Patent of the Month – Hysteresis Bearing-less Motor

Darrell Mann

It was a close-run thing for our Patent of the Month award this month. We nearly gave the honour to US10,177,688 from a joint university/industry foundation in Korea. It offers the world the potential for a really simple, … Read More

Best of The Month – AI Superpowers

Darrell Mann

One of the scariest findings from our ongoing innovation research is the amount of innovation (i.e. ‘successful step-change’) that is meaningless. Products or services that make our lives more convenient at the expense of stripping away the things … Read More

Patent of the Month – High Refractive Index Nanocomposite

Darrell Mann

A rare trip to Maryland for our patent of the month this month. US10,144,482 was granted to a trio of inventors at Pixelligent Technologies (pixelligent.com) on December 4. Here’s what they have to say about the problem addressed … Read More

Best of The Month – The Genius Of Desperation/Inverting The Pyramid

Darrell Mann

Something of an either/or choice this month as far as reading recommendations go: football or football. American or Association. While the specifics might be different, the themes are both the same: an author with a steely determination to … Read More

Patent of the Month – Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma

Darrell Mann

Our Patent of the Month this month takes us to Taiwan, and a quartet of inventors at the National Chiao Tung University. US 10,121,638 was granted on November 6. In a wonderfully succinct write-up (5 pages of narrative), … Read More

Best of The Month – Excellent Sheep

Darrell Mann

There’s no such thing as a root cause in a complex system. I know that. But I also know there can be a root contradiction. Provided we understand the system at a first-principle level. In the same way … Read More

Patent of the Month – Robotic Bouncing Ball

Darrell Mann

Well, I never expected to be featuring a patent assigned to Disney in this section of the ezine, but here we are. Never say never. I suppose, too, the presence of California Institute of Technology has a bearing … Read More

Best of The Month – LikeWar

Darrell Mann

Here’s one guaranteed to polarize. Doesn’t everything these days. Whatever one person likes, a thousand other will shortly describe as the worst thing ever. In a lot of ways, that’s kind of the premise of the book. Who’s … Read More

Patent of the Month – Electro-Manipulation of Cells

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month comes from a sextet of inventors at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. US10,070,914 was granted on September 11, and primarily seems to concern the treatment of cancer cells, but it would … Read More

Best of The Month – Wait

Darrell Mann

Almost everywhere you go, in Operational Excellence world at least, the word ‘procrastination’ is a bad one. If someone accuses you of being a procrastinator, you can be sure they’re not complimenting you. We’ve argued in the ezine … Read More

Patent of the Month – Tissue Preservation System

Darrell Mann

Currently, doctors have to throw away more than 80 percent of donated tissue used for joint replacements because the tissue does not survive long enough to be transplanted. Now, following a recent study, University of Missouri School of … Read More

Best of The Month – 13 Ways Of Looking At The Novel

Darrell Mann

A slightly tangential ‘best-of’ this month. Albeit one that is very TRIZ-like in its desire to look across wide swathes of data in order to find patterns. Jane Smiley’s search territory is literature. And, what she comes back … Read More

Patent of the Month – Metabolic Transistor In Bacteria

Darrell Mann

We head to Texas for our patent of the month this month, to a trio of inventors at William Marsh Rice University. Their invention was granted as US10,011,839 on July 3rd. Here’s what they have to say about … Read More

Best of The Month – If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One

Darrell Mann

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog article about different types of comedy. If I failed to take the humour out of the subject there, I’m now going to take a second crack at doing it here. … Read More

Best of the Month – Everybody Lies

Darrell Mann

Here’s one of those polarizing choices for our ‘Best Of’ feature. It’s pop-science, and, these days, that in itself is enough to alienate many potential readers. When book covers declare ‘New York Times Best Seller’, that’s usually a … Read More

Patent of the Month – Reducing Ice Crystal Formation

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month is US9,986,733, granted to Bay Area start-up, X-Therma (x-therma.com, ‘biomimetic nanotech’) on the 5th of June. Here’s what the company has to say about the problem being solved in their invention:

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Best of the Month – Synchronicity

Darrell Mann

To be honest, I’ve put off reading this book for a long time. It’s sat in my library, next to The Fifth Discipline since I found a copy in a junk shop several years ago. The reason I … Read More

Patent of the Month – Graduated Auxetic Foam

Darrell Mann

Our patent of the month this month sticks to the world of ‘keep-it-simple’, and also manages to stay local. My old haunt, Rolls-Royce in Bristol to be precise, and a pair of inventors who had US9,956,729 granted … Read More

Patent of the Month – Microfluidic Desalination

Darrell Mann

Patent of the month this month takes us to a trio of inventors at the University of Texas. US9,932,251 was granted on April 3. The wonderfully succinct background description describes the motivation for the invention as follows:

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Best of the Month – The Innovation Illusion

Darrell Mann

Here’s one of those best-of choices that comes with a health-warning: This book might cause prospective innovators to believe that all of their innovation efforts are futile. This is a depressing book. Mainly because, rather than our SI … Read More