World Cup 2014 ~ The Dutch Soccer Story...

I'm really irrationally nationalistic about only one thing -- Soccer. And then only every four years. So here's retrospective on the best team to never win the World Cup, yet again;-)

"The Dutch hold the record for playing the most World Cup finals without ever winning the tournament. They finished second in the 1974, 1978 and 2010 World Cups, losing to West Germany, Argentina and Spain respectively."

This past Cup in Brazil 2014 was no exception, despite the promising start crushing those arrogant conquistador bastard Spaniards...

Moments of Science 2014 ~ Our IgNobel Acts!

Harvard Chemistry lecture demogod Daniel Rosenberg of In Demo Veritas fame and I performed our latest Moments of Science at the 2014 IgNobel Prize Ceremony yesterday! First, Alginate Gelatenous Snakes at 19:32... And then Comparing Apple and Oranges at 01:11:40... P.S. Here's one of my favorite of our Moments, Big Bang Trash Can!

Understanding MIT ~ Crafting Our Creative Place

My DUSP Campus Planning colleague Bob Simha and I are hosting our Understanding MIT seminar again this Fall 2014 every Tuesday afternoon 4-6pm starting next week September 9th to survey research universities and how they work, with the Institute as our live-case study. Each week, we invite a different senior academic, administrative, or trustee leader of MIT to share with us what they do to help the Institute stay vital in the short, medium, and long term -- and ask what we can do to be pro-active in improving MIT as well. This is part of my larger action-research agenda on understanding creative places and innovation ecosystems and is sister-class to our MIT Cities Initiative design workshop on Changing Cities.

Neurotechnology Ventures ~ Minds, Money, MIT

My MIT Media Lab colleague Ed Boyden and I are again co-hosting our Neurotechnology Ventures class this Fall 2014 at the Media Lab starting this Thursday afternoon September 4th from 2-4pm. This course is all about envisioning, planning, and building ventures -- both entrepreneurial startups and intrapreneurial product-lines or business units -- to bring neuroengineering innovations to the world. Compelling venture themes include Neuroimaging, Neuromarketing, Neurology/Psychiatry Screening & Diagnosis, Mood & Behavioral Influencing, Rehabilitation, Neurosurgery, Neuropharmacology, Brain Stimulation, Prosthetics, Sensory and Motor Augmentation, Regenerative Neuromedicine, Learning, Memory & Cognitive Influencing, and more.

Development Ventures ~ Solving Global Problems

My MIT colleague Alex (Sandy) Pentland and I are again hosting our Development Ventures action lab class this Fall 2014 at the Media Lab starting this Thursday September 4th from 10a-12noon, with special focus on frugal, DIY, and ultraffordable technologies as well as exponential innovations including mobiles, big data, and analytics. As always, we look forward to the latest new venture concepts our students propose -- in domains ranging from Health & Wellness, Energy & Sustainability, Education & Creativity, Commerce & Financial Services, Civic Engagement and beyond -- and we try to help the most motivated teams and promising ideas actually start and thrive!

Changing Cities ~ Prototype New Urban Systems

I'm leading a module this Fall 2014 in the Changing Cities course taught by my MIT Media Lab colleagues Kent Larson and Ryan Chin, starting Wednesday, 3 September at 2pm, as part of our MIT Cities Initiative. We seek to move beyond so-called “Smart City” solutions that have focused on optimization rather than vital re-invention. This course will focus on how to design and prototype new urban systems to address the challenges of mobility, food, living & working, planning, and more through five “How to” modules:

1. How to prototype autonomous, shared, electric mobility systems 
2. How to prototype hyper-efficient, transformable spaces (robotic architecture) 
3. How to prototype controlled environment urban food systems 
4. How to realize computational urbanism using augmented tangible models 
5. How to quantify innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative vitality in cities

Together with colleagues Daan Archer, Jennifer Saura, and Dan Harple, we're keen on #5 -- Our overarching goal is to seek better indices (or rankings or scores) and analyses of vitality in the city by tapping into novel datasets and new analytic approaches. Ultimately we aspire to compare and contrast not only cities and neighborhoods, as they exist today, but simulate how they might become as new urban systems and solutions are deployed.

Fireworks ~ Icons of Celebrations Worldwide!

Here in Boston it's a very wet Fourth of July so most people are inside dreaming of fireworks. Here's a bit of the history of this great icon of celebrations... The science of fireworks... The Secret World of Fireworks by NatGeo... How they're made... MissC spots a quapter view from inside the 'works! And finally, thanks to Paul @ GeekPress for spotting the Big One...

Growth with Depth ~ African Transformation...

K.Y. Amoako, President of the Africa Centre for Economic Transformation, introduces their new report Growth with Depth at African Arguments...

"We hear a lot these days about “Africa Rising” [...] But beneath the surface it’s not that simple. The rate of African growth may have increased, but the structure of most Sub-Saharan economies has not changed much over the past 40 years. [...]

Thus the headline statistics disguise both residual problems and inherent vulnerabilities. [...] How can we prevent this pattern repeating itself? This is the question our inaugural Africa Transformation Report aims to answer. Its core argument is that to ensure growth is sustainable and improves the lives of the many, governments need to address structural weaknesses, and deliberately and vigorously promote economic transformation, or growth with DEPTH. This acronym stands for Diversification of production and exports, Export competitiveness, Productivity increases, and Technological advances -- all leading to Human well-being."

Read the full report and see preview...

MIT $100K 2014 ~ 25th Annual Venture Contest!

Tonight Wed 5/14 was the Grand Finale of the MIT $100K LAUNCH contest and the unveiling of the winner of the $100,000 grand prize! This is 25th Annual incarnation of the prize, something I entered as an undergraduate (and lost) with eight ideas! 330 teams applied to compete 5 tracks. 70 semifinalists advanced. 8 finalists competed for the final price. Grand Prize winner is Disease Diagnostic Group!

MIT Sustainability Summit 2014 ~ Coastal Cities

Check out student-run MIT Sustainability Summit 2014 with special focus on Coastal Cities this upcoming May 3rd and 4th...

"Half of the world population and three-quarters of all large cities are located on the coast. 634 million people are at risk from rising water levels. How will our world landscapes change as a result? From New York City to Shanghai, Sydney to Rio de Janeiro -- coastal cities have become the nexuses for today's global economy, yet face a confounding duality in which they are also the most threatened by climate change. MIT is addressing these challenges of coastal cities. [...] The conference will defy traditional notions of urban development to ask how coastal cities can sustain themselves and continue to grow as the climate changes and their local environments deteriorate."

Africa Innovate ~ MIT Market Showcase 2014...

Excellent to have the 4th annual MIT Africa Innovate conference on 12th April 2014 here at the MIT Media Lab! With a full agenda, and rockstar speakers, this promises to be excellent! See you Saturday!

Scaling Development Ventures ~ MIT Conf 2014!

Our D-Lab, PSC, Media Lab and other MIT colleagues are delighted to host today's Scaling Development Ventures conference! This event weaves together academics, practitioners, and financiers all exploring innovative, collaborative, market-driven strategies for poverty alleviation at scale.  Speakers include Paul Polak, author of The Business Solution to Poverty and Nancy Wimmer, author of Green Energy for a Billion Poor -- How Grameen Shakti Created a Winning Model for Social Business. Panels include explorations of Appropriate Solutions for Real Needs, Partnering for Scale, and MIT Alumni Scaling up Innovation.

MIT Media Ventures ~ Thurs 10a-12n Spr 2014

Our MIT Media Ventures ~ Media Lab Entrepreneurship & Digital Innovations Action Lab seminar surveys a broad landscape of emerging media technologies interwoven with live- and historic-cases of inter- and entrepreneurship-based on new media ideas, culminating in a term project. The core goal is to gain increased understanding of how emergent media and digital innovations translate into commercial reality and transform society.

We survey case examples of both successful and failed businesses and generally grapple with the difficulties of deploying and diffusing products and as a means of exploring a range of business models and opportunities enabled by emerging Media Lab and related innovations. This year we will be especially emphasizing personal health care, financial service innovations, mobile transactions, and social media generally with special focus on social networks, quantified self and society, and "Big Data" analytics. First class this Thursday morning February 6th, 2014 in Media Lab E14-633.

MIT Imaging & Fab Ventures ~ Tues Spring 2014

Ramesh Raskar and I are teaming up with Doug Hart, Joe Jacobson, and John Werner to run our expanded and enhanced MIT Imaging & Fabrication Ventures seminar Tuesday mornings this Spring 2014! This is an Action Lab class designed to help students conceive of and launch great startups.

We study the landscape of imaging developments, plan and prototype new ventures & products, and brainstorm towards a startup, business unit, non-profit or citizen sector organization. To bring imaging research to the real world, the students will be encouraged to build teams and craft a business plan. We'll be exploring venture opportunities in some of the fastest changing technology domains including all things Imaging -- e.g. cameras, displays, visual computing, analytics and apps -- and Fabrication -- including robotics and automation, rapid prototyping, smart customization, 3DPrinting, DIYkits, peripherals and accessories to mobiles and tablets, fast venturing, crowdfinancing, issues of local and global sourcing and more. Please spread the word to those you think might be interested. First class is next week Tues morning February 11th, 2014 in Media Lab E14-525.

MIT Nuts & Bolts of New Ventures ~ IAP 2014

On Tuesday, 21 January 2014, Joe Hadzima and I kicked off the latest incarnation -- the 25th year (!!) -- of our MIT Nuts & Bolts of New Ventures course over the MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP 2014). Joe gave an overview of the essence of business planning as a process and special guest speaker Stephen Pearse shared how to present venture essentials. My primary topic is Team & Organizational issues, other special guests spotlight Financing, and Operations, and more!