{"id":1933,"date":"2013-04-20T04:29:14","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T04:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=489"},"modified":"2013-04-20T04:29:14","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T04:29:14","slug":"the-driving-force-behind-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/the-driving-force-behind-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Driving Force Behind Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Did you know the first webcam was invented to check to see if a coffee pot was empty without having to get up?\u00a0 Students at Cambridge University invented the first webcam so that they could monitor the coffee pot from another room, so they\u00a0wouldn’t have to\u00a0walk all the way there if it was empty.\u00a0 The old phrase goes, \u201cIf you want to find an easy way to do a difficult project, give it to the laziest employee.\u201d\u00a0 But why is that true?\u00a0 Surely our innovation would come from our need to succeed.\u00a0 Or simply our passion for design and development would drive us.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s a little bit of each.\u00a0 You can\u2019t ignore what a huge discovery these students made.\u00a0 Webcams are placed in almost every single laptop sold today, and paved the way for front facing cameras on our phones.\u00a0 But how can we drive that innovation, other than a need for a fresh cup of joe?<\/p>\n

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  1. \u00a0Be Fascinated with your Work <\/strong>\u2013 Another way to say this might be \u201cwork in a field that fascinates you,\u201d but they don\u2019t have to be mutually exclusive.\u00a0 When you are completely taken by an idea or a subject, when a project excites you, take note of it.\u00a0 That is the kind of thing you should be working on.\u00a0 Put the time and effort into your work so that it has the potential to fascinate others.\u00a0 When you work with material you are passionate about, you are more likely to have breakthrough ideas.<\/li>\n
  2. Failure is a Step Towards Success<\/strong> \u2013 We like to think that all inventors have \u201cEureka!\u201d moments that result in their inventions, but the truth is that many failures come before those successes.\u00a0 When asked how it felt to fail 800 times before successfully designing the light bulb, Thomas Edison said, \u201cFail?\u00a0 I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0fail once.\u00a0 I learned 800 times what\u00a0didn’t\u00a0work.\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. Fantasize\u00a0isn’t\u00a0a Bad Word <\/strong>\u2013 Most people hear fantasize and think of something of poor taste, but it is good to fantasize about \u201cwhat could be.\u201d\u00a0 Using your imagination is the only way to think outside of the box and design something we haven\u2019t seen before.\u00a0 If you find yourself daydreaming, don\u2019t beat yourself up, some of the best ideas come that way.<\/li>\n
  4. Diversify your Life <\/strong>\u2013 Get out and mingle with other people, not just your coworkers.\u00a0 Meet with and hear the thoughts, opinions, and motives of people from different professions, ages, pay-grades, or anything different from the norm.\u00a0 \u00a0Being able to see and understand different views of the world can help you come up with new ways to approach ideas.<\/li>\n
  5. Be Aware of Accidental Discoveries<\/strong> \u2013 On many occasions, discoveries are made while trying to discover something else entirely.\u00a0 Penicillin was discovered when Alexander Fleming forgot to clean up his workstation before going on vacation, and came back to a fungus growing on one of his cultures.\u00a0 Penicillin is one of the most used antibiotics today.\u00a0 The soft drink Coke was made while trying to come up with a cure for headaches.\u00a0 Vulcanized Rubber was made when Charles Goodyear spilled a mixture of rubber, sulfur, and lead onto a hot stove and it hardened.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be so focused on your goal that you overlook all potential of your product.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Did you know the first webcam was invented to check […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[984,392],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1933\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}