CONVERGENCE IS DRIVING INNOVATION

(Michael Tomczyk is an innovator, business builder, futurist and author. He is the former Managing Director (retired) of the Mack Institute for Innovation Management at the Wharton School. His new book entitled: NEO-INNOVATION: Ideas, Insights and Tools to Compete in a New Era will be published by Springer in November 2024)

This Fall I was doing some consulting for early stage startup ventures and during the business-building process I noticed that convergence is becoming a major driver of innovation in virtually all industries and markets. There are many reasons for this.

In music, playing two or more notes together can create a new harmonic. Similarly in business, combining two or more emerging technologies can create innovations based on convergence.

Convergence is becoming an important source of radical innovation thanks to the development of a new generation of intelligent devices, generative AI, cloud computing, IoT, GPS, sensor technologies, nanotechnology and wireless/mobile communications.

Innovators are discovering a variety of ways to mix and match emerging technologies to create new forms of connectivity, mobility, productivity, security and more.

Today, virtually any kind of data and most applications reside in the Cloud, which we can access wirelessly wherever we are in the world. Our smartphones are smarter than ever. Autonomous vehicles and robo-taxis can drive themselves. Traditional borders between geographic markets, industries and cultures have melted away thanks to social media, automated translation, new forms of A.I. and ubiquitous connectivity.

The convergence of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining, large natural language models, high performance computing and wireless communications are enabling a wide range of new capabilities that weren’t available in the past.

The Internet of Things has created new ways to connect vehicles, packages, home appliances and machines. Almost any type of device can now be connected to the Internet and the Cloud. Most of us have GPS mapping systems built into our vehicles that guide us to any destination. Virtual assistants like Alexa, Siri, ChatGPT, Google Assistant and Microsoft Copilot use A.I. to create descriptions of products, services, companies, press releases and can even design images based on text descriptions.

Many of these innovations were developed or expedited to help industries and markets adapt to the changes imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID Pandemic Expedited Convergence

The COVID-19 pandemic which struck full force in 2020, created a perfect storm for the development of innovations based on converging technologies. At the same time the pandemic was changing the world and creating imposing restrictions on industries and markets, several emerging technologies happened to be evolving just in time to address the need for creative solutions.

When people started working at home, using smartphones for banking, and increasing the use of social media and streaming media, Cloud databases were forced to become larger, faster and more responsive. Starlink’s low-orbit network of satellites provided faster and more reliable global Internet access which was needed by many digital applications and platforms.

The development of generative A.I. offered smarter interactions with search engines, and databanks as well as better, faster natural language communications and predictive algorithms. Just as social media made interactive communication ubiquitous, so generative AI is enhancing interactions with all kinds of devices from smart appliances and humanoid robots to self-driving vehicles.

The changes imposed on the world by the pandemic have forced us to adopt new strategies for developing and launching innovations.

Typically, innovators start by asking “what’s needed?” then conduct research to figure out what’s possible? In the past, what’s needed was typically any new solution that is cheaper and better and solves a problem. Today, what’s needed is more likely to be a totally new solution that integrates several technologies to create a new capability that didn’t exist before.

Being able to mix and match technologies that weren’t compatible in the past has opened a host of new possibilities. Many futuristic functions that only existed in science fiction have already become science reality.

We already have fully autonomous self-driving cars, robo-taxis, and humanoid robots that look and talk like their human creators. Some futurists are working on ways to digitize our behavior, thinking and speaking patterns, and ways of learning and reasoning, so we can virtually preserve the essence of an individual—which some say could be a form of digital immortality. One day we may be able to consult a thought leader, scientist or genius who is physically dead but lives on in virtual form that can keep offering new ideas and insights.

The Rise of IOT: The Internet of Things

The most notable example of convergent innovation is the linking of physical devices with the Internet—called IoT—the Internet of Things. The convergence of artificial intelligence and IoT with various types of sensors and cloud computing have transformed ordinary objects into smart devices that are connected, intelligent, and responsive.

The Internet of Things is just beginning to get started. In households and apartments, digital blinds can automatically open or close depending on the weather, temperature and amount of sunlight. Many traditional appliances have morphed into autonomous robots, such as Roomba robotic floor cleaners and robotic lawn mowers. Robotic cooking systems are being tested in restaurants and home kitchens. Customer service robots have been tested in Home Depot and other retail stores.

Combining doorbells with video cameras and connecting them to the Internet gave us a new level of home and office security. Smart doorbells allow us to record and view on our smartphones who is ringing our doorbell and delivering (or stealing) a package at our front door.

Some cities have millions of CCTV cameras deployed to help detect crimes and identify the faces of criminals. Beijing and Shanghai, China each have more than a million CCTV cameras; London has almost 700,000 cameras and Delhi, India has more than half a million.

Self-driving vehicles that are fully or partially autonomous owe their designs to the convergence of GPS mapping, LIDAR, optical recognition/detection systems and machine learning. In many parts of the world, driverless robotaxis are transporting people and packages to and from office parks, shopping malls and university campuses.

A Personal Example: PROPEL IOT

In the past few years, numerous ventures have been created to deal with specific needs created by the pandemic. I’ve gained some keen insights on convergence while working with a venture I’m advising called Propel IOT.

The venture was originally called Propel GPS. It was developed to commercialize a platform developed by the founder and a core team to provide tracking, sensor-monitoring and security of trucks and cargo. Their platform had benefited from the convergence of several technologies, which gave them the ability to track, monitor and help secure virtually any type of device, material or physical facility. The team filed one patent and plans to file five more.

In 2022 (post-COVID), Propel's founder recognized that the market was not limited to transportation tracking services. The market had expanded from GPS based tracking to include monitoring of almost anything that can be connected to the Internet-- aided by the rapid development and convergence of improved sensor technologies, generative A.I., fast wireless communication and Cloud applications. Thanks to dozens of new sensor innovations, Propel gained the ability to keep track of temperature ranges for medical samples and tissues, monitor leaks of hazardous materials, track stolen items, and prevent unauthorized access to vulnerable buildings such as schools, hospitals, warehouses and military installations.

Consequently, Propel GPT rebranded itself and changed its name to Propel IOT to reflect the company’s broader capabilities and IOT focus. Propel is now seeking investment funding for growth capital to add infrastructure and staff, to develop and close business opportunities in the broader IOT market. This expansion will enable the company to take advantage of the convergence of several technologies that made this expansion possible.

The market potential for IOT applications is enormous. It is estimated that as many as 15 billion devices worldwide are connected to the Internet and by 2030 this number will double to 30 million devices or more. Technological convergence in IOT will continue to provide new opportunities for innovation in many industries and markets.

Nanotechnology: A Classic Example of Convergence

When thinking about convergence, strong lessons can be gained from looking at the most successful examples of innovations that came from converging technologies.

Nanotechnology—the best and most successful example of convergence—evolved from the convergence of chemistry, physics, engineering and other fields that enabled radical innovations in biology, medicine, material science, space technology and more.

The development of nanocircuits helped make electronic devices smaller and faster. In one decade we've gone from storing megabytes and gigabytes to being able to store several terabytes of data on a tiny jump drive we can carry on a keychain. Smartphones are more than 5,000 times faster than the largest supercomputers in the 1980s.

Nanomaterials have also changed experienced a huge paradigm shift due to the ability to manipulate atoms and molecules at the nanoscale. Materials scientists created allotropes of carbon molecules that provide new capabilities such cylinder shaped carbon nanotubes that can be mixed with metals or plastics to make them lighter and stronger, and sheets of graphene that are only one atom thick but stronger than aluminum or steel. These innovations are improving solar power systems, electric car batteries and protective coatings for fabrics.

Nanomedicine is a relatively recent field of medicine enabled by the convergence of nanotechnology and medicine. Even the smallest biological structures and processes can now be studied and manipulated at the molecular level to diagnose, treat and cure disease. Nanocarriers made of polymers, proteins, lipids and other biomaterials can deliver drugs to specific cells or disease sites. Drugs that are too large to penetrate the wall of a tumor cell can be nano-sized so they can enter and disable or destroy harmful cells. The convergence of easy to use gene editing technology (such as CRISPR) with artificial intelligence offers new ways to diagnose and treat inherited diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s.

The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) invests $1.5 billion in nanotech R&D annually. I was privileged to serve on the NNI triennial review committee and I also authored a book entitled Nano-Innovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know (Wiley, 2016).

A NEO Approach to Innovation

If you’re an innovator or a decision maker in a technology driven industry, you need to look at converging technologies, including technologies that are being developed outside your industry, to identify new opportunities for innovation and growth.

Pay special attention to emerging technologies that are being developed in other industries. Most decision makers tend to watch developments in their own technology space and often get blind-sided by innovations that occur in other industries. For example, no one expected Apple to enter the smartphone and music industries—made possible by the convergence of many technologies. The photography industry didn’t expect smartphones to become high definition cameras. These are only a few examples.

In my new book (NEO-INNOVATION) I suggest a simple exercise to help define the future and what’s needed. Take something from your existing company’s product and service portfolio and simply put the prefix “NEO” in front of it. Now define what that “Neo-Something” is in the context of the world that is changing today, and the future that we expect to happen. Try this exercise in the context of several different future scenarios, to generate many different views of the world. Then take whatever actions are needed to adapt to and prepare to compete, which may include finding ways to combine technologies and applications in new forms of convergence.

If you're an innovator (or an innovation enthusiast) keep watching technologies that don't seem to be related, because many hybrid technologies are evolving that we all need to be aware of.

References:

Tomczyk, Michael; Neo-Innovation: Ideas, Insights and Tools to Compete in a New Era; Springer, November 2024.

Tomczyk, Michael; Nano-Innovation: What Every Manager Needs to Know; Wiley 2016.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/michaeltomczyk/