Blog post is a result of the post (must read alert!) Upasna wrote which prompted me to write about my experiences!
[A quick note for Upasna: I know I took more than a week to finally post it. But the more I thought over it the more I got material, inside my head. So thanks for making the grey matter churn! :) Have tried to keep it shorter though!]
I am an engineer by education and a student by profession (I know it sounds clichéd but this is my standard answer to aai, who is often intrigued by why I take up obscure things to learn).
My 4 years of undergraduate studies might not have taught me much theoretically/practically, considering how crammed up the system was and how I never got along with some course material. But the one thing, I stress over and over again, it has done is, open my mind. And the decision to study further and some extremely awesome *chance* experiences restored that fact and brought me face to face with research and innovation. Bundled together.
Even though some of the brightest and smartest people I know are pursuing their doctoral degrees, I am not naïve enough to believe that all innovation comes out of a lab where a bunch of thick spectacled scientists are working rigorously on a mathematical equation which will reduce the child death rate in under privileged countries. (of course I believe in magic and applied mathematics being able to solve almost any problem). May be innovation comes out of need. Of a mother whose child refuses to eat any vegetable except potato and then she starts making stuffed parathas with different vegetables. May be sometimes its just epiphany (divine intervention mayhaps?) that a particular task could be achieved if done in a particular way. Or just the need to simplify things (like mr. Jobs did with his intuitive UIs).
And in this regard, I feel compelled to share my recent experiences.
It was a *chance* afternoon session with some university representative from a giant corporation where he pitched the company to dreamy eyed students. At the end of the session, he told something about a technology competition. I was not at all interested in the jobs he discussed, so to prove myself as a winner who took home something from the session, I told 2 of my brightest friends about this competition. They readily jumped in. We submitted our first business plan and prototype video, got selected to national finals. And during the preparation on the project, which aimed at connecting people interested in social welfare across the world, at every point technology proved to be an enabler to solve a real life issue.
And not just that, it was weirdly empowering to see some uber geeks, working on solving problems concerning the common people. Not only that during various product demos (students are the best targets for such advertising!) the geeks around me were thinking, how they could take that piece of hardware and customize it to their research needs. Again stressing – mind opener.
My highest point was explaining school kids, teachers, reps from a senator’s office about how a bunch of mathematical equations could really simplify how people shared resources. (Had James Cameron visited our booth, may be I could have talked about home tree and all, Avatar being a smash hit of that year) So taking an extremely naïve idea out there and making people understand it, felt really satisfying to me. Also interesting to note that, the team that won consisted of 3 medicine students (and an engineer if I am correct) working on a mobile application for detecting vascular diseases like diabetes to help people in rural areas where equipment is still an issue.
So may be innovation comes from a girl’s need to justify time well spent and two geeks’ capacity to think beyond their lab work to solve real life issues. The 'where' doesn't really matter.
My other anecdote is more personal. How twitter has changed my life. I have totally grown tired of main stream journalism. Even newspapers. So when people talk about information overload and what not, twitter has streamlined and filtered that information for me. I feel more aware, more connected, by each day to my surroundings, the world, in a very impersonal way. Plus twitter for the most of the time is full of literary awesomeness, dry wit and humor. #win. #always.
And this innovation they say came out of another behemoth’s lair.
And of course, not all technology suits all. There are some things which I have not yet experienced or may never. But whatever I think may make my life simpler, enjoyable, comfortable will definitely be a part of my life. And as Mr. Jobs says, Upasna agrees and I concur, ‘technology married to liberal arts and humanities makes our heart sing.’
And now may be, most innovations will (still do) come out of intermixing these.
And that's why even I agree that it doesn't matter from where the innovation has come, as long as some process for some end user gets simplified and product experience has been enriched. If the technology touches even a single person's life in a positive way, then that's a definite 'innovation' #win.
