Andrew Lippman, MIT Media Lab October, 2005 Open Innovation

Two Parts Open Trends Viral Ideas Innovation today happens at the edges It happens surprisingly fast: Faster than IP! Ideas that you can see and breakthroughs you can’t predict

Organization Elements Process Control CommunicationsInformation

Open Organization Open Source Open CommsOpen Knowledge Linux Skype? Brazil, today Open architecture and marketing Closed architecture open marketing

Skype  Peer-to-peer VoIP application  First released October 2003  7 million users after one year, 25 million today  IM, Conferencing, voic , etc  Open API; viral operation  Skype-out, 2004; Skype-in, 2005, …  $2.5/4.1 Billion acquisition by Ebay (9/05) X 50 Viral, but closed

Open Organization Open Source Open CommsOpen Knowledge Linux Wiki Skype? Open architecture Open application

Wiki Contributory encyclopedia, Jimmy Wales, K articles in English, 2.3million globally 180 languages, 75 with > 1000 entries Wiktionary, news, etc. Hierarchical yet open non-profit

Mashups Kosher Food in Boston NYTimes Oct 21, 2005

Wiki updates

Open Hardware Looking deeper

Open Source Open CommsOpen Knowledge Linux Wiki Skype Open Organization

Open Source Open CommsOpen Knowledge Linux Wiki Skype Open Organization

Scalable Incremental Contributory Viral Innovation Viral systems are innovative through modularity and distribution of capability -- the intelligence is at the ends e.g.: Internet, (fax machines)

Viral Growth Viral radio is scalable, incremental, and value-adding. Intelligence is at the edges, costs are low, systems are agile.

Spreadsheet: More users => more applications Napster: More users => more music Skype: More users => bigger exchange Viral Examples

Education: The learners are the innovators, infrastructure makes the system rigid Communications: The intelligence is now in the phones, will the carriers be marginalized? Healthcare: Patients as a group already are more up-to-date than their physician; the average psychologist reads no more than one journal per month Viral Possibilities

Cells Without Towers How far can we go with no infrastructure?

Past Mesh Inherent Broadcast Access M3M3 M2M2 M4M4 M1M1 R2R2 R3R3 R1R1 ? !

Propagation The world is not free space

Cooperative Propagation Access M3M3 M2M2 M4M4 M1M1 R2R2 ?

Digital Radio = Intelligent Radio Interference is a legal idea, not a physical one More radios means more communications, not less More radios mean less power, not more Buildings and barriers help, rather than hurt Transmitting costs less than receiving Function costs is near-zero Digital radio reverses 85 years of engineering

Viral Growth Viral radio is scalable, incremental, and value-adding. Intelligence is at the edges, costs are low, systems are agile.

Radio Magic

Podcasting

2004: Peers Protocol 2005: Expat TV Lippman, Reed, Bletsas, Christakos, Vyzovitis, Cooley, Li Vid-Torrent

Same Things Better vs Utterly New Being Digital (1995) HDTV Digital Broadcast DBS TiVo Scalable Video Metadata Open Arch breeds changes

Being Wireless (2002) PCS Satellite Radio M2M Open Services P2P Pentland, Maes Same Things Better vs Utterly New

Being Viral (2005) Centralized Vertical (Rigid) Slow Scalable Incremental Value-adding Transparent Same Things Better vs Utterly New

Legitimate: Economic Centralized (Scalable) Viral: Optimized for innovation Low risk Agility Charles Fine, 2001 Going Legitimate

Viral: Optimized for innovation Low risk Agility When? Base Techs The magic is when technology is in sync with society Going Legitimate Legitimate: Economic Centralized (Scalable)

Licensed v Unlicensed Golf courses rather than beachfront Favors property owner over license holder Comes online quickly Grows organically We could do it right!

Growth of the Tail Number of programs Number of Viewers HBO Food Whitman

Bionics 10-X: making you ten times faster, smarter…