Justin O's Profile

Very interesting article and a fascinating application of open innovation! I think to make this sustainable over the long-term the city will need to be very clear on where innovation has the highest return to the city, and focus on those areas. By setting clear goals, they can help focus the innovation to areas of highest need. I also think that growing private partnerships would be a tremendous way to access large amounts of capital that they might not be able to access on their own.

This is a really exciting use of machine learning which could make some huge improvements to our healthcare system! I think that EMRs are the most critical place for them to focus, and extending partnerships in that space seems critical to growing an accurate prediction system. Other inputs could be valuable in the future, but I think should be less of a priority. I also wonder if there is an opportunity to proactively send surveys or gather data from consumers when your algorithms are seeing red flags? This would allow you to gather a ton of additional, highly relevant information. Clearly there are lots of additional questions and concerns about such an approach, but could be an interesting one to explore.

Great article and some great comments so far! I agree that the technology can be valuable in certain applications, but do think that there are many limitations (many of which have already been mentioned in the comments). I also wonder what type of governance would be needed or effective if these types of systems were used. You could imagine that when this methodology is used for hiring, it could still be “sidestepped” by people networking into a position through people they know in the company. Should this be allowed, or does this give unfair advantage to those who “have an in” at the company?

Fascinating post…I don’t quite know how to interpret your conclusion but I am interested to see where this could go….

I love this post and feel that the potential here is huge. Not only can you get a much more accurate and dynamic understanding of needs, but there are huge advantages to having coordination across various relief organizations which will allow for specialization and minimize costly and unfortunate duplication. To answer your question – I think organizations like the Red Cross can sort inputs in a couple of ways that would minimize risks. First, by volume. If they have a large number of requests in a certain area, they can have a certain level of confidence that it is accurate and not nefarious. Second, I wonder if they could develop a system over time where individuals become trusted contributors overtime leading to a certain “accreditation” which would allow the organizations to know how much caution may be necessary with any individuals request. Just some starting points! Great article and a fascinating application to do tremendous good!

This is a topic that is very interesting and I am excited to see where the technology develops! I think that consumers are more likely to adopt this material in countries/areas where homes are smaller and more simple. Using 3D printing creates “minimalist” structures typically using only cement. I think this means that adoption in the short-term may be limited in the U.S., but could be much bigger internationally. The construction industry will respond to customer demand and cost-driven incentives, so although they may not be eager to adopt, I think adoption could be driven by start-ups until the applications are more broad. I think that in the early days the responsibility for developing the technology has rested with universities, but as these technologies become more monetized, companies will have more and more incentive to invest in R&D. Fascinating topic!

Great topic and great essay. I know that NASA is investing heavily in 3D printing applications, including to print structures using local materials on the moon and mars, but I do not feel this is where Countor Crafting should focus because the applications and challenges are so different. I believe there are much larger opportunities in applications to the construction markets. The most promising potential in the short term would be in areas where quality standards are lower (3D printing limits the home material to cement) and where homes can be smaller. I don’t think they need to vertically integrate into home construction, but rather could just specialize in developing the technology and selling it to construction companies who can use it at scale. Great article!