With technology making global commerce more accessible to nations’ growing populations, manufacturers are seeing an increased demand for competitively innovative products that are “outside of the box.” And in order to increase innovation, institutions of higher education must continue to make a push to educate the world’s future innovators.
According to the latest figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the world’s population is approximately 6.88 billion, and the United States’ is over 310 million. With such large populations domestically and abroad, there are huge markets for goods and services waiting to be tapped. Innovative ideas can provide consumers with more options. After all, with such a big playing field, there has to be more than one big player or producer. Everyone wants a piece of the global pie.
For example, Nissan and several other automakers have started testing new vehicles on American soil. In a recent USA Today article, electric cars were likened to the horseless carriages that jump-started the automotive revolution years ago. The industry is concerned about consumers continuing to buy into the green revolution even before it’s “old news.”
Where do great ideas start? It can be anywhere, from a piece of scratch paper to within a chemistry lab. While sustainability now occupies a place at the dinner table conversation alongside business and politics, a new puzzle needs to be solved. Where do math and science fit into the bigger picture of innovation?
A new invention may only take one spark. Who would have believed 15 years ago that wind turbines would dot the landscape on the drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles? According to the website of the California Energy Commission, wind energy provided nearly 1.5 percent of the state’s total electricity during 2004. With that many kilowatt-hours of electricity, you could light up a city as big as San Francisco for at least a little while.
At ASU there is already a commitment to exploring the unknown and testing new ideas, and it starts in the classroom.
The next generations of engineers and urban planners to lead the push for affordable renewable energy are filling our physical science and math classes more with every semester. With the advent of SkySong, ASU is making even more of an explicit effort to support its in-house innovative entrepreneurs.
According to its website, SkySong, which is also known as the ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center, provides access to capital funds and a skilled workforce, among other services, to growing firms. In other words, it is an incubator for the ideas of tomorrow. ASU is leading the charge.
Not every invention takes off like the cell phone. It doesn’t seem like there’s much of a market today for Smell-O-Vision, which happened to make the list of “The 50 Worst Inventions” posted on the online version of Time magazine. Who knows? Maybe Smell-O-Vision is primed for a comeback like 3-D goggles.
Not every student in the U.S. is destined to fall in love with math and science, and that’s OK. There’s room for every academic background under the roof of innovation.
As Thomas Edison, a famous American inventor, once said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”
With a lot of hard work along the way, an innovative idea might not rest beyond your reach. It may just take a little homework.
Send math proofs to Isaiah at isaiah.mccoy@asu.edu
