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GGI RapidNews R&D Product Development eZine: Volume 8, Issue 3 - March 7, 2007
In This Issue GGI NEWS & NOTES - GGI Opens 2 more "GGI Book Store" wings MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY - Robots Take Next Step MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY- IBM Top Patent Recipient for 14th Consecutive Year BOOK REVIEW - Offshoring: Understanding the Global Labor Market UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - Mar07 R&D-Product Development Metrics Summit UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - May07 Innovation Summit - Early Bird Rates THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT - Primary Research on Product Selection, IP, and Top Corporate Metrics. THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS - No new products this month BIENNIAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SURVEY - 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998 Results GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE - A Monthly Feature CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS - A Monthly Feature TELEVISION EVENTS - Alexander Haig's World Business Review --------------------------------------------------------------------- GGI NEWS & NOTES GGI Opens 2 More Wings in "GGI Book Store" We are pleased to announce the opening of a "Public Library" on our home page. This new feature will provide the reader access to top books in all areas of process and technology integration. To enter, simply click on the new GGI Book Store icon located in the center of our GGI Home Page. Or, please enter the GGI Book Store directly at GGI Book Store. This month's new wings are:
Each Wing contains a list of the Top 10 books (as judged by the RapidNews Editorial Staff) in that category as well as others that have been published over the past twenty years. Live links to on-line booksellers allow readers to order any of the listed publications. The following Wings are also open and operational.
As the library is a work-in-process, more Wings will be announced in the coming months, including:
MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY Robots Take Next Step Excerpt from "Unstoppable Bot: Armed with self-scrutiny, a mangled robot moves on," Science News, November 18, 2006, Vol. 170, pages 324-325, published by Science Service, Washington, DC, ASIN: B00006AMT6. Although this story is a bit different from those that normally appear in this column, it caught our attention and we feel that it may portend future applications in robotics. Researcher Josh Bongard of the University of Vermont, Burlignton, and his colleagues have developed a simple, insect-like robot that moves under its own power. The remarkable aspect of this machine is that it senses its own physical structure and rebalances itself if it is damaged. This robot adapts because its software includes a novel algorithm that uses readings from its two tilt sensors and eight motors to determine its structure. In an iterative process, the robot figures out how to compensate for damage (such as the removal of part of one of its legs by the researchers) and continues moving forward. "This achievement could be expanded to other machines that are more difficult to control," notes the machine's co-designer Victor Zykov, a Cornell mechanical engineer. Those could include extremely agile prosthetic limbs currently under development, said mechanical engineer and team leader Hod Lipson of Cornell University. For a subscription to Science News magazine, log onto the Science News Web site.
MANAGEMENT PRODUCTIVITY IBM Leads in U.S. Patents for 14th Consecutive Year Excerpt from "For 14th straight year, IBM leads patent rankings," The Providence Journal, February 18, 2007, Vol. CXXI, No. 7, 11 sections, page H2, published by The Providence Journal Co., a subsidiary Belo Corp., Providence, RI. For the 14th year in a row, IBM has received the more patents from the U.S. Patent office than any other company. This reflects a move from a manufacturing economy to an innovation-based economy, notes Allen Baum, president of the North American Licensing Executive Society. This organization represents professionals that deal with patent issues. Technology companies file more patents because their products have more features that can be protected. For example, a cell phone as roughly 150 patentable features, compared to a handful for a new drug. At 2,941 patents received in 2006, IBM greatly out-paced the next closest runner-up, according to IFI Patent Intelligence, a Wilmington, Delaware company that tracks patent filings. But worldwide, companies have increased their research and development efforts. As a result, the U.S. Patent office issued a record 173,722 patents in last year. To view a copy of the IBM news release announcing this award, go to the IBM Web page.
BOOK REVIEW Offshoring: Understanding the Global Labor Market, Edited by Diana Farrell, McKinsey & Company, 2006. Copyright by McKinsey & Company, ISBN 10: 1-4221-1007-9. This ten-artcile collection from The McKinsey Golbal Institute (MGI) reviews the scope, economics and effects of offshoring (the relocation of business processes from one country to another).This contentious issue has important implications for countries both on the "supply" and the "demand" side of the equation. Written for policy makers, business executives and thought leaders, this anthology notes that offshoring is an economic phenomenon with significant potential to increase the world's wealth. But, as offshoring increases the pace of change in the societies that it affects, it also present policy makers with complex choices. MGI notes that this all needs to be carefully managed if economic benefits are to translated into social gains. Offshoring aims to help decision makers better manager these issues. Articles are categorized in the following four categories:
UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - METRICS SUMMIT Mar07 We are delighted to be offering our Metrics Summit again in March 2007. Many prior Metrics Summit participants were kind enough to share their written comments about the Metrics Summit so that future participants could get a better idea of what to expect. Testimonials. GGI's Product Development Metrics Summit will be held March 20 - 22, 2007 in Metro Boston. Please join us for a series of three seminars, focused on three major areas of importance to R&D executives and managers. The first seminar [Measuring Product Development II (MPDDII)- March20] addresses the subjects of setting hurdle rates, assessing risk and complexity, tradeoff analysis, measuring capacity, and assessing overall financial performance. Click here to view the MPDII abstract or to download the table of contents. The second seminar [Proactive and Predictive R&D Metrics (PPRD) - March 21) focuses on three different stages of developing early, predictive metrics that will enable manager to foresee issue on the horizon or to know that success is in front of them. Click to view the PPRD abstract or to download the table of contents. The third seminar, a capstone, [Product Development Metrics Portfolios (PDMP) - March 22] covers the areas of metrics for R&D and product development that are not discussed in the prior two seminar days and then shifts focus. Company teams gather and working groups form around Innovator, Innovator/Extender, Balanced, And Extender R&D strategies for the purpose of developing a set of measures for the R&D organization as a whole, including the few measures that should be used by the corporation to measure R&D productivity, output, and overall performance results. Click to view the PDMP abstract or to download the table of contents. All three seminars are geared to executives and top-level professionals that manage entire organizations, departments, and budgets. It is also of benefit to senior program management executives. Registration is easy. If you represent a team, you can register any number of people in one transaction. Please note, however, that the site accepts only a single name for a team registration. We will contact you for the information for the remaining registrants. Once you register, leisure time activities are provided regarding transportation, meals and personal time outside of the Summit.
UPCOMING PUBLIC SEMINAR - INNOVATION SUMMIT May07 - Early Bird Rates GGI will sponsor its R&D--Product Development Innovation Summit on May 15-17, 2007 in metro Boston. Please join us for eight comprehensive modules that surround the subject of Innovation in R&D and Product Development. Early Bird Rates and Discounts will be in effect until EOB Pacific Time, Friday March 16, 2007. The goals of the Innovation Summit are to help innovation leaders sort out "innovation processes" from "innovation tools and techniques. The Summit will review the history of innovation over the past 15 years and will inventory the range of tools, techniques, and software available today. All of this will be put in a context so that specific action may be taken to improve a company's inventive abilities. The Innovation Modules are:
All modules feature some level of case study discussion and include examples from a range of industries. There will be three group exercises to practice well-regarded innovation methodologies. As with all GGI Summits, we will pave the road for you to direct the selection and implementation of tools and process that will bring leverage to your organization. Discounts are available for teams of two or more people attending from the same company. If RN readers are planning on attending, please register now for the Innovation Summit. For more details on the Product Development Summit, please go to GGI's Innovation Summit web site which is also available on our home page. If you are already registered, our leisure time activities page may prove useful for planning transportation, meals, and personal time outside the Summit.
THE WISDOM iSTORE FEATURED PRODUCT Discounted Item:Periodically, GGI's iStore features one item that we discount 40%. We just changed the item a few days ago and are now offering our Design Review Checklist, DR10PAKc.DR10PAKcSuite 10-Pak, Design Review Checklists (Electronic Copy - Corporate License), Goldense Group, Inc., Needham, MA, USA, $570.00 [List Price $950] Covers all ten checklists, covering a wide range of products, from those with a single technical domain (like mechanical), to those with mixed domains (such as mechanical, electronics and embedded, operating system and/or applications software). GGI's Featured Item changes approximately every other month and is always offered at 40% discount. To order this material, please go to GGI's Featured Item on the GGI home page.
THE WISDOM iSTORE NEW LISTINGS There are no new Wisdom iStore listings this month. BIENNIAL METRICS SURVEY RESULTS 2004 Product Development Metrics Survey - Product Selection, IP Management, and Top Corporate Metrics: The Summary Report (MR32h) and Highlights Report (MR31h) for GGI's 2004 Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey are now available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. The research includes 202 respondent companies. There was a 5% response rate. McKinsey & Company, Texas Instruments, Rockwell, Kimberly Clark, JDS Uniphase, Shure, Curtiss Wright Flight Systems and Datacard are representative of companies that purchase market research from GGI. The 2004 Survey focused on the following five areas of product selection and IP management: We have already shared many results with GGI RapidNews readers since we began this line of business in 1998. 2004 Survey results ran in six RN issues, RN V5I11 - RN V6I5, which may be found in the RN archives, along with results from prior years. Some additional complimentary information about the survey is available: The three commercial versions of the survey results that we currently offer for public purchase are: 1. 2004 SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS: A text-only report (75 pages), including the full text of all the results and analysis of the survey population analyzed as a whole, and Individual sections of the research reports, as well as logical combinations of sections are also available. All reports are available in printed or electronic versions. These reports are available in the Market Research section of GGI's Wisdom iStore. 2002, 2000, 1998 Product Development Metrics Survey: The Summary and Highlights Reports for GGI's prior Biennial Product Development Metrics Surveys are also available for purchase by the public through GGI's Wisdom iStore. These reports are completely based on primary research performed by GGI researchers. Information about the purpose and focus of prior surveys may be found in our biennial survey archives.
GATEWAYS TO KNOWLEDGE GTK- Gateway To Knowledge is a DIRECTORY OF THOUSANDS OF LINKS to providers of engineering, purchasing, and manufacturing technologies and services. If you hit the right subjects, it is more useful than a search engine! The "main entrance" to GTK can be found at: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/gateway/index.shtml For those of you that do not want to go through the main entrance above, some of the Gateways that we believe you will find useful or entertaining are highlighted below. Technology Providers
CALENDAR OF INDUSTRY EVENTS GGI's Calendar of Industry Events contains an up-to-date listing of links to Conferences, Seminars, Distance Learning Centers, Colleges & Universities, Executive Education, and Corporate-Sponsored Universities. The calendar has just been updated with 60 upcoming conferences and seminars throughout 2007. The categories we follow are: The categories of conferences, seminars, and distance learning are further organized into the following subject areas: If you are looking for a conference or other learning opportunity, check out the Calendar. This free service for our readers is front and center on GGI's Home Page. Or, go directly to the Calendar of Industry Events MEGA Gateway.
TELEVISION EVENTS Alexander Haig's World Business Review: Brad Goldense has made several appearances on Alexander Haig's World Business Review. Streaming video is available for all shows, which aired on August 4, September 29 and December 15, 2002 and on May 20, 2003. See below for details. May 20, 2003 Broadcast of September 29th In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site. December 15, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (7.5 minutes) on CNBC paid programming: Streaming video for this segment is available on GGI's web site. September 29, 2002 In-Studio with Alexander Haig (22.5 minutes): Streaming video for this segment (as well as the entire 30-minute show) is available on GGI's web site. August 4, 2002 On-Location at GGI (3.5 minutes): This On-Location field report is available in streaming video on GGI's web site. The web page includes links to download a streaming video player, if you do not currently have one installed on your computer. For more information on any of Brad's appearances on television, go to: http://www.goldensegroupinc.com/ggi-goldense-product-development-tv-television-broadcast.shtml. --------------------------------------------------------------------- GGI RapidNews is an e-mail publication from Goldense Group, Inc (GGI). Its subject matter includes survey findings, company news, book and article reviews, key industry conferences and R&D information of interest to clients and associates. Please send communications to rn(at)goldensegroupinc.com. Thank you. | |||