TIMING...

is everything...

I got a bit ahead of myself and time has just been flying.

The next event will be in the first 2 weeks of November.  I have realised it is more sustainable and do-able to host and organise and run these events quarterly.

I am looking for a new venue as our last place is temporarily closed till the new year.  Do let me know if you know of somewhere wonderful.

x Keri

Knock-offs...

Who Moved Apple’s Cheese? The Role Of The Knock-Off Effect In Innovation

CHRIS HAWKER

Saturday, September 8th, 2012

17 Comments

Chris Hawker, the founder of Trident Design, LLC, has over 20 years of experience developing and commercializing his own and others’ inventions. His most famous product, the PowerSquid, was the subject of a six-part series published in TechCrunch called the Song of the PowerSquid.

As the president/founder of Trident Design, LLC, I’ve been inventing and commercializing products for 18 years, and all the successful ones get knocked-off.

Even the not-so-successful ones are eventually flattered in this way. It’s pretty quick, generally. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a couple years, but if your product is on shelves and people are seeing it, they will be “inspired”. It’s not even necessarily nefarious. It’s human nature. People see a possibility they didn’t see before and it opens their mind: to something very similar to the new innovation. They become blinded by the innovation and can’t see any other possibilities. Sometimes it is ill-willed, however, and companies make intentional rip-offs. Some companies actually specialize in this. The only thing that will discourage them is the threat of patents. So the inventors’ objective is to come up with an innovation that can be reasonably protected with a patent. If the product really takes off, you can try and hold on to your market, at least for a time. However, a patent does not enforce itself and you will have to be proactive to protect your territory. This can get very expensive (over $1 million for a lawsuit), so it will typically only make business sense for big-time products, like the iPhone....

Keep reading:   http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/08/who-moved-apples-cheese-the-role-of-the-knock-off-effect-in-innovation/

Some interesting reading

Via Designsponge.com
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/08/dont-put-a-bird-on-it-saving-craft-from-cuteness.html

I am particularly enjoying Grace Bonney's interviews in the segment called 'After the Jump'
Some definite inspiration for me on where to take the Creative Entrepreneurs Evenings and how to keep them going.

Check out all the talks here and you can download them as podcasts:
http://www.heritageradionetwork.com/programs/79-After-the-Jump

And just in case you haven't seen the Portlandia 'Put a bird on it clip'
www.putabirdonit.com