If innovation is change, then water should be one of the least innovative substances in the world. Because the earth is a closed system, today’s water is the liquid that was around millions of years ago.

Water makes up about 60% of the average human body, 70% of the brain and 80% of the blood circulating in our veins. While 70% to 75% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, just 3% is fresh water. What’s more, the vast majority of that fresh water is locked up in the form of ice. When it comes to accessible fresh water, just .007% of the earth’s water is available for human consumption.

And that’s where the trouble begins. Continue reading The Present: Innovation in Water →

Like so much of modern life, humans in the developed world are increasingly removed from the forces that shape their lives. Take energy, for example. Wildcatting used to be a term that everyone was familiar with. A wildcatter was an independent oil prospector who roamed the land looking for oil in places not known to have oil. Like the cowboy, they were a part of the cultural fabric of the growing nation. Continue reading The Past: Innovation in Energy →

Ask anyone in the US, or around the world, for a list of the greatest Americans of all time, you’ll get some instantly recognizable names from many walks of life. Lincoln, Washington and Jefferson…Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison and Bill Gates. Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie. Athletes like Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson, and Roberto Clemente, activists like Elizabeth Cady, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jonas Salk. Yet the American who had perhaps the biggest impact on the world is nowhere on this list despite being one of just six people to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Norman Borlaug was a scientist and innovator who is credited with saving more lives than any other person who has ever lived. While a specific number is impossible to calculate, it’s estimated to be around one billion lives. Continue reading The Past: Innovation in Food →

The adoption lifecycle of new technology tends to follow a pretty standard script. It’s driven initially by innovators and early adopters who enjoy new for the sake of new. This period typically involves a good deal of feedback between the technology’s users and its makers. During this time bugs are worked out, enhancements are made and production efficiencies are established. At some point during this phase, the idea reaches a financial and intellectual tipping point where the costs and benefits of the technology are simply too significant for the rest of the market to ignore.

According to Dr. Tim Dumore, the tipping point for orthodontists to incorporate in-house 3D printing has already passed. Continue reading Making the Case →