The social innovation incubator class has been great so far in terms of really defining what the topic is and stating that anyone can be an entrepreneur. Before that class I really thought that ventures are started by these set of individuals who are enigmatic and charismatic and have certain qualities that inspire people. No doubt having these qualities help but one need not necessarily have them to start a venture. I believe now that knowing yourself matters the most when it comes to starting a venture because that will drive the people you team up with for the venture. The most important quality needed for an entrepreneur is passion which essentially drives him/her and the venture forward. This actually reminded me of the movie Ratatouille whose tagline was "Anyone can cook!" which similarly can be said about entrepreneurship : "Anyone can be an Entrepreneur!"
We also went to the CREATE Lab at CMU and I found it very interesting to see that they are working on completely open source social venture ideas. The most intriguing thing was their business model and how they fund their program. The Create lab works in association with CMU and they both have a sort of symbiotic relationship. CMU offers Create lab the space and access to resources like students and faculty and in turn Create lab gives CMU part of their funds which they receive from grants and funds. Create lab works in a very smart way taking money in from sources who they know won't drive them a particular way (which is why they do not take the DARPA funding). Also the projects Create lab does are entirely social and completely open source which was something amazing for me to see. It really showed that real social innovation is possible by focusing on the product alone and not on the business. Something amazing I thought was that anyone could take their products and turn it into a business. There are no strings attached when trying to use some of Create lab's inventions. Their inventions arise from the need in society and are very well tested and developed. I loved their products which help children interface and interact with technology in such a way so as to understand and learn too.
Overall I feel they are doing an amazing job in making products that are extremely beneficial for the society as a whole by really detaching themselves from the business side of products which leads to solutions that not only innovative but effective too.
We also went to the CREATE Lab at CMU and I found it very interesting to see that they are working on completely open source social venture ideas. The most intriguing thing was their business model and how they fund their program. The Create lab works in association with CMU and they both have a sort of symbiotic relationship. CMU offers Create lab the space and access to resources like students and faculty and in turn Create lab gives CMU part of their funds which they receive from grants and funds. Create lab works in a very smart way taking money in from sources who they know won't drive them a particular way (which is why they do not take the DARPA funding). Also the projects Create lab does are entirely social and completely open source which was something amazing for me to see. It really showed that real social innovation is possible by focusing on the product alone and not on the business. Something amazing I thought was that anyone could take their products and turn it into a business. There are no strings attached when trying to use some of Create lab's inventions. Their inventions arise from the need in society and are very well tested and developed. I loved their products which help children interface and interact with technology in such a way so as to understand and learn too.
Overall I feel they are doing an amazing job in making products that are extremely beneficial for the society as a whole by really detaching themselves from the business side of products which leads to solutions that not only innovative but effective too.
No comments:
Post a Comment