The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations

A Polymath—the Greek word for Renaissance Man—is one who excels in many disciplines. From Leonardo da Vinci to Benjamin Franklin, we have relied on Polymaths to innovate and find creative solutions to the problems of the day. How would these Renaissance men and women manage our current technology bounty? Which disciplines would they choose to focus on? Would they work on the architecture of next-generation green cities, or focus on nanotechnology?

As our challenges have grown exponentially we need to bring together da Vinci, Franklin, and many more. The New Polymath is an enterprise that excels in multiple technologies—infotech, cleantech, healthtech, and other tech—and leverages multiple talent pools to create new medicine, new energy, and new algorithms.

Author Vinnie Mirchandani shares his varied experience as a technology adviser and market watcher to explain in business language the diversity of today's technology palette and to profile a wide range of innovations at:

  • Large multinationals such as GE and BP

  • Fast-growing, midsized companies like Cognizant and salesforce.com

  • The cleantech industry in China, farms in Ireland, and the back roads of Rwanda

This book categorizes eleven "building blocks" for the New Polymath to leverage in its R-E-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E framework, including next-generation analytics, cloud computing, sustainability, and social networks. The author profiles over a hundred innovators and demonstrates how they use these building blocks to solve both their individual day-to-day issues and the "Grand Challenges" the world faces.

Brimming with examples from a variety of industries, countries, and business processes, the book will inspire you to groom your own New Polymath tools, processes, and ecosystem of innovation ideas.

"1100295243"
The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations

A Polymath—the Greek word for Renaissance Man—is one who excels in many disciplines. From Leonardo da Vinci to Benjamin Franklin, we have relied on Polymaths to innovate and find creative solutions to the problems of the day. How would these Renaissance men and women manage our current technology bounty? Which disciplines would they choose to focus on? Would they work on the architecture of next-generation green cities, or focus on nanotechnology?

As our challenges have grown exponentially we need to bring together da Vinci, Franklin, and many more. The New Polymath is an enterprise that excels in multiple technologies—infotech, cleantech, healthtech, and other tech—and leverages multiple talent pools to create new medicine, new energy, and new algorithms.

Author Vinnie Mirchandani shares his varied experience as a technology adviser and market watcher to explain in business language the diversity of today's technology palette and to profile a wide range of innovations at:

  • Large multinationals such as GE and BP

  • Fast-growing, midsized companies like Cognizant and salesforce.com

  • The cleantech industry in China, farms in Ireland, and the back roads of Rwanda

This book categorizes eleven "building blocks" for the New Polymath to leverage in its R-E-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E framework, including next-generation analytics, cloud computing, sustainability, and social networks. The author profiles over a hundred innovators and demonstrates how they use these building blocks to solve both their individual day-to-day issues and the "Grand Challenges" the world faces.

Brimming with examples from a variety of industries, countries, and business processes, the book will inspire you to groom your own New Polymath tools, processes, and ecosystem of innovation ideas.

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The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations

The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations

The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations

The New Polymath: Profiles in Compound-Technology Innovations

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Overview

A Polymath—the Greek word for Renaissance Man—is one who excels in many disciplines. From Leonardo da Vinci to Benjamin Franklin, we have relied on Polymaths to innovate and find creative solutions to the problems of the day. How would these Renaissance men and women manage our current technology bounty? Which disciplines would they choose to focus on? Would they work on the architecture of next-generation green cities, or focus on nanotechnology?

As our challenges have grown exponentially we need to bring together da Vinci, Franklin, and many more. The New Polymath is an enterprise that excels in multiple technologies—infotech, cleantech, healthtech, and other tech—and leverages multiple talent pools to create new medicine, new energy, and new algorithms.

Author Vinnie Mirchandani shares his varied experience as a technology adviser and market watcher to explain in business language the diversity of today's technology palette and to profile a wide range of innovations at:

  • Large multinationals such as GE and BP

  • Fast-growing, midsized companies like Cognizant and salesforce.com

  • The cleantech industry in China, farms in Ireland, and the back roads of Rwanda

This book categorizes eleven "building blocks" for the New Polymath to leverage in its R-E-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E framework, including next-generation analytics, cloud computing, sustainability, and social networks. The author profiles over a hundred innovators and demonstrates how they use these building blocks to solve both their individual day-to-day issues and the "Grand Challenges" the world faces.

Brimming with examples from a variety of industries, countries, and business processes, the book will inspire you to groom your own New Polymath tools, processes, and ecosystem of innovation ideas.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780470768457
Publisher: Wiley
Publication date: 06/15/2010
Series: Wiley Professional Advisory Services , #2
Sold by: JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format: eBook
Pages: 384
File size: 957 KB

About the Author

Vinnie Mirchandani, who goes by the moniker of "Deal Architect," coaches enterprises on how to exploit disruptive technology trends. His firm has been recognized in The Black Book of Outsourcing as a top advisory boutique. He is also a prolific blogger, writing about technology-enabled innovation on his "New Florence, New Renaissance" blog and about waste in technology on his "Deal Architect" blog. Earlier in his career, he was a respected analyst at Gartner, the technology research firm, and handled numerous international assignments at PwC Consulting. He has keynoted at many business and technology conferences and has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, The Financial Times, CIO Magazine, and other executive and technology publications.

Table of Contents

Foreword xvii

Preface xxi

Acknowledgments xxxiii

Prologue: The Field of Polymath Dreams xxxvii

PART I SPREZZATURA: THE ART OF MAKING THE COMPLEX LOOK EASY 1

CHAPTER 1 The New Polymath: In an Age of "Wicked Problems" and Technology Abundance 3

CHAPTER 2 Modern-Day Dark Ages: So Much Stagnation 17

CHAPTER 3 Polymath Profile #1: General Electric 31

PART II THE R-E-N-A-I-S-S-A-N-C-E FRAMEWORK: BUILDING BLOCKS FOR THE NEW POLYMATH 51

CHAPTER 4 Residence: Better Technologically Equipped Than the Offi ce 53

CHAPTER 5 Exotics: Innovation from Left Field 67

CHAPTER 6 Polymath Profile #2: Cognizant 81

CHAPTER 7 Networks: Bluetooth to Broadband 89

CHAPTER 8 Polymath Profile #3: Plantronics 107

CHAPTER 9 Arsonists: And Other Disruptors 113

CHAPTER 10 Polymath Profile #4: W. R. Hambrecht 129

CHAPTER 11 Interfaces: For All Our Senses 137

CHAPTER 12 Sustainability: Delivering to Both the Green and Gold Agendas 151

CHAPTER 13 Polymath Profile #5: Kleiner Perkins Cleantech 165

CHAPTER 14 Singularity: Human–Machine Convergence 175

CHAPTER 15 Analytics: Spreadsheets, Search, and Semantics 191

CHAPTER 16 Polymath Profile #6: National Hurricane Center 205

CHAPTER 17 Networks Again: Communities, Crowds, Contracts, and Collaboration 213

CHAPTER 18 Clouds: Technology-as-a-Service 233

CHAPTER 19 Polymath Profile #7: salesforce.com 251

CHAPTER 20 Ethics: In an Age of Cyberwar and Cloning 257

PART III GROOMING YOUR OWN NEW POLYMATH 275

CHAPTER 21 Polymath Profile #8: BP CTO 277

CHAPTER 22 Moon Shots for Budding Polymaths 295

Epilogue: The Beginner's Mind 303

Notes 307

About the Author 325

Index 327

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