“Thirty years later, the Gaia theory is almost universally accepted, and it forms much of the basis of our current understanding of global warming.” At the annual conference for the Direct Marketing Association, Richard Branson discusses the challenges that an innovative idea must face before being accepted.

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Richard Branson was only 22 years old when he founded Virgin Records. Today, he is one of richest men in the world. His ideas are always original and innovative, and although many of them have been criticized by the general public, they have led to huge successes. It seems that his determination and his ability to sense a good business idea are two qualities that Branson was born with. These talents were even noticed by his teachers; his dean even told his parents one day: “Richard’s has two possibilities in life; he will either end up in jail, or become a millionaire.”

As it turns out, Branson did not end up in jail. But his best ideas, before they were understood and accepted in world market, had to face long and arduous roads, as well as face the skepticism of the masses.

At the annual conference for the Direct Marketing Association, Richard Branson talks about the history of a great idea, a theory that waited three decades to be taken seriously.

Branson introduces the audience to the Gaia Theory, a theory formulated in 1979 by the young scientist James Lovelock. The theory was about global warming, and today could be seen as a prophecy. According to Lovelock, the planet is a living and unique organism, a biological cell that reacts to all of the external stimuli. The Earth’s wellbeing is contrasted by the harmful elements that are introduced. According to the Gaia Theory, the Earth’s overheating, caused by the harmful gasses that are produced by mankind, would lead to Earth’s inevitable reaction to these changes. The reaction would occur in the form of global cooling, and possibly lead to another ice age.

Thirty years later, scientists all around the world are finding Lovelock’s hypothesis to be plausible, if not scientifically sound. Only now are they taking his findings seriously. During the years in which Lovelock was introducing the world to his hypothesis, Richard Branson was occupied with his own ideas. Branson himself fought hard to prove to the world that a nonconforming young man, who hated the formal jacket-and-tie lifestyle, would someday become one of the most brilliant minds in the United Kingdom.

What does Branson’s empire have to do with Lovelock’s theory? In reality, not much. However, one of the most important aspects of both ideas lies in the fact that not all innovative ideas are accepted immediately. In fact, it may take years for society to accept an idea. The important message is to never stop dreaming and creating.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDk8QmoaS_s

In an interview with CNN, Joey Reiman talks about his innovative vision for the future of business. “In the future, it will no longer be necessary to go to the office every morning, and we will work only six hours a day for four days a week.”

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For those who wonder whether or not it is possible to be both the manager of an up-and-coming international company and a dedicated and present father, the answer is yes. It was in this commendable way, in fact, that Joey Reiman became so successful. His office, located in the middle of his beautiful backyard, was once an old square-dancing hall, and the photos of his family that are scattered all over the room makes it look more like a living room rather than a place where a manager conducts business on an international scale. Joey Reiman is the CEO of BrightHouse, the first ideation corporation in the world.

The project’s idea is based upon Reiman’s firm conviction that innovative ideas, which are born freely from creative minds, truly drive today’s market. These ideas are the most important component in business, and are perfected and implemented everyday in order to respond to specific human needs.

Reiman has dedicated himself for years, if not for his entire career, to the study of the mechanisms that advance the creative process. One of his recently published books, Thinking for a Living, is the fruit of all of his research and analysis. He believes that observation, ideation, and implementation are the three phases of the birth of a good idea. You cannot rush creativity (Reiman often boasts that he is the head of one of the slowest yet one of the most effective companies in the world). Instead, creativity can be best stimulated in a familiar environment, where we feel comfortable and thoughts can flow freely. So what does this all have to do with our homes?

This is Reiman’s idea for the future: jobs will be an interesting and stimulating part of our day, a part of our life that can be shared with the people that we love, in the comfort of our homes. The timeframes, rigid guidelines, and rules that turn an office environment into an alienating experience, will soon become a thing of the past.

The true key of innovation can be found in the simplicity of the small moments that occur in our everyday lives. These small moments are normally eclipsed by the stress from the work world, and from the general attitude of earning as much as possible the in shortest amount of time.

Reiman reminds us that ideas are not created from money, but that money is generated from ideas. The best ideas come from the most open minds; minds that are free from outlines and preconceived notions.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwqycg0PEh8
• http://www.thinkbrighthouse.com

At an EG (Entertainment Gathering) conference, Kevin Kelly shares a fun statistic: The World Wide Web, as we know it, is only 5,000 days old. Now, Kelly asks, how can we predict what’s coming in the next 5,000 days?

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“The Internet is only 5,000 days old…”

Did you know that there are 2 million emails sent per second? How about the fact that there are 100 billion clicks on the internet per day? Today, people are all, for the most part, always connected to the web, whether through a computer or a cell phone. However, for the most part very few of us spend much time thinking about the never-ending supply of information and opportunity that the web actually represents.

Kevin Kelly, the executive editor at WIRED magazine, points out that most people have accepted the Internet into their lives without any doubt or hesitation. The web is an example of how people come to accept the seemingly impossible. Continuing with this idea, he believes that what is even more interesting is what is to come in the next 5,000 days. If we have been able to come this far in such little time, what marvels will evolve in the years to come? Kelly points out that if anything, the web has taught us that we need to get better in believing the impossible. Fifteen years ago, no one would have believed what we are now able to accomplish with the click of a button. In merely 5,000 days, we have constructed a single global machine through the web. All of the devices that we use (computers, cellular phones, etc.), are simply access points through which we enter into this enormous global net.

This theory, in which the Internet is seen as a super computer and a super brain, is becoming more common: Kelly looks beyond this theory in anticipation for the future. The presence of this super brain is evident everywhere; we are constantly connected.  And it can only be assumed that the web will continue to evolve and improve. In the future, the Internet will not be solely an enormous database. Instead, Kelly sees a symbiotic relationship forming between man and the web. All of us will become an extension of this mega brain.

What could be the implications of such a phenomenon?

The next 5,000 days of the Internet will not simply be better, but different. For example, perhaps the Internet will no longer passively supply information, but also give it a value or significance. I would like to propose an alternative ending to Kelly’s argument: although in the future machines will be able to solve all of our problems, the critical capacity still comes from man. The Internet can continue to exist for the next 5,000 days, but without man, it stands for nothing.

More info:

• http://www.kk.org/
• http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

According to Daniel Burrus, a leading technology forecaster and business strategist, the manufacturing industry will be reinvented by a collaboration of four generations. For the first time, we will see a partnership between the old and new generations, as technological advancements and experience becomes the core of the new global market.

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It is no longer unusual for an employee to have a boss half his age, or to find a company that has employees ranging from early twenties to around sixty years of age. For the first time in history, four generations will work together; future workers will mix with past workers. Daniel Burrus, one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, discusses the future of the manufacturing industry. In the near future, businesses will have to be rebuilt based on the principle of collaboration and being relatable. The young will have to use their technological and cooperation skills, and the old will have to impart their wisdom and experience. The need to work together will put an end to the professional competition between the young and old.

The winning strategy of businesses will be to understand beforehand, thanks to the symbiosis between the generations and new technology, what problems clients will face and be able to solve them by means of a product or service. According to Burrus, noted as a business guru by the New York Times, relationships will be one of the most important aspects for a global market, and therefore people need to focus on reinventing manufacturing through collaborations.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFopTJuS6p0

“Ideas allow you to become what you want, and to begin to start now.” In an interview for the Wall Street Journal, Russell Simmons talks about his passion for music, which is an inexhaustible source of inspiration and foundation for his innovative business.

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“I was very lucky that I found a passion in music, and that music caused me to want to share it.” Effectively, it seems that Russell Simmons has the gift for music, in the form of rap and hip-hop, in his DNA: his older brother is Joseph Simmons, otherwise known as Run, from Run-DMC. By the time that he was in college, Russell had already dedicated himself to organizing concerts and sponsoring local emerging groups. By 1984, he had a record label, Def-Jam, which he founded with Beastie Boys’ DJ, Rick Rubin. His knack for business alone was not the reason for his great success: the courageous and innovative ideas are what make the real difference in the business world. This was how Rush Communications was created, a successful company that produces film, magazines, clothing, and TV programs, such as Def Comedy Jam.

According to Simmons, having courage is the key to success: it is important to always be yourself, and to share your nonconforming and innovative ideas with the world. Unlike other African American artists, who try to imitate their Caucasian counterparts, Russell Simmons has always focused on the black community and style. He has put a lot of time and effort into connecting especially with the young black community, in order to help them realize their dreams. Russell strives to be a figure that younger people from all races can respect and emulate.

Russell Simmons has been able to create a successful business from the expressive force of a poor minority. He has been reaching out to children in the poorest neighborhoods that their aggression, their music made up of rhythms and rhymes, can be a lifestyle, a job, and the road to success. Young people are the most profitable investment. They are a resource of energy and ideas, which are always projected towards the future. More than any other group, they need confidence and support in the choices that seem most improbable.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pFcwQbmLso
• http://www.myspace.com/russellsimmons

Could our pets be one day replaced by robots? Futurist Ross Dawson explores this idea, using Pleo, the new robot dinosaur as an example. Pleo, although only a robot, acts like any other animal: he responds to interaction and can establish an emotional connection with people. And the best part is that he doesn’t need to be housebroken.

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Aristotle once said, “Art imitates Nature.” Observation and imitation of nature are fundamental for science too. Therefore, paraphrasing Aristotle, we could say that robotics is now imitating nature.

When researchers plan new robots, they are often inspired by the world of animals. For example, they are inspired by their appearance and actions. Behavior is another element from the world of animals that drives the development of new robotic forms. Pleo, the first domestic robot that acts like a real animal, is, indeed, born from the observation of our pets’ behaviors.

If you think about it, what makes our relationship with animals special is their way of responding to our presence. They follow our voice, they are happy when we come back home, and they come close in search of affection. This is exactly what they did with Pleo: the software is written with instructions that allow the robot to simulate a real behavior responding to specific stimuli. Will robots take the place of pets? Futurist Ross Dawson, expert in innovation, tries to give an answer to this and other questions.

More Info:

• http://rossdawson.com/
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y5WInXF02s

Project Runway’s Tim Gunn talks about fashion and innovation: a convergence that never ceases to amaze people. Whether on the catwalk or in our closets, the today’s styles and fashions continue to change; what distinguishes the past from the present, and even the future, is the development of the materials and the ways of production, which are ever increasing in the fashion-forward society in which we live.

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In an interview on America’s TV program “Tomorrow Show”, hosted by journalist Mo Rocca, Tim Gunn states: “When I think about the future of fashion, I really don’t think about new silhouettes and new styles. I think about new materials.” In the future, neither the fashions nor the forms will change; instead it will be the materials that are used to make the clothes that will evolve. It will be the convergence of technology, science, and fashion that will change what we see in our closets. While no one really has a concrete idea of what that will look like, Tim Gunn has a few concepts of his own. In 1989, Gunn became the associate dean at Parsons in New York City, and held many conferences on design and fashion. In 2000, he became the department chair in the department of fashion design. Through his position at the school, he was able to encourage the department’s development by introducing the study of Commercial Fashion Business and Critical Thinking, as well as Fashion Luxury Design. These changes were monumental for the school, as it allowed Parsons to gain international notoriety.

These accomplishments are only a few examples of how Gunn’s critical vision of the future and his sensibility has shaped the world of fashion. Undoubtedly, however, his passion has allowed him to achieve so much. As a child, he faced speech problems that he attributes to one of the reasons why he gravitated towards the arts as another way of expressing himself. Fashion and design became his gateway to the creative world. Beyond his educational successes, Tim Gunn is also one of the hosts on the popular American design show “Project Runway”, and the chief creative officer at Liz Claiborne.

Gunn doesn’t deny that clothing in the future could well be more tech savvy. However, he maintains that while technology changes, beautiful will always be beautiful. What qualities people find beautiful will not change, but the way we manufacture our materials certainly will. Gunn stresses the importance of a greener and healthier way to manufacture materials, especially cotton. He hopes that more materials will be replaced by synthetic versions, much in the same way leather and fur have largely been replaced by their synthetic substitutes.

Although it may be possible to soon create machines that will help us pick out our daily outfits, or help make custom clothing design much easier, some things will never change. As Time Gunn points out, certain things will always be more pleasing to the eye. This does not mean, however, that the fashion world cannot keep up with the rest of society and find ways to make clothes that help people and the environment look their best.

There are already examples of this new fashion trend that incorporates technology in the world of fashion. New technologies have allowed clothing to become more interactive, such as materials that can emit light in different colors. Who would have ever believed that sub-nuclear physics could be used to make clothing more innovative and fashionable? Not only do the words of Tim Gunn seem completely feasible, they are also somewhat prophetic.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqs8CRqSNCs

“Often the persuasion of a business is more important than the quality of the product.” At a conference for TED, a non-profit association that promotes and spreads innovative ideas, advertising guru Rory Sutherland demonstrates how advertising alone is an effective means of modifying a consumer’s perception of a product.

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In order to explain his idea of successful marketing to his audience, Rory Sutherland uses the weapon of irony: Why spend millions of dollars on tracks for high-velocity trains from Paris to London, when you could spend half of the money employing top supermodels to walk up and down the trains throughout the journey? It would cost less, and people would actually request that the train slow down. With a series of entertaining and provocative examples, Rory explains the importance of advertising and the extraordinary effects that it can have on the perception of a product.

Rory Sutherland begun his career as a teacher and successfully became a copy writer for Microsoft. He was a pioneer of the Internet, as he was one of the first in the field of advertising who strongly believed in the web’s potential. He foresaw the advantages for advertising that would arise from the internet’s success. His intuition played a large role in his success. Social networking was his new frontier: he is the author of a blog, he has a column “The Wiki Man” at The Spectator, and his Twitter account is constantly being updated.

“The tangible values of a product require many elements: planning, expenditure of money, and the use of sometimes limited resources”. Advertising, according to Sutherland, does not have to be considered a solution to all of these problems, but it is at least a great opportunity to simplify them. Sutherland uses breakfast cereal as an example: in order to re-launch a breakfast cereal as an entirely new product on the market, all that had to be done was to change the image on the box and the name of the cereal. The consumers, who were interviewed after a taste test, swore that the “new” product was more appealing and appetizing.

According to the research done by the Advertising Man, as his colleagues like to call him, the advertisements that are the most effective as the ones that amuse the public, and through content originality, make a product more desirable to the public. Rory Sutherland believes that the future of marketing will be pure entertainment.

More info:

• http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/rory_sutherland_life_lessons_from_an_ad_man.html
• http://rorysutherland.blogspot.com/

“Civilization is not a static state. It’s a process that’s constantly going on.” For futurist Jacque Fresco, the great commitment of future design is to foresee, integrate, and to influence these changes in a way that improves the quality of life for both humans and the environment.

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Very few men exist that have succeeded, with their inventions and ideas, in leaving a significant mark on humanity’s history. Watching the Jacque Fresco’s interview with Larry King in 1974, a person is left with the impression of finding himself looking at a modern Leonardo da Vinci. The designs and projects that he shows to the public quickly reveal the personality of a great visionary of the future. Fresco is both a scientists, an architect, a designer, and an engineer; but most importantly he is a great philosopher, a man who has spent nearly a century studying our society and elaborating ideas that support and increase the well-being of mankind.

Beyond having taken part in projects having to do with both technology and science (from automated vehicles to biomedical equipment, in order to create real self-sustainable cities), he is also the founder of the Venus Project. The Venus Project is an organization that proposes a feasible plan of action for social change. Since 1975, Jacque has dedicated his life to social design in concrete ways, by promoting books, teaching at universities, and explaining his project to whomever wants to believe in a new civilization that is based on the wellbeing of mankind.

One day we will buy ourselves an apartment in a floating city. The city will be self-sustainable, energy efficient, and will have no negative impact on the environment. This is not a scene from a science-fiction movie; this is the world that Jacque Fresco has in mind. And this world is possible to create, even today. A world where students and researchers will be able to attend university underwater, and look out a window in order to observe the natural ecosystems of the ocean. According to the “social designer and futurist”, as Fresco likes to call himself, humanity already has in its hands the necessary tools to innovate and reconstruct our world. Science and technology alone are not enough: it is necessary to have an optimistic view, and the will to completely redesign our culture and our way of life.

On the Venus Project’s website, Fresco invites everyone to not dream with eyes open, because for the first time in human history we have the possibility to choose: to continue to destroy the our planet, or to carry out the dreams of the great men of the past.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htag1ABr494
• http://www.futurebydesignthemovie.com
• http://www.thevenusproject.com

We’ve all heard the terms ‘generation Y’ and ‘millennium generation’ be used to explain this technology-savvy generation. Don Tapscott, the author of Wikinomics, has a new term to describe this phenomenon: the smartest generation. In an interview conducted at the Innovation Forum in Milan, Italy, Tapscott explains the key points of his famous book, as well as our relationship with technology.

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During the Innovation Forum 2008, which is held every year in Milan, Italy in March, Tapscott explains the key points of Wikinomics and the “smartest generation”.

When the internet was born, it was a platform for content. Today, it has become a platform that creates services for the mass public, a giant network that updates itself constantly. Today, the digital native have a close relationship with this technology and many use it without thinking of the ingenuity behind it. Some call them the millennium generation, others generation Y. For Tapscott, it has become the “smartest generation”.

Don Tapscott is a Canadian author and consultant specializing in business strategy, organizational transformation and the role of technology in business and society.

Tapscott has authored or co-authored thirteen books on the application of technology in business and society. His most famous book, co-authored with Anthony Williams and published is Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, the best selling Management book in the US of 2007.

More Info:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HQbaGT6PkM
• http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/