MIT Sloan ION:

Innovation Observatory Network

Envisioning & EnablingSystematic Empirical Observation

of Effective Leaders, Transformative Innovations,

& Global Development

Draft Proposal v.0.92 ~ 2 September 2002Joost Bonsen ~ jpbonsen@alum.mit.edu ~

617.930.0415

MIT Sloan Faculty Interests at Various Levels of Systems Analysis

Economy

Sector

Firm

Group

Individual

Geography

Market/Tech

Organization

Theme

Idea

Technology Roadmapping

Technology &Entrepreneurial Strategy

Virtual CustomerInitiative

Emerging TechnologyVentures

Global Development

Venture Capital

Decision Psychology

Creative Communities,

Social Networks

Business Dynamics

Weaving together Interest Clusters at Various Levels of Analysis…

Economy

Sector

Firm

Group

Individual

Geography

Market/Tech

Organization

Theme

Idea

Technology Roadmap

Technology VentureObservatory

OpenSourceInitiative

Virtual CustomerInitiative

Emerging Tech-BizLive CasesION

ION = MIT Sloan Innovation Observatory

Network• Weaving together clusters of currently

existing and potential empirical, quantitative MIT Sloan research

• Observing Innovation in all its forms

• Aligned with unifying overarching MIT Sloan themes…

Innovation

Globally

Leadership

Innovation Observatories: Viewing the Business Implications

of Emerging Technologies

1. Technology Roadmaps– Prototyped by Fine &

Kimerling at Microphotonics– Generalizing Moore

2. OpenSource Initiative3. Tech Venture Observatory4. Virtual Customer Initiative5. Emerging Tech-Business Live Cases

Original Plot of“Moore’s Law”

1. Technology Roadmapping (TRM)http://mph-roadmap.mit.edu/

• Including Professors Charlie Fine & Rajeev Ram (in MicroPhotonics)

• Prototyped by Sematech in Semiconductors, now in MIT MicroPhotonics Center

• Big-picture perspective on development targets; overview the business implications of technology trendlines

• Emerging Themes: MEMS, Neuroengineering, Nanotech, Genomics…

2. OpenSource Initiative (OSI)http://opensource.mit.edu/

• Including Professor Eric von Hippel, RA Karim Lakhani

• Inquiring about Innovation Ecologies, Individual Incentives, Informal Organizations

• New domains: OpenSource Hardware, OpenSource Biology, and more…

3. Technology Venture Observatory (TVO)

• Including Professor Diane Burton

• Inquiring about Business Strategy, Employment Models, Founder Experiences, Emerging Technology Businesses, Entrepreneurial Financing…

4. Virtual Customer

Initiative (VCI)http://mitsloan.mit.edu/vc/

• Including Professors John Hauser, Ely Dahan, Drazen Prelec, Nader Tavassoli, et al

• Methods for Accelerating the Customer Feedback Product Development connection.

• Live Demos– http://wow.mit.edu– http://conjoint.mit.edu

5. Emerging Technology- Business Live Case Studies (LCS)• For example, Professors

Fiona Murray in Biotech, Joe Jacobson in Nanotech

• Inquiring about New Technology arenas, Radical Research

• Seeking Business Implications

• Commercialization Challenges

• Class Connections

Technology Roadmap

Technology VentureObservatory

OpenSourceInitiative

Virtual CustomerInitiative

Emerging Tech-BizLive Cases

Innovation Observatories:Further Possible Research Clusters

Economy

Sector

Firm

Group

Individual

Geography

Market/Tech

Organization

Theme

Idea

Global DevelopmentObservatory

Venture Capital Observatory

Social Network Observatory

Decision Neuropsychology Lab

TechnologyTestbed

Innovation Observatories:Core Qualities

• Empirical, Quantitative – Systematically research most compelling questions

• Leverage – Make most of scarce faculty time• Build Reputation – MIT Sloan should lead in

practical and rigorous scholarship on Innovation, Leadership, and Global action

• Scaling & Supporting – Build up ION research Operations & Infrastructural Leverage (OIL)

Innovation Observatories:Bolstering A Key Quadrant of the MIT Sloan Research Endeavor

Qualitative

Quantitative

Empirical Theoretical

ION

Specific Possible Research Thrusts

Global Development

Effective Leadership

Transformative Innovations

Finance, Accounting, &

Economics

Manag’nt Sci, Functional Disciplines

Behavioral & Policy Science

Strat & Org’ns

MIT Sloan Matrix

Classic MIT Sloan Disciplinary Strengths

Un

ifyin

g S

tra

tegi

c T

hem

es

DevelopmentalEntrepreneurship

VisualizingComplexity

ComparativeMarket

ResearchTechnologyRoadmaps

MicroFinance

TechnologyVenture O.

Innovation

Global

Leadership

DevelopmentalEntrepreneurship

VisualizingComplexity

ComparativeMarket

ResearchTechnologyRoadmaps

MicroFinance

TechnologyVenture O.

Global Development

Effective

Leadership

Transformative Innovations

Finance, Accounting, &

Economics

Manag’nt Sci, Functional Disciplines

Behavioral & Policy Science

Strat & Org’ns

Classic MIT Sloan Disciplinary Strengths

Un

ifyin

g S

tra

tegi

c T

hem

es

Innovation Observatories:MIT Sloan School-wide Initiative

Covering Quantitative,Empirical Aspects

ION

Innovation Observatories:Sloan School-wide Benefits

• Research – High quality, comparable, longitudinal data on hundreds of technologies, products, companies, industries, & regions across several emerging technology sectors

• Education – Students learn through close observation as practitioners in the research, benefit from new types of quantitative, cross-comparable case-studies.

• Practice – Answering questions relevant to operating execs, allowing comparative benchmarking, delivered through SMR, ExecEd, custom & MBA programs.

• Research on Business Implications of Emerging Technologies The “MIT Matrix”

• Lessons woven thru Joint Technology Business Programs– BioEnterprise, NanoEnterprise

• Benefit & Draw Upon undergrads & technologist grad students

• Cross-Disciplinary, Formal & Informal Social & Professional Links

Innovation Observatories:A Way to Engage the Rest of MIT

MIT Sloan Technology Biz MatrixInfo Bio Tiny Compl’x Develop-

mental

MIT Research

LCS/AI, Media, 6

HST, BEH, 7

MTL, 3, 5, 6, 8, 16

SDM, Aero, 6, 15, 14, 13

Digital Nations, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11

1. Sloan Research

eBiz, Mkting

POPI, ? ? System Dynamics, Tech Strat

Econ, Global Entrepreneurship

2. Sloan

Courses

ITBT, eBiz

Bio-venture

? SysDyn, Strat, OR,

Global E-lab, DE

3. Sloan

Extracur

Media-Tech

Health-Tech

? OR, SDK12, etc

SEID

MIT Alum Startups

Akamai, DirectHit

Amgen,

Biogen

Gen’tec

Surface, eink, Angstr’m

HP, Raytheon, Teradyne

AfricaOnline, Evergreen Solar

MITMatrix

http://web.media.mit.edu/~davet/notes/emerging-tech-mit.html

MIT Strategic Technology Thrusts1. Information Technologies = Ever more sophisticated

computation & communication, leveraging mind & media.2. Biomedical Technologies = Medical engineering,

perfecting the health & life sciences.3. Tiny Technologies = Investigating and fabricating ever

smaller systems, at scales from micro thru nano4. Complex Systems = Large scale, socio-political & econo-

technological systems.5. Developmental Innovations = Appropriate and leapfrog

technologies for tackling challenges in developing & emerging regions

OILFueling the ION Research Machine:

Operations & Infrastructural Leverage

• Maximally Leveraging Faculty Time

• Scaling Training in Research Methods, Integrated Interview Guides, Unifying Databases

• Staff Support, for formal & informal activities

• Structural Mechanisms

Staff & Support Personnel

• Research Support Staff– Central – statistics, websurveys

• E.g. Stats software support

– Distributed – thematic • E.g. Microphotonics Roadmapping Project Mgr

• Training Support• Extracurricular Support

– Clubs– Branded Events

Infra-Structural Mechanisms

1. Masters Research Seminars

2. Coordinated Special Projects

3. Team UROPs

4. Dean’s Research Fellows

5. Course Connection

6. Structured Theses

1. Masters Research Seminars (MRS)

• Aligning Masters student professional interest with Faculty Research Agenda through specific themed-seminars

• E.g. TRM – 15.795 Technology Roadmapping, Fall 2002, Professor Charlie Fine, TA Joost Bonsen

• Others?– TVO – Tech Venture Observatory– OSI – OpenSource Initiative– VCI – Virtual Customer Initiative

2. Coordinated Special Projects (CSP)

• Independent effort by individuals or teams of students around a sponsor or research theme of interest.

• E.g. Professors Gabriel Bitran, Rebecca Henderson…

3. Team UROPs

• Undergraduate researchers working in teams on unifying projects under the supervision of faculty, graduate students, and select alums

• E.g Diane Burton, Jay Forrester…

4. Dean’s Research Fellows (DRF)

• Well-paid, full & part-time Summer & IAP graduate researchers

• Prestigious position, coveted and very selective

• Rich collateral benefits for student and MIT

5. Sloan Course-Research Connections

• Weaving faculty research questions deeply into their academic courses, for example, with structured assignments and/or final projects.

• Typically requiring further work beyond classroom, after semester

• E.g. Professor Ed Roberts, Ely Dahan…

6. Structured Theses

• Masters theses aligned around over-arching faculty research themes

• Ultimately aggregated into publication

• E.g. Professors Ed Roberts, Arnoldo Hax, Charlie Fine, Michael Cusumano, Henry Weil…