Hellerau - Where Art and Tech Dance Together

Yesterday the final presentation day of futureSAX - The Saxon Innovation Conference took place at the Festspielhaus Hellerau, an iconic building in the smallish suburb Hellerau on the edge of the globally known city of Dresden.

The area of what a little bit more than 100 years ago just heath land with scattered woods became an entrepreneurial and dance hotspot shortly after its founding as the first German "garden city" in 1909. The visionary entrepreneur, Karl Schmidt (link to "German History in Books and Images" by @GHIWashington), envisioned not only a new furniture production site but also a suburb where working, education and living would jointly go together in the most natural form (literally embedded into the landscape of that strip of land).

The prosperous business owner and his outstandingly new ideas attracted famous architects of the time to this new "venture" and furthermore pulled in artists like Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, a Swiss musical pedagogue, who finally became the initiator of creating the Festspielhaus Dresden to perform rhythmical gymnastics.

So it made more than sense to choose this location to showcase some of the amazing innovations, like startups scaling up and projects in the making, as well as established regional companies that have gone to take exponential technologies to transform there sometimes centuries-old business models. As 100 years earlier not only local and Saxon players, but also attendees from Berlin and other locations found their way to Hellerau. BTW, the location is most conveniently reachable via eMobility as a tram line (No. 8) operated by the local public transport corporation DVB AG has a stop ("Festspielhaus") nearby with a direct connection to downtown Dresden.

Saxony once again showed, that despite the edgy position within Germany, it has houses a high number of passionate and clever minds who are not just talking about shaping the future. They have dared to hand in their ideas, projects and startups putting their future on the "dance floor" where once Gret Palucca (and others) brought modern dance to the public.

To cut the story short, the prize ceremony has been banned on "digital tape" namely Facebook Live by technology passionate members of the SMWA_SN (Saxon State Ministry for Labour, Economics, and Infrastructure). Prior to the prize ceremony, a group of young dancers of the Tanzraum Dresden performed a wonderful that in some way resembled the struggles entre-/intra-/extrapreneurs face while working on their innovative ideas to see the bright light of success. It may take quite some time, not days, not a week, rather years or even decades.

Looking forward to the next edition of futureSAX in 2018 and the path there, rich of shaped serendipity encounters (here a short clip with John Hagel, co-chair of the Deloitte Center for the Edge on shaped serendipity) along the way.

Wrapping up on a day full of surprise encounters, meeting new and old friends one sentence captures what innovation is literally all about:

Innovation is like performing arts, you passionately have to stay with it through training, repetition until the idea becomes a reality. 

In short, the review on yesterday's experience will be captured what was coined #PresencingStatus back in the "early days" of occDD (Open Coffee Club Dresden, an idea we brought back from Boston back in 2009):

1. Good - perfect location; dense, somewhat crowded place (enabling serendipity encounters); meeting friends from Berlin who are also in the #ExponentialTechnologies space; most inspiring conversations
2. Tricky - 5 GHz WiFi networks may lead to connection problems (h/t to Hellerau's guest network that worked flawlessly over the whole time); noisy crowd during the pitches 
3. Learned - Humble Inquiry (a concept Edgar H. Schein, Prof. Emer. of MIT Sloan School of Management with family roots also from Bad Schandau, Saxony as he writes in his autobiography "Becoming American"; "Are you at futureSAX in Hellerau today?") really led to a most surprising and rich conversation with someone who had not been aware of futureSAX 
4. Action - Doing what we always do, weaving the various threads of information, events, and persons together into a bigger picture of Saxony that is truly more than what can often be read in the media outside Saxony  

Problems are a Window for Future Opportunities - See and Catch

Dresden-based chip manufacturer GLOBALFOUNDRIES Fab1 in Dresden just has announced an employee reduction of around 800 (currently 3,700 people from all across the globe, and disciplines are employed).

The news have hit local ground via various media outlets.

Manufacturing in the semiconductor field is always accompanied by rather short production cycles (cars for example are still 'running' on a 5-7 year 'refreshment' cycle), capital intensive investment, long-lead planning, and highest level of quality (Zero-Defect the ultimate production goal).

Watch (before you continue to read) the passionate Welcome Speech by Ibrahim Ajami, former CEO of ATIC (Advanced Technology Investment Company), at the 2011 Abu Dhabi Media Summit - with a strong vision as that everything is possible.

As global demand shifts constantly, an rapidly increasing from formerly chips for PCs, then smartphones and tablets (decreasing in size, and raising in complexity) the Internet of Things (#IoT) is the upcoming pulling-force. The Internet of Things or as the German version is called Industrie 4.0 (focusing on the production side of society) however is still in its infant days, many people and companies around are not yet fully aware of the positive or general implications that it will bring (besides of course questions around security, privacy and other issues) to their lives and businesses.

However as the City of Dresden, is currently part of a network of 52 cities around Germany as part of the Science Year 2015 - City of the Future, and working on creating the visions for the Future of the City of Dresden #DDzu2030 (the new hashtag is #DD2030, are the common hashtags on Facebook and Twitter) this announcement from today should be taken as an opportunity to create the future for the city and the region (ranging as wide as Saxony, and beyond) bringing the creative potential into a (new) reality.

Why not engage passionate and well-educated employees not in full-time positions, rather reduce the working hours (of course also the income will decrease some), and on the other hand be able to co-create a future that is build on and around semiconductors and equipment/ applications that will be crucial for use in the IoT context, such as the CCS Telehealth-Ostsachsen (currently only in German) project?

Quite on the edge, and some distance from Dresden away, The Things Network, an initiative from Amsterdam that has the vision to enable cities with open-source IoT solutions not only managed to bring this to Amsterdam in an outstanding short time but currently is scaling and spreading the word? Wouldn't it in this context make sense to put the complementary competencies together, and build on the strengths of a local chip manufacturer (with global connections), engage with Europe's largest microelectronics cluster (Silicon Saxony e.V.) and make #SachsenDigital a reality. Next week's semiconductor trade fair SEMICONEuropa 2015 #SEMICONEuropa (Twitter activity) brings together all the local and global players in the field together to Dresden. Why not join in?

Even though the initial lines of this post may sound not positive this might open an unfamiliar path, joining in "U.Lab - Transforming Business, Society, and Self", and there already exists an international community locally in Dresden participating in this recent MOOC.

What Theoretical Physics Brings to Entrepreneurship

http://de.slideshare.net/coilpsu/klemmer-presentation, p.5

Quite by serendipity, having lunch with a theoretical physicist from Asia some days ago I learned that theoretical physics is not plain theory, but the science field trying to make sense of seen reality. In short an experimental physicist finds a new material, which has some "unexpected" properties (that is the practical part). However, as Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), the famous German-American experimental social psychologist, is quoted, "There is nothing more practical than a good theory" which underlies and explains that real-life phenomenon. For this very same reason theoretical physicists then work to figure out, with the help of computer simulations, perceived patters of reactions of the material due to change of particular parameters, and known knowledge, what the underlying root causes of the new material's properties, and how they can be used, and eventually made practical in future applications.

What has all this to do with entrepreneurship, and eventually innovation?

Let's have a look at innovation and how it comes (in various forms) into the world, and to practical use. Peter Drucker, "management guru" and "Renaissance Man" of the 20th century well respected in the global business community in some form laid out a "theory of innovation", namely the sources of innovations that lead eventually to their economical success. In "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" he lays out seven distinct sources, which range from "The Unexpected" to "New Knowledge". See Andre Kearns' Slideshare  presentation for a good overview of these (and a condensed overview of the book itself) here.

Quite often the public focuses on the innovation based on new knowledge, such as technology-based (generally on new knowledge), and wonders why innovation is not taking off shortly after discovery, and first prototypes of possible products or services based on it. Due to Drucker this kind of innovation is the one with the longest lead time (and quite a high loser rate, due to the shift of other relevant parameters that change over time, especially shifts that touch society as a whole, such as demographics, immigration, or world politics) this should "In the theory and practice of innovation and entrepreneurship, the bright-idea innovating belongs in the appendix" ("The Daily Drucker", 20 July, p. 220).

So making sense of how innovations diffuse into society (and not just on some edges due to price, or perceived value by a minority) is more challenging than it looks like at first sight. Prof. John D. Sterman, Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management, Director MIT System Dynamics Group, not only gave quite a thought-provoking presenting in early 2008 stating that "technological solutions are not enough to address the problem of creating a sustainable world" but has covered the issue of innovation diffusion in his book "Business Dynamics - Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World" (chapter 9.3, Innovation Diffusion as Infection: Modeling New Ideas and New Products, p. 323-347).

So the question stays, "What does it need to bring innovations into the world?"

To close this post, and keep the question open that underlines Kurt Lewin's "There is nothing more practical than a good theory", perhaps it is time for what Jay W. Forrester envisioned in 2007 at the International System Dynamics Conference in Boston in his speech "System dynamics - the next fifty years" and his statement at the end of the speech, "We should be able to move sufficient understanding of the behavior of complex systems into the public sector."

Isn't a "school of thought" (even a quite independent department of an existing university), based on theory and practice alike, the "perfect" place to make this happen?

Bridging Across Boundaries, Technologies, and Cultures

"What role will social networks, and its underlying technologies play in the time beyond 2020, and today?" - this question should stick over the course of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Technology Time Machine on 23rd to 25th, May 2012 in Dresden. "During the panels, they will engage in an interdisciplinary dialogue, discussing the consequences of these new technologies on human society and how those technologies can contribute t,o solving great global challenges." [quoted from IEEE / TU Dresden Media Information 3/12]

Day 3 of #IEEETTM 2012 Dresden

Reflecting on the event with a picture of the last session by IEEE President Gordon Day envisions already #IEEETTM 2013 in Seattle, very much gives a sense from where IEEE Technology Time Machine has come from, it started in Hong Kong in 2011, and has accelerated in Dresden.

At its 1st birthday, it seems that Dresden could not compare with buzzing multicultural Hong Kong as the place of action. Don't get yourself wrong at this first impression. This culturally rich city of well over 500.000 inhabitants on the meadows of the River Elbe is largely based on the artifacts like Semperoper, Zwinger, Residenzschloss, or Deutsches Hygienemuseum. Yet the technology and science legacy of the city can't be underrated. An impressive overview of the various technology fields, Dresden is exceptionally strong in, can be found at '"Dresden is more technological"' (English/ Deutsch).

Sparked by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fettweis, Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems, Technical University Dresden, emerged the vision of making the "hidden champion" of emerging technologies within Europe the place of the 2nd IEEE Technology Time Machine. The event itself focused on what's achievable with technology beyond 2020, and it fits this year perfectly into the official motto of the City of Dresden "Dresden - City of Art and Science", and the  first private cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by SpaceX one day prior to the symposium' start on Wednesday.

Well over 200 attendees, and speakers from the corporate world, C-level executives, and emerging leaders such as YFEL members of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology met right downtown Dresden amongst the cobblestone roads of the past, viewing into the future.

All seemed very well organized, free WiFi-access for attendees in the conference rooms, Dresden - Magazine of the Capital of Saxony - Brilliant Moments in Arts and Science [the magazine is not available in the digital form presently] on the registration desk, and a pretty decent on-time agenda welcomed the future aware crowd on Wednesday morning. Due to the fact that the Hilton Hotel still asks for 17 € p.d. using their contracted provider's WiFi connection the technicians had set up a local WLAN network with LTE technology at the conference level, which after some initial difficulties ran flawlessly over the course of the conference.

Prof. Dr. Hans Müller-Steinhagen, Rector of the Technical University of Dresden, kickstarted the symposium with his presentation focusing on the alliances of academics, and industry to tackle the global challenges of the future. "Global challenges need global co-operations!", was his clear message to the audience. Focusing on multi-alliances through new concepts on how we communicate, resembling the internet itself, as the example he mentioned, the 'Pirate Party' drew out.

He namely mentioned 4 examples present in the region of Dresden (1) DRESDENconcept, (2) Dii, (3) Cool Silicon, and (4) "Region of Knowledge" (program by the European Commission to draw clusters tighter together). Ambitious projects to drive broader implementation of exponentially accelerating information technology which will greatly benefit from the potentially available entrepreneurial power of the region, which has held the "unique spirit" for centuries, even through the GDR-times, and the current financial, and economic turmoil that has hit so many regions of the world. Shall it be possible to set the four projects on "entrepreneurial fire?"

A question that resided in the mind till the next session by Jakob van Zyl, Associate Director of Project Formulation and Strategy at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA. He beautifully put it to the point during his presentation at the session 'Collective Intelligence', "Funding agencies do a bad job of what they are doing to the public. Those kinds of things we have to do a better job!". Hearing these words from a NASA engineer, and the director himself is not just astonishing, it opens the mind to what is possible to achieve putting the strengths of the different stakeholders in an elegant way together. A prominent figure and lately in the news is Peter H. Diamandis, founder of X Prize Foundation, co-founder of Singularity University (a university, founded in 2008, focusing on exponentially accelerating information technologies to solve humanity's grand challenges which are actually based at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California)). He has shown over the years that the co-operation with NASA, and other space agencies since 1986 has an immense impact. Back then he founded together with Bob Richards and Todd Hawley the ISU (International Space University) which is now headquartered in Strasbourg, France (as the result of a global competition). In other words, the combination of academics, industry, and passionate individuals, as the three graduate students back then represented, are the fuel to exceptional outcomes.

by @IEEETTM

From Thursday morning on the activity on Twitter accelerated up to unimagined heights, almost feeling like being at one of those tech-orientated bar camps, unconferences like Re:publica or Mobile Camp Dresden, where different media forms make the ongoing discussions available to all conference attendees.

The comparison of #IEEETTM to events like Re:publica, should, even more, play a role during the upcoming press conference around mid-day.

Following the so-called hashtag #IEEETTM on Twitter, one could find most interesting comments, links, or quotes from within the sessions, also by some of the speakers themselves such as Joe Weinmann (more storified coverage of the symposium on Slideshare).

by @IEEETTM

The press conference, organized by PR Piloten (now under the name WeichertMehner), one of the local communication partners of IEEE Technology Time Machine 2012, was well served also by local newspaper representatives. After the short overview of the intent of the event, Roberto de Marca, Executive Chair,  laid out the current achievements due to it (the first four on the list beside). Maurizio Dècina, General Chair, stated the general goal of the new event series, "listen to all the voices - to learn about what is going on". After that, the room was open for questions from the press body. One of the questions that came up by a representative by Technology Review was, 'What is the reason there had not been presented hot new technologies during the sessions, and secondly why the event is not a buzzing as the Re:publica in Berlin which attracts thousands of geeks, speakers, general public?'

What became quite clear was that engineers, as much as scientists, and researchers are in general, not the social network geeks, rather focused on getting the work done, finding technical solutions for pressing challenges. As shown here in Dresden, everybody was invited to join the conversation on Twitter, and learn from this experience, and after-conference reflections by all stakeholders. Without trying out new ways in a culture that is by far, and traditionally not as outgoing as marketing, and design folks are they won't come newly into the world - and the IEEE Technology Time Machine team certainly dared to take this next step into the future together with all stakeholders, attendees, and parties involved.

As Jakob van Zyl coined it to the point in his session, hours prior to the press conference, "We need the people in the middle that straddle the science and the business."

Artists by any means, whether painters, writers, or in the performing arts fields like Semperoper Ballett, and The Forsythe Company, that are both based in Dresden building on the rich technology, cultural, and arts legacy, are predominately prepared to play the "straddle" or "boundary spanning" role between science, and business. The Motion Bank project by William Forsythe capturing the choreographic and dancing legacies by technological means may open future opportunities to bring new emerging technologies into a new context, and build applications, services, etc. around it. Another connection string between art, and technology was laid out by István Simon, and Boglárka Hatala who work in a joint project initiated by Semperoper Ballett, and Technical University Dresden, especially on the question of how artistic creativity can be brought to scientific research fields to ignite hidden puddles of individual, and group creativity [the interview has been filmed by IEEEtv; parts of it will be available at a later time].

To wrap up on this most amazing conference in the center of Dresden, on the edge of Germany here four short questions, and answers:

1. What was good? Another terrific technology event based in Dresden, social network connection across boundaries, available WiFi, technology visionaries passionately talking about their work
2. What was tricky? Unstable WiFi due to unexpected usage, three days not enough, pre-conference social media activity low
3. What have I learned? Engineering communities are tapping into the power of social networks, a "damn question" can lead to profound change in behavior ("What is the official hashtag for the conference? Can you apply official info on it in some way?" on Wednesday, skyrocketing use of Twitter from Thursday morning on), boundary spanning/ straddle science, and business is not yet a common thing
4. Next action? Putting together a slideshow with tweets that were relevant during the three days from attendees, speakers, organizers, and others [to be found on Slideshare in a few days time], connecting with Amplifyfestival 2013

Updates on #IEEETTM in the press [some of the given links don't work any longer, probably to server shifts, website changes or else]:

- IEEE Spectrum
- Technology Review (via Heise; Germany)

- Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten (Germany)
- Computer-Oiger (AKA Heiko Weckbrodt; Germany)
- BINUS University
- IEEE Spectrum (USA)
- Uni UAE (United Arab Emirates)
- Neustar.Insights (USA)
- EE Times (Christoph Hammerschmidt; Germany)
- News Nepal (Nepal)
- Produktion (Germany)

2012 - Innovation and Entrepreneurship

With the first day of the year 2012 coming slowly to an end here in Dresden (another five hours to go ;-)), my thoughts race back to late 2008 when I decided not to work for a consulting firm, rather venture out on my own. Coming from an engineering family (with roots in tailoring, and shoemaking), my mind seems to find new opportunities to create new business ideas, and ease the constraints in given business processes (almost unstoppable, as former bosses had to find out).

Copyright: http://antjelippold.com

So after a visit to a really strange business school with no teachers, only a head coach, and a couple of coaches, up in Finland it became clear to me that I am by far not the only "crazy one", and that it needs the appropriate environment to let geniuses shine their hidden capabilities.

Since those days, I read and write, reflect, and act more than in the decades before when I often was forced to be a "cog in the system" yet nothing could really stop my desire to make the world (around me) a better place, step by step (preferably small (!) ones, yet continuously).

"Innovation and entrepreneurship are thus needed in society as much as in the economy, in public-service institutions as much as in businesses. It is precisely because innovation and entrepreneurship are not "root and branch" but "one step at a time," a product here, a policy there, a public service yonder; because the are not planned but focused on this opportunity and that need; because they are tentative and will disappear if they do not produce the expected and needed results; because, in other words, they are pragmatic rather than dramatic and modest rather than grandiose - that they promise to keep any society, economy, industry, public service, or business flexible and self-renewing. They achieve what Jefferson hoped to achieve through revolution in every generation, and they do so without bloodshed, civil war, or concentration camps, without economic catastrophe, but with purpose, with direction, and under control."

Quoted from Peter F. Drucker, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 1986, p. 254

Culture an Innovation Accelerator?

Driving home with a friend from a presentation today on why business leaders shouldn't leave out Facebook, Google+, and social networks in general.

The question arises, "May I ask, what you perceive of what I am doing and especially my value proposition?"

His answer, "I frankly don't know what you are doing!"

... a clear answer. But why am I troubled?!

About six months ago the head of Dresden Marketing, the city of Dresden's own marketing company, Dr. Bettina Bunge called me the "Alpha-Blogger of Dresden" during a workshop about the value proposition of the local creative class for business, research, tourism, and general economic well-being. A nice description of my work for about two decades by now, which states my personal love, and passion for the city pretty much to the point. Yet where is the value proposition seen in that perception? Who does share that there is value in connecting people, building bridges across countries, cultures, and disciplines, and on the sideline promotes Dresden across the globe?

Maybe we have a more scattered "culture landscape" than we might imagine and asked ourselves. Edgar Schein, professor (emer.) at MIT Sloan School of Management has written a well known book bringing more light to the issue, called "Organizational Culture and Leadership".

We really don't know about reality until we ask the honest question, accessing our own ignorance. And from there we learn as our emotions (clearly mine) accelerate and rise high. As long as the cultures of the giver and taker have not arrived at a shared understanding of each other innovation is on a stony path, and the "horsepower of entrepreneurs" can't be put effectively onto the road.

... so is it true that "Culture is the Way to Innovation"? What's your personal experience?

Start Small, Accelerate Quickly

One year back in time, fresh like plucked today. Thoughts to be thought about.

Tianjin 2010 - Shaping the Future + Closing Session by World Economic Forum

Opportunity Space Entrepreneur

The entrepreneurial spirit is probably the most important driver for a future economic drive. The world is changing too fast in forms of new competitors, new markets, new needs, new challenges (facing the world). Entrepreneurs look for the new find solutions where nobody else is looking or taking the future chances for real.

And yet the entrepreneur often tends to present the "real" chances of her/his innovative approach. PeterDrucker in his 1985 book "Innovation and Entrepreneurship" writes about the German chemist who developed Novocain the first local anesthetic. But the doctors he approached didn't want to change from full anesthetic to this.

Then suddenly dentists used to practice this - and liked it. He got made on that and traveled up and down Germany to give speeches about not using Novocain in the dentist field.

The learning from that: you don't like what you have not planned for. Even as an entrepreneur (!)

What could be the reason for that: when having found something interesting to build a business around one often closes in just to not let the information spill in the larger mass and focuses on just a single field of use. The fear of scaling it up, or having worked for the "wrong" purpose sets entrepreneurs under stress - still 25 years after Peter Drucker's writing.

The way to overcome the "thinking stuck": talk with people who are not your possible competitors, ask people in the restaurant, train, conference what they may think of the idea of encounter this or that (the innovation you have in mind) - spread it in as widely context you may can.

Especially if it is a new idea, not yet in use you may feel uneasy telling people about an idea.

Just dare to do - you can only win :-) Some call it  S E R E N D I P I T Y or Innovation on the Edge