Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 aug 2015

Entrepreneurs need to proactively get involved at the early and formative stages of their ventures. Core functions should be as much in their control as possibe as they are required to translate their vision and roadmap into a marketable entity. As the venture evolves and the need for assistants, experts and consultants arises, they may delegate some of their tasks and then may focus on the bigger picture and strategic aspects of the business. Hands-on traits are a necessity for entrepreneurs when they are building and developing their initial ideas. Martin Zwilling, startup mentor and venture capitalist, shares his experience and suggests the following attributes that entrepreneurs should have to succeed in developing a new business - (1) Be recognized for innovative actions as well as ideas. (2) Communicate a clear vision, as well as a path to the destination. (3) Capitalize on relationships inside and outside the company. (4) Track and measure both long-term and short-term objectives. (5) Able to adapt or pivot the business to respond to the market. (6) Provide constructive feedback and growth opportunities for the team. (7) Accept accountability for all decisions, with no excuses. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 7 Ways Founders Demonstrate They Can Run a Startup
Author: Martin Zwilling

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 aug 2015

A facilitating environment is required for innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish. Cities and their administrations can work towards building and developing this ecosystem through proper policies and infrastructure and attract investments and talent. A recent report 'CITIE' (City Initiatives for Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship) by UK-based innovation charity Nesta, in collaboration with Accenture and Future Catapults, provides suggestions for policy makers and city administrators to create best possible environment for innovation and entrepreneurship in urban context. Following are some characteristics of cities that provide such an environment - (1) They act as customers: Open up their procurement processes to make them accessible to young city firms and small businesses. Provide them with public sector contracts. (2) They make for great hosts: Integrate the needs and requirements of startups into their development plans and have excellent infrastructure and collaborative spaces like accelerators and incubators to attract talent. (3) They advocate for startups and innovation: Provide visibility to local businesses by branding themselves as startup or innovative locations or hubs and attract international investors and corporations. (4) They act as connectors: Facilitate digital and physical connectivity through high speed internet networks and sustainable physical mobility solutions. (5) They have a long-term strategy: Provide consistency through a clear long-term strategy by having a focused public official overseeing technology, innovations and entrepreneurship. Moreover they should also have a public set of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to measure the success of their strategy. Read on...

Forbes: What Are The Key Traits Of Innovation-Friendly Environments? Some Cities Have Figured It Out
Author: Federico Guerrini

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 aug 2015

UN 'Millennium Development Goals' will now be replaced by a set of development objectives termed as 'Sustainable Development Goals' in September'2015. These include ending poverty, reducing child mortality and tackling climate change. Recent report by the 26-member Scientific Advisory Board to UN Secretary General points out that Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) can help alleviate poverty, reduce inequalities, increase income and improve health. The report further highlights that countries with strong and effective STI systems invest upto 3.5% of their GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Thus governments have to set up a sufficient national minimum target investment for STI and achieve development. Specific investment areas that scientists recommended are - alternative energy solutions, water filters that reduce pathogens at the point-of-use and nanotechnology for health and agriculture. According to the report, 'A better informed and educated society would help establish policies that help long-term well-being over decisions that favour short-term economic and political interests.' According to the UNESCO website, UN Secretary-General's Scientific Advisory Board (2014) includes the following scientists - Tanya Abrahamse (South Africa); Eva Kondorosi (Hungary); Susan Avery (USA); Sir Hilary McDonald Beckles (Barbados); Joji Cariño (Philippines); Rosie Cooney (Australia); Abdallah S. Daar. (Oman); Gebisa Ejeta (Ethiopia); Vladimir Fortov (Russian Federation); Fabiola Gianotti (Italy); Ke Gong (China); Jörg Hinrich Hacker (Germany); Maria Ivanova (Bulgaria); Eugenia Kalnay (Argentina); Reiko Kuroda (Japan); Dong-Pil Min (Republic of Korea); Carlos Nobre (Brazil); Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (India); Shankar Sastry (USA); Hayat Sindi (Saudi Arabia); Wole Soboyeyo (Nigeria); Laurence Tubiana (France); Judi W. Wakhungu (Kenya); Ada E. Yonath (Israel); Abdul Hamid Zakri (Malaysia); Ahmed Zewail (Egypt). Read on...

Reuters: Investing in science can be "the game changer" for development - experts
Authors: Magdalena Mis, Leslie Gevirtz

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 19 jul 2015

Wikipedia article on 'Emotional Intelligence' explains it as, 'The ability to recognize one's own and other people's emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior'. The article further categorizes EI into three models - (1) Ability Model (by Peter Salovey and John Mayer): Focuses on the individual's ability to process emotional information and use it to navigate the social environment. (2) Trait Model (by Konstantin Vasily Petrides): Encompasses behavioral dispositions and self perceived abilities and is measured through self report. (3) Mixed Model (by Daniel Goleman): A combination of both ability and trait EI. It defines EI as an array of skills and characteristics that drive leadership performance. While most people may believe that innovation and creativity are born traits and might not have any connection with EI, but Harvey Deutschendorf, author and EI expert, explains that EI plays an important role in innovative and creative thinking. He outlines 7 common EI-related traits that innovators have - (1) Innovators have their ego in check. (2) Emotionally intelligent people are confident, not arrogant. (3) They are continually curious. (4) They are good listeners. (5) They don't let their emotions affect their innovation efforts. (6) They can take direction. (7) They empathize with co-workers and customers. Read on...

Fast Company: 7 HABITS OF INNOVATIVE THINKERS
Author: Harvey Deutschendorf

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 jul 2015

According to Gartner forecast for global education sector, including higher education as well as primary and secondary schools, technology spending to grow 2.3% to reach US$ 67.8 billion in 2015. A report by Global Industry Analysts (GIA) predicts that the global e-learning market will reach US$ 107 billion in 2015. The increasing cost of education alongwith the need to enhance its value and impact is encouraging education providers to experiment with new business models and utilize innovative technologies. The education technology industry is growing with enormous speed and startups are sprouting in a number of areas that includes content management platforms, online course delivery platforms, adaptive learning, digital assessments, mobile apps etc. This mushrooming of startups creates challenges and extraordinary competition for survival and success. Zach Cutler, founder of The Cutler Group, provides 5 challenges that ed-tech startups face and solutions to overcome them - (1) The edtech industry has exploded: Innovators have to search for unmet needs and provide niche solutions instead of using copycat models. (2) Funding for edtech startups is not extraordinarily high: Although EdSurge estimates that ed-tech investment reached US 1.36 billion in 2014, but it is not sufficient to fulfil the need of crowded startup situation. Startups have to create strong revenue models from even the early stage and survive through revenue generation initially. (3) The education industry is slow to move: Resistance to change is a common aspect of traditional education systems and administrations. Entrepreneurs need to have data-backed approach to demonstrate the real value of ed-tech to educators. (4) Most schools don't have excess money in their budgets: Resource crunch is a reality and innovators need to provide low-cost high-value models to get accepted. (5) Academia is more about theory and less about action: Entrepreneurs can add a co-founder with an academic background to communicate effectively with academic decision-makers. Read on...

Entrepreneur: 5 Challenges Facing Education-Tech Startups
Author: Zach Cutler

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 09 jul 2015

Technology-enabled innovative models in healthcare hold promise to bring digital doctors, diagnostics, health monitoring etc in the hands of patients. According to Bob Wachter, author of 'The Digital Doctor' and professor at University of California at San Francisco, 'There are many things that patients can do to help themselves...if armed with good algorithms and good backup plans.' But he cautions that there is a limit to such interactions and patients need to know when to visit a doctor. Digital healthcare space is in the boom phase with US$ 2 billion invested in 2014, says Ahmed Albaiti, founder and CEO of Medullan. Moreover well entrenched healthcare organizations have also inclined their strategies towards a digital health future. To pursue their goals they are opening labs, practices and divisions exclusively focused on digital technologies and innovations. They are also partnering with entrepreneurs and innovators. All these transformations are contributing towards a new digital healthcare ecosystem. Brian Tilzer, Chief Digital Officer of CVS Health, says 'The recently opened Digital Innovation Lab at CVS is a warehouse-size space where innovators and entrepreneurs can come together, test new products and hash out ideas with each other.' The lab's current work includes - Connected otoscope; Connected blood pressure monitor; Apple Watch integration. According to StartUp Health's 2015 mid-year report, 'More than 7,500 startups around the world are developing solutions in digital health.' Read on...

USA TODAY: The digital doctor is in - Next wave in health care
Author: Trisha Thadani

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 07 jul 2015

Higher education is undergoing shifts due to involvement of technology, pressures of rising costs, newer methods of teaching and learning, and changing perceptions of its quality and value with customers demanding better offerings. In this transformative scenario traditional higher education ecosystem seems unprepared to manage the challenges. European Commission's 'Study of Innovation in Higher Education' observed, 'The blockages for innovation can be found both at the institutional level, such as the lack of institutional support for innovative practices, and at national/regional, for example influenced by different degrees of autonomy of higher education institutions. Regulatory frameworks are also a crucial potential blockage to some innovative practices'. Patrick Harker, President of the University of Delaware, notes that 'One of the biggest limitations of the design of education services is that we assume teaching is the same as learning, and the resistance to change reflects the belief that too much variety in learning approaches would disrupt our highly optimized, highly engineered teaching system.' Rahul Choudaha of World Education Services (WES) explains that the time is ripe for the development of higher education innovation ecosystem with expanded stakeholders. There is pressure on traditional institutions regarding the approaches to learning due to some of the recent innovations like adaptive learning, competency-based learning and MOOCs. According to Mr. Choudaha, 'Innovation is taking place at a much faster rate at the fringes of the education system than at its core. It is getting accelerated by the energy of entrepreneurs, employers, investors and most importantly, new types of learners who are open to experiment. The opportunity for higher education institutions and systems is to embrace outsiders as an important part of the innovation ecosystem.' He suggests that they should work towards building new partnerships and collaborations and include new stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem to adopt and accelerate innovations. Read on...

Huffington Post: Building an Ecosystem of Higher Education Innovation
Author: Rahul Choudaha

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2015

Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard University on his website claytonchristensen.com, defines 'Disruptive Innovation' as 'A process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors.' Eli Schwartz, Director of Marketing (APAC) at SurveyMonkey, explains that continuous customer feedback through surveys is an effective approach to be disruptive by staying in the customer's value perception. In a disruptive scenario, satisfying customer needs and obtaining their loyalty are two most important considerations. He cites an example of Uber's constant feedback process that successfully keeps the company closer to the customers and provides them ability to tweak the service offerings based on customer suggestions. He offers following tips on how to utilize Uber like feedback to disrupt the markets - (1) Gather feedback after every customer interaction. (2) Ask actionable questions and act on the feedback. (3) Make feedback an integral part of business metrics. (4) Use Net Promoter Score (NPS) i.e. a question where a customer is asked to rate their likelihood of referring a product or business to their friends. Read on...

Tech in Asia: A successful disruption requires customer feedback
Author: Eli Schwartz

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 jun 2015

Technology's impact is not restricted to certain industries but every business and their processes are influenced by it. Moreover the increased connectivity and speed of communication has brought about newer challenges. For businesses to survive and flourish in this era of information and communication technology (ICT), newer type of leadership is required to effectively manage and grow businesses and to balance the pace of digital transformation both inside and outside of the organizations. Research points out the shortage of e-Leadership skills in Europe. According to European Commission demand for digitally skilled employees is growing by around 4% a year and that shortages of ICT professionals in the EU could reach 825,000 unfilled vacancies by 2020. Professors, Álvaro Arenas and José Esteves, of IE Business School in Spain define e-Leadership as 'the accomplishment of a goal that relies on ICT through the direction of human resources and uses of ICT...In the case of e-Leadership, both the goal and the resources involve using ICT. An e-Leader must be both business and ICT-savvy.' They mention previous studies that define e-Leaders as having T-shaped portfolio of skills (Vertical Skills- Specialized skills in specific fields like ICT, science, engineering, social sciences etc; Horizontal Skills- Transversal skills like negotiation, ciritcal thinking, design and systems thinking, business and entrepreneurship etc). Their study and research found three characteristics that represent e-Leaders - (1) Innovation is central in e-Leaders' organisations, and the e-Leaders are the force driving innovation. (2) e-Leaders exploit digital trends. SMAC (Social, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud) tech were exploited. (3) e-Leaders envision and drive change for business performance. Their study also found that to develop e-Leaders requires a variety of educational ecosystem actions. There is learning need in some specialized and technical areas alongwith strong need for developing transversal skills. Multiple channels and formats are required to continuously update and upgrade e-Leaderships skills like MOOCs, blended education, short courses etc. Both traditional and new age learning systems are to be utilized for effective learning. Read on...

Forbes: Anatomy of an e-Leader
Authors: Álvaro Arenas, José Esteves

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 jun 2015

Technology-driven transformation of healthcare is happening in multiple ways. Shomit Ghose of ONSET Ventures explains how medical care is shifting from physician-focused dynamic to patient-focused dynamic through collection and assessment of individual data directly, independent of the physician encounters. According to him, 'Going forward, our cell phones and wearables will be by far our biggest source of health-related data, providing a continuous stream of information that promises, for the first time, to enable the practice of "continuous healthcare". This data is collected non-invasively and will specifically help us understand how patient behaviors affect patient outcomes.' He further explains, 'Continuous healthcare brings a brand new class of fine-grained behavioral data into the clinical assessment process. Further, the provision of this type of real-time data at population scale allows strong correlations to be made between best practices in health and best outcomes. Continuous data, when supplemented with other data sources, promises to revolutionize the current methods of population health, including the monitoring of disease and disease vectors in real time.' This data-driven continuous digital healthcare, with its ubiquitous nature and low-cost, has potential to serve communities and regions that are deprived of basic healthcare infrastructure and facilities of the present medical systems. But providers also have to overcome the concerns of privacy and security to realize the full benefits of digital healthcare. Read on...

VentureBeat: Continuous healthcare - Big data and the future of medicine
Author: Shomit Ghose

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