
develop a solution for it. We hope that they think about what their actual solution is going to be, and they can start
drawing prototypes of feasible solutions.
Before the final break, I challenge students to create and give an elevator pitch for their product. Some or all of the
groups could then give their elevator pitch to the class. Or you could make this a homework assignment and then
have an elevator pitch contest in a later class period.
If you and your students are really inspired by this video, and want to continue to develop your innovative and
entrepreneurial skills, I hope that you use this video as a launching point for a more in-depth discussion and more in-
depth study. If you go to the Blossoms website, you can find additional resources for a long term student project on
engineering, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Thank you for inviting me into your classroom, and I hope that you have enjoyed this video. I hope that you and
your students continue your discussions in your everyday lives and on the Blossoms website in the future. Thank
you.
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