Following on from yesterday’s post, a little crowd-sourcing experiment.
All of this, by the way, is in aide of helping me create a 20-slide, 15 seconds per slide presentation that I’m doing in a few weeks time in the Ignite style…
The premise: most innovation comes not from plucking ideas out of thin air, but from the combination of existing ideas. These can then be expressed as really glib “innovation equations”:
Horse & Carriage – horse + internal combustion engine = the car
Cinema + Radio = Television
ABBA’s back catalogue + the musical = Mamma Mia
An idea + sloth + social networks = crowdsourcing
Hopefully you get the idea…
Anyway, I’m looking for more! If you can think of one, please share, either in the comments below, on comments on LinkedIn or Facebook, or on Twitter with the hashtag #innovationeqs.
Also – if you can think of any great innovations that don’t seem to have antecedents – I’d like those too. The only ones I can think of so far are the wheel and the hyperlink…
mmitII 
Illness + Virus = Immunisation
Nice – a sort of “meta” equation (virus+virus=no virus!)
I like the phrase “adjacent possible” to describe innovation. It’s not so much the mating of completely different concepts as two things in related fields. Sweets are a good example:
Peanuts + Chocolate = Marathons (“Snickers”) or Peanut M&Ms
Biscuit + Chocolate = Kit Kat or Twix, perhaps
But can I add a quick plug: Paper + no time = TurbineHQ.com!
Actually two quick plugs: marketing campaign + no time = ArticulateMarketing.com!!
I’ll let you get away with the plugs… they’re a mix of problem and solution, though ;o)
catamaran + airplane = new americas cup class (wingsail on boat)
That’s a great one. Thanks!
starwars + lego + clock = giant starwars lego alarm clock http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=star+wars+lego+alarm+clock
floor+bugs=beds
Love the Lego one. Not sure whether the bed one is innovation or just happenstance… ;o)
An update from the Twitterverse & Facebook:
From Peter Fleming (@Unkle_Pete):
Scissors + Can Opener + Fish Hook + Tool of your choice = Swiss Army knife
Glue + Paper = Post It note
And finally one without antecedents; Corkscrew?
From Andrew Skinner (@andrewdotcom):
((bucket + chair) – smell) == toilet
From Roland Harwood (@rolandharwood):
bad glue + scraps of paper = post-its
mp3 player + iTunes = iPod
car + pay-as-you-go = zipcar
computer^2 = internet
From Barry French:
John Lennon + Noel Gallagher = Oasis.
Bell + Marconi + Babbage + Benners-Lee = Internet.
2 (Adrian Chiles x smugness) + guests – slickness = ITV Sport
surfing + kite = kite surfing
speaker + streaming music = Sonos
sun + h2o = growth
Metal box + radar = microwave oven
Conservatives + Lib Dems = Failure, sorry, coallition..
So, did the event last night. Here’s the final run down:
1. The creative industries don’t innovate – they just mash stuff up
2. Innovation is nothing more than simple algebra – Innovation Equations
3. Cinema + Radio = Television
4, Horse & Carriage – horse + internal combustion engine = car
5. Romeo & Juliet + Jazz + Dance = West Side Story
6. The Songs of Queen + Musicals = We Will Rock You
7. Idea + Sloth + Social Networks = Crowd sourcing
8. John Lennon + Noel Gallagher = Oasis
9. Archimedes Screw + Archimedes shouting Eureka + Hotel = Cruise Liner
10 X-Factor + the cultural black hole that is Nicole Sherzinger = End of Simon Cowell’s career
11 Pete + Beer = Mess (Pete – Beer = Mess)
12 Virus + Virus = No Virus (Immunisation)
13 Catamaran + Airplane = Wingsail on Boat
14 Rubbish Glue + Scraps of Paper = PostIt
15 MP3 Player + Napster + Design genius of Dieter Rams = iPod
16 Scissors + Can Opener + knife + (…) = Swiss Army Knife
17 Calendar + Diary + Pocket Calculator = PDA1
PDA1 + email = BlackBerry
PDA1 + Pen = PDA2
PDA2 – Pen + Phone = Smartphone
Smartphone + growth hormone + keyboard – phone = ?
18 Hyperlink
19 Wheel
20 Corkscrew
Thanks again to everyone who helped create the presentation – there may or may not be a video of me doing it available in the near future…
And I’ve just realised I cheated – there were 21 slides because between 17 and 18 I snuck in:
RADAR + a metal box = Microwave Oven
No-one seemed to notice, though ;o)