Our society thrives on innovation. It’s the key to evolving and developing new ideas and discovering a new way to make our lives easier, improve our quality of life, or just make it a lot more fun.
Our ancestors first innovated when they discovered that rubbing two rocks together creates heat, light and tastier (cooked) food. Today, thrifty innovators with a creative edge repurpose old items for a great new look and function.
Innovation can change lives
Science, research and development have resulted in many new inventions, such as turning air into water. That’s right, you read that right. Austrian inventor Kristof Retezar developed a water bottle that converts the humidity in the air into water. He calls it Fontus RYDE. In one hour, the Fontus products can produce half of a liter of drinkable water. Originally it was invented for mountain bikers on the trails far from conveniences of a water fountain, but think of all the places and people this will help – third world countries, places of natural disaster.
Innovation can make us smile
Innovation makes dreams a reality, and who wouldn’t smile at a dream come true? HP and their advertising agency, BBDO, created a commercial with the story line of a Star Wars fan building his own R2D2 and, through remote control, asking a girl out on a date to see the movie.
Yes, this is a commercial, but someone took an idea and evolved it into something new. Take a look at these other crafty inventions: #25 may come in handy.
You can do it! Be an innovator!
You don’t have to be a doctor, scientist or engineer to have ideas about how to make a difference in life. It all starts with an idea. If you have an idea to make your job easier, let your manager know. Write it down or create a plan on how you would implement the process.
In our downtown office, Tom Lugo has spearheaded Meet-up Mondays, where for 30 minutes during lunch the Information Systems team collaborates in an informal setting to exchange ideas and listen to each other’s presentations on subjects the group is interested in, inspiring each other to think outside of their day-to-day tasks.
Their next meeting is Monday, February 29, where Arrowhead Software Engineer Emman Castillo will be talking about Emman’s Automation Tool (EAT), which is an automation results reporting tool that uses test results from Arrowhead‘s home-grown testing platform, Tellurium, to display results in a web browser. Tellurium, which was built by Arrowhead Software Engineer Jason Antic, is a quality assurance tool that automates thousands of tests on over 16 different computers, then logs all its findings.
Want to know more? Stop by at noon on floor 22 in the downtown office for Meet Up Mondays.
