Pilot fish's Profile

Interesting read! Agree with many of the previous commenters above that it seems more like an advertising / marketing play than true innovation. But irrespective of whether it is a marketing tool or not, I think crowdsourcing ideas is still a great way to innovate and improve some processes. Assuming that this program doesn’t cost too much for SIA, it serves a great purpose: good PR and potentially a cheap source of innovative ideas. However I would not depend on this program to help me in maintaining / gaining market share in a very competitive industry; I would think of it as a small, inexpensive side project that has the potential to deliver strong value.

Very interesting read! I was a huge LEGO fan as a kid and will definitely buy them again for my kids in the future. I have read about their financial challenges that you mention as well as the successful turnaround of the company with the new products and initiative; however I did not know that it was driven by this open innovation in the design process and collaboration with kids. One other company that comes to mind is Ikea which also asks kids to draw animals / objects and Ikea would turn them into actual stuffed toys which has been a very successful move for them. I would think that going forward many other consumer product companies would also work more closely with their customers in the design process given the growing trend of customization and personalization.

Interesting application of machine learning and hopefully with autonomous cars being developed in the same time, one day we can get rid of all traffic jams! You raise a good point about data privacy and storage – in my mind a very important question is who owns the data? Is it the government or the company?

A very interesting article that I read about Waze a while ago also pointed out the issues of data ownership – should we allow private companies to be involved in designing traffic flow in cities? Waze already diverts traffic based on economics e.g. it will direct you to a gas station that pays higher commission to Waze even if it is further away vs a nearby station. Should we allow companies to “buy” which roads we take?

Very interesting topic indeed and in my mind these are the “big problems” that come to mind when thinking about how humans should use artificial intelligence and machine learning. I agree that this could result in a huge efficiency as in many countries not just the US, police budgets have been under pressure. Also agree on the ethical issues that you raised – in my view the bigger question is who owns the data? Is it the software company or governments? Owning this type of data can potentially have serious negative consequences. Also found it interesting that this technology can be used in predicting needs for social services – would love to hear more about it!

I have read about the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in food supply chains such as ordering food items, managing inventory etc. which lead to less food waste and more efficiency which I think is an important global issue right now that we need to tackle. However, I am skeptical about the use of machine learning as a potential tool for high end restaurants in creating and predicting their menu / flavors. In my opinion it seems to be more of a fad than anything that will yield tangible benefits. Designing an interesting dish is fun and something that chefs are probably passionate about so why do we need to use computers in order to do that?

Great use case for additive manufacturing – performance shoes are well-suited for 3D printing given the demand for highly customized shoes to fit individual shapes. As a runner, I would be very interested in getting a pair of shoes in 15 minutes that is specifically designed for my feet and would probably be willing to pay a high price (in the long term certainly the cost will go down so I would not be too concerned with the initial high price tag). I would expect many other consumer and more specifically apparel brands to also follow suit and adopt 3D printing in their production processes. It is fascinating to see the evolution of moving from small batch, localized production to industrial assembly lines and finally back again to customized local production.

Interesting use case for additive manufacturing that I wasn’t aware of. 3D printing for eyeglasses actually make perfect sense as I think about my personal shopping experience – with an Asian bone structure, I have always struggled to buy eyeglasses that fit me well because the majority of the models in the stores presumably were designed for Caucasian customers which often meant that I ended up compromising on fit. I agree with the potential risk of brand dilution once Safilo uses 3D printing more widely – however, maybe one way they can use the technology to their advantage is by pitching the idea of personalization / customization of eyeglasses to individual customer’s bone structure. For example offering the customer the option to 3D print eyeglasses best-suited for their facial features which would allow the company to retain its premium pricing.