Crowdsourcing For Science, Medicine And Government

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, February 11, 2012   0 comments.

Part 1:

Part 2:

The power of crowdsourcing isn't limited to start-ups. Next, we explore the role it plays in science, medicine and even municipal affairs.

Many CEO's are expected to solve problems. But we talk with one whose goal is to find them — medical, environmental, and technical — and send them out to the crowd.

One of those problems was finding a biomarker for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, which would allow scientists to begin working on a cure. And a scientists found it.

Plus, we explore how more cities are using crowdsourcing to identify and solve local problems.

Guests:

• Dwayne Spradlin, CEO, Innocentive

• Nigel Jacob, co-chair, Boston's New Office of Urban Mechanics

• Melanie Leitner, chief scientific officer, Prize4Life

 

The Power Of The Crowd: Kickstarting Local Ideas

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, February 11, 2012   0 comments.

This week, we look at the power of crowd sourcing. What happens you pool wisdom, ideas, solutions — even money?

First, we look at the crowdsourcing phenomenon, Kickstarter. A company started less than three years ago by a few guys who thought that people might be able to get friends and colleagues to fund each other’s projects.

"It's a website where people raise money for creative projects. People make films, they make records, they do art, photography, food -- any sort of thing that springs from the imagination. Someone comes on, and they say what they want to do, and they invite the public and their network to contribute money to their project.," explained co-founder Yancey Strickler.

Users set a funding goal when they start their project, and donors' credit cards are only charged if the money is raised.

"It's all or nothing," Strickler said.

We're joined by two inventors and a professor who know Kickstarter well.

Guests:

• John Kestner, co-founder, Supermechanical

• Slava Menn, co-founder, Bike Gotham

• Karim R. Lakhani, assistant professor, Harvard Business School; director, Harvard-NASA Tournament Laboratory

Using Business Tools To Combat The World's Big Problems

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, February 4, 2012   0 comments.

In 2006, a social entrepreneur named Muhammad Yunus, the so-called "banker to the poor" who pioneered microfinance, won a Nobel Peace Prize. And ever since, the concept of doing good — while still making a profit — has been a hot topic in business schools and industry.

We talk to experts about the rising tide of social entrepreneurship. Does it have the power to address some of the fundamental problems in society — hunger, health, poverty? And we check in with local companies who are trying to change their communities and the world.

Understanding Social Enterprise

First, we delve into the background and theory behind the movement with two expert professors.

Guests:

• Robert Higgins, senior lecturer, Harvard Business School; founding partner, Highland Capital Partners

• Julie Battilana, associate professor, Harvard Business School; author, "Beyond Heroic Entrepreneurs" (paper)

On The Ground: Turning Business Into Good

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Part 2:

We talk to entrepreneurs whose companies are running online auctions for charities, selling shoes to make money for clinics and educational initiatives, helping finance small businesses and funding socially-conscious organizations.

Guests:

• Jon Carson, chairman and CEO, Bidding for Good

• Chuck Rubin, CEO, Common Soles

• Miki Akimoto, co-founder, Saffron Circle; board member, Asian-Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy

• Steve Goldberg, managing director, Social Finance

Cars That Fly, Fold Up And Drive Us Forward

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, January 28, 2012   0 comments.

How can we adapt cars to a world that's rapidly industrializing, urbanizing, and straining to meet its energy needs?

A video shows the prototype for the CityCar.

We're joined by experts who's answers range from a car that folds up, so it's easier to park — to a flying car that blurs the line between land and air travel.

Guests:

• Ryan Chin, research associate, Ph. D. candidate, MIT Media Lab; developer, CityCar

• Thilo Koslowski, vice president, Industry Advisory Service Manufacturing group, Garnter

• Cliff Allen, vice president, Sales, Terrafugia

Innovation For An Energy-Hungry World

By Kara Miller   |   Friday, January 27, 2012   0 comments.

What it will take to generate the energy and fuel for a planet that just hit 7 billion and isn’t done growing?

The old gas-and-coal-powered grid is changing. Germany now generates 20% renewable energy, but America has lagged — and our next guest says that’s got to change.

Guest:

• Richard Lester, head, MIT's Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering; co-chair, Industrial Performance Center at MIT; author, Unlocking Energy Innovation: How America Can Build A Low-Cost, Low-Carbon Energy System

A Tour Of Harvard's Innovation Lab

By Kara Miller   |   Saturday, January 21, 2012   0 comments.

We talk a lot on this show about the pieces you need to turn ideas into reality: The money, the space, the opportunities to connect with like-minded entrepreneurs.

Harvar'ds Innobation Lab is located in the old WGBH building in Allston. (Courtesy Harvard)

Now, we take a tour through a place where all of those ingredients are mixing together: The brand-new Harvard Innovation Lab, just down the street from our studios at Harvard’s life-science complex in Allston.

This is part of Harvard’s big push to nurture an entrepreneurial community. It’s where students and graduate students can take courses, find mentors, have office, conference and staging space to work on their companies, compete for start-up money… and have the chance to work together while doing it.

"Most extraordinary innovations occur at the intersections of things," said Dean Nitin Nohria, of Harvard Business School. "I think at Harvard, we have these amazingly bright people all across the University."

"We have amazing scientists, we have amazing undergraduates, people at the business school who understand whether something's going to be an important business model or not. What I think the I-Lab is going to be is a place that creates these connections between people where together they will discover things that they could not have discovered by themselves," said Noria.

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About Innovation Hub

Each week, Kara Miller talks to Boston's most innovative thinkers, examining new ideas and potential solutions to today’s many challenges. Topics range from education to health care to green energy. Join us on Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 10 p.m.

Kara Miller
As a radio host, Kara Miller has interviewed thinkers from E.J. Dionne to Howard Gardner, Deepak Chopra to Lani Guinier. She is a panelist on WGBH-TV's "Beat the Press," as well as an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The National Journal, The Boston Herald, Boston Magazine, and The International Herald Tribune.

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