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Google Plus

I am fairly agnostic when it comes to social media. I have tried a good number of them and found most of them wanting in one way or another. Typically, small things that imposes a time tax which, after some good-intention'd efforts, my usage starts to drift.

Hoopla over its growth and its demise (how time flies in the social media scale), aside. I like Google Plus for its open environment instead of being a walled garden. I also like the Twitter like capabilities.

Prometheus Reconsidered on G+

Prometheus Reconsidered now has an open curated stream on G+. It is updated almost daily but features articles that are related to technology, innovation, and business.

Please join the fun: Prometheus Reconsidered on Google Plus.

Engaging Silicon Valley

Yesterday

For the most part, Silicon Valley was considered more as a curiosity. Database and personal computers are powerful tools, but there had not been much thought on engaging and shaping what Silicon Valley makes.

Today

There is a now a recognition that Silicon Valley is a place full of ideas and technologies that potentially accelerate and open up new venues for the companies willing to make the investment.

With that in mind, increasing number of companies are setting up scouting offices as a way to introduce pieces of Silicon Valley back to the BU and headquarters. Some have also set up venture arms targeting specific aspects of technologies that the mother-ship is interested in but may not have the right expertise.

Tomorrow

I am seeing an increasing number of companies expanding their representative offices into bone fide operation in Silicon Valley. In other words, instead of hosting meetings and visiting other companies, these offices are starting to build concept prototypes and co-develop with other Silicon Valley companies.

The key attraction is that this allows a company a much deeper integration into the Silicon Vally ecosystem as a way to build credibility and gain early insight into developing technology.

Conversely, these design centers also provide Silicon Valley windows into specific challenges that is not readily available locally. For example, automobile companies are exploring how to incorporate the latest in human-machine interface (HMI) into the driving experiences.

Talks at the Graduate Institute of Technology and Innovation Management at (政大科管所)

Two talks in Taiwan

I will give two presentations at the Graduate Institute of Technology and Innovation Management at National Chengchi University. This is partly a preview on a contribution that I am making to an upcoming book. Mostly, I look forward to exchange experiences and explore ideas with the audience.

March 2nd, 2011 (Wed), 12:30-2:00pm

I plan to talk about

1. interactions amongst formal and informal ecosystems of Silicon Valley,
2. tools and concepts such as real-options analysis and multi-side platform business models,
3. current thinking on topics such as open source and how "foreign" companies engage Silicon Valley.

Location: 政大(台北市文山區指南路二段64號) 商學院九樓908教室

March 4th, 2011 (Fri), 3:30-4:30 pm

I will talk mostly about the practical applications of real-options analysis and multi-sided platforms. And, if there is time, I would like to cover the topic of how to engage Silicon Valley from the outside.

Location: 政大(台北市文山區指南路二段64號) 商學院九樓914教室

Keeping the disruptive innovation advantage

What was

In the technology space, it used to be that innovation advantage came mostly from execution and incremental improvement and were kept in-house. Intel remains a classic example today where its "copy exactly!" methodology ensures its semiconductor production is highly predictable.

Nothing wrong with it. Intel makes awesome products and continues to dominate the global logic chip segment today.

What is

Today, with ideas competing on a global basis and with accelerated concept-to-market deployment, good execution is no longer a sufficient advantage. For example, beyond creating a solid product Google has created an ecosystem of users and supplier that allows a self-sustained cycle to drive its growth.

What will be

As Star Trek's temporal prime directive dictates, even if I know about the future, I couldn't tell you. With that said, a near non sequitur about what the future holds is that as existing industries transform and new ones emerge, the degree of uncertainty and therefore the need to share risk would only increase.

In other words, whoever the next tech darlings may be, they will be the ones most adapt at seeking out information, best at discerning insight from what is known, and most effective in convincing others to participate in the value-chain.

And, yes, you still have to execute like the paranoid Intel and create a strong platform for your business model like Google.

Nobody ever said this is easy.

Co-creation and branding with Nicholas Ind

A bookish idea

Nicholas Ind is exploring the concept of co-creation and branding. And, I have been thinking about how innovation ecosystems are moving to a more open process.

While traditional branding has a clear cut-off between the internal planning/design phase vs. all the activities surrounding post-launch, in an open co-creation process where potential users are actively participating in the creation process, branding is a different beast.

Seems like a fascinating topic to explore.

About Y.F. Juan

Y.F. is an innovation commercialization strategist. A deputy director of global strategy and business development at ITRI's Cloud Computing Center, he also advises Silicon Valley startups and participates as a mentor at Stanford University’s joint Engineering/Business Product Realization Lab.

Previously, Mr. Juan has led several technology commercialization efforts at Xerox PARC and held management positions across technologies and industries such as cloud computing, medical software, network infrastructure monitoring, financial services, semiconductors, manufacturing in the US, China, Taiwan, and Australia.

He earned two bachelor degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and a master degree from the University of Chicago.

When he is not fighting off eagles, he is day dreaming about his old apartment in Vienna, Austria, where he would walk two blocks to attend performance at Wiener Staatsoper.

Email: prometheus.reconsidered(at)gmail(dot)com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/yfjuan

Prometheus Reconsidered

Why Prometheus

Prometheus, in Greek mythology, stole fire from Zeus and gave it to human. In other words, he is the prototypical technology disruptor that started a new world as we know it.

A Greek Tragedy

Prometheus was punished by having an eagle eat his liver everyday only to have it grow back each night. (For those of us looking for a happy ending, Hercules killed the eagle and set Prometheus free, eventually.) For the modern Prometheus in all of us, while we aspire to bring about disruptive innovation, we also all aspire to avoid the same fate.

Prometheus Reconsidered

I would submit for your consideration that innovators today can easily identify with Prometheus in the effort required to bring a "fire" to the world. What has changed, however, is the recognition that successful innovation today is not about one person taking on all the risks but about building a robust ecosystem that would sustain itself.

To that end, I like to think that the mere mortals of today are luckier than Prometheus because we don't have to fight this battle alone.

Indeed, by banding together, we aim to defeat the eagle and be our own Hercules.