3 Technological driven Perspectives of Innovation Thinking

I explore three technological impact concepts in this blog. You can find practical examples in my books on Building the Digital Enterprise and building Digital Ecosystem Architectures. http://building-the-digital-enterprise.com/. The first book is due in August 2015. Here, I cover several perspectives to summarize a range of ideas with several advanced foundations that I want to just highlight as background. As a pragamatist Im seeking to join these up into a synthesis of major themes that cut across several individual narratives that are discussed individually by industry analysts and commentators, but are better thought of as connected issues for strategic and tactial solutions in business.

Technology innovation is a hot topic today with economists for example. The impact on human employment of technological driven change is widely debated in mid decade literature of the period today. In particular, the impact of machine learning and artificial intelligence is bridging the gap between low skills job automation replacing jobs and the wider observation of semi to higher skills tasks such as advisory learning and complex analysis found in data driven roles and control feedback systems such as financial analysis , transport planning and controls and. Whether this transcends to replacing creativity is a whole other topic of debate in determining solutions and new ideas to existing or new problems. What is clear that the “old” boundaries of thinking of human-machine interaction as a linear-scale of ever-increasing shift to machine-machine automation is less simple to define and forecast as the “edges” of reasoning between simple and complex tasks and outcomes become ever more multi-level. In that sense, M2M and H2M can be seen as several concatenated tracks of H2M then M2M and back to M2H or combinations of these. A sequence of human to human H2H, machine M2M parings can be often seen in mobile apps and near field device connectivity. Stepping above this we can describe the “thread” of technological convergence and connectivity as objects and services flowing between the “supply chains” of demand and supply conditions. This concept while not new, is new to the considerations of howthis might be rendered and manifest in the local, and wider organization and market.

Technological thinking principle 1: technological thinking does not limit itself for human-machine boundaries as these distinctions become M2M, H2M2M2H2H…. and many other permutations.

Other perspectives of technological impact are found in academic research is the theories around social-materialism and social –technical theory. In both cases my understanding of these are the phenomena is in the transformational effect of material artifacts and value systems that affect human communication and enablement of systems. A common theme that is seen in many of these is the impact of technology on the structure of the organization or tasks that represent the physical or virtual business operating model. This structure is not limited to the boundaries of the organization of course, the shared economy business models and open data movements are just some if the latest manifestations of the realization that co-presence of physical and virtual content and experience is not just a customer centric perspective but a whole lot more in how physical material existence is translating into day and life experiences. I see these as two challenges in how the development of solutions based thinking is often emerging as a “split personality” and a paradox between solution architecture and business enterprise design thinking that seeks solutions to the organisational needs but are not found necessarily in one or few technology solution products. This I’ve described as a PEC versus STC perspective. PEC is a Physical, Extended, and Contextual solution product thinking approach that is common place in may digital ecosystems such as Apple, Google and others that create product centric ecosystem capabilities. Another perspective is the Spatial, temporal, and Contextual solution ecosystem thinking that reimagines and things across these product centric lines of thinking conditioned by brand product influence. We consider the individual and living environment as the main axis of this construction, the way the living spaces and interactions are connected. These also change from a time perspective as information of “the now” is juxtaposed with the change in physical distance with the past, present, and future tense.

Technological thinking principle 2: technological thinking works across material and social boundaries in the spaces that can be connected through the networks and devices in an ecosystem. This is further altered by the change in time to connect, analyse and change outcomes in those spaces.

A third perspective I want to draw attention to in this narrative is in the way design thinking is also itself rapidly evolving in the way outcome based benefits and the automata of machine intelligence and robotic actuation thinking. Described as the cognitive thinking applied by designers in the process of design, this conceptualization has challenged how analysis or constructed thinking” can be supported or be different when compared to a synthesizing approach. That all thinks are not able to be known or knowable is again a very old debate between nurture and nature and philosophy of belief systems and concrete or realism approaches. I still find these personally as anthropomorphic arguments when a perspective that does not necessarily involve humans in the equation seems less important to thoughts who seek meaning to be only that which supports organic systems thinking. Yet the rise of super computing and complex computing models that seek to drive 5th generation cognitive computing, neural networks and augmented intelligence is testament to a change in heart perhaps in what can be seen as what McAfee and Brynjolfsson as the “Second machine age”. I recently read an article about the investment by governments in emulation of the human brain as a research goal, apart from the size of investments, what mattered was the fact that complexity theory to deal with difficult or “wicked” problems was not deemed as unsolvable but a research goal to resolve. Also, in reading Brostrom’s Book on “SuperIntelligence” I’m reminded again that cognitive enhancement has he mentions from his Future of Humanity Institute, is perhaps a concern of great important in the physical world that humans inhabit and the physical nature of their humanity and how they are or may be realized in the future that could replace computation speed and thought with cybernetic alternatives. The second aspect is the actuation or “actuators” that would need to be connected from this digital cognition to the real physical world to carry out its bidding. In another recent fascinating lecture at Cambridge University Computer Lab around the connection of the internet of things; even as simple as opening a “green House” window to release CO2 and temperature regulate a room requires actuators to open and close windows. The definition of the Industrial Internet 4.0, the ideas in digital manufacturing and digital logistics compared to a quantified self and quantified life perspectives are equally compelling in how and where such performance and efficiencies will be realized with technology. Whether this is in a micro or nano scale with bio engineering of genes to wearable technology and embedded systems into physical objects, this third boundary is perhaps the difference between sentience and awareness to manipulate the environment that exists physically. The situation is still fluid in how these are moving from the lab to the social and societal setting but it is nevertheless and move into how the performance of everyday objects and experiences is being redefined by technology speed, content and interconnectedness.

Technological thinking principle 3: the way physical construction and virtual information are connected can and will change how outcomes performance are made throught the use of augmented technology

I expore these concepts with practical examples in my books on Building the Digital Enterprise and building Digital Ecosystem Architectures. http://building-the-digital-enterprise.com/

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