The Need For Innovation, Especially In A Crisis
The coronavirus pandemic has jump-started America’s innovation engine as companies, institutions and entrepreneurs step up to the challenge.
Guests
Scott Cohen, co-founder of New Lab. (@Newlab)
Fiona Murray, professor of entrepreneurship and associate dean of innovation at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Co-director of MIT’s innovation initiative. (@Fiona_MIT)
John Kao, chairman of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation. (@johnkao)
From The Reading List
STAT News: “In long essay, Bill Gates says time and innovation needed before coronavirus lockdowns end” — “Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates on Thursday warned that the world’s emergence from coronavirus lockdowns will be slow, and cautioned that it will take innovation before people feel safe enough to attend large public events or flock to restaurants.”
New York Times: “New York Needed Ventilators. So They Developed One in a Month.” — “The nudge came in an email in early March from an Italian friend alarmed by how fast the deadly coronavirus was spreading in his country.”
Connecticut Public Radio: “Connecticut Innovators Take On COVID-19” — “As Connecticut approaches its peak in hospitalizations and COVID-19 cases, health systems continue to prepare so they can keep patients alive.”
CNBC: “These are the new hot spots of innovation in the time of coronavirus” — “The Covid-19 pandemic has nearly instantly and very dramatically pivoted the priorities of some makers, start-up founders, entrepreneurs, researchers and doers — the innovators — to solving problems related to the pandemic and preparing for any in the future.”
Washington Examiner: “Opinion: Good news: Coronavirus is causing an innovation renaissance” — “As the father of three girls, I sometimes get a little overwhelmed when thinking about COVID-19 and social distancing. They, as many are, are losing out on school, birthday parties, playing with friends, and just the basic social interactions that are so transformative at their age. However, what gets me through is that despite the very real threat and consequences, there is also a silver lining.”
Chicago Tribune: “Commentary: The key to beating the coronavirus? Innovation.” — “We call ourselves a nation of innovators. As one who has taught and written about the innovation process for more than 30 years, I believe it can be a lens that provides a strikingly different view of all that is being done to fight COVID-19.”
Wall Street Journal: “Shoes to Masks: Corporate Innovation Flourishes in Coronavirus Fight” — “True Value Co. heard from its more than 4,500 affiliated hardware stores last month that hand sanitizer was flying off the shelves, leaving store staff with none for themselves.”
New York Times: “Fears of Ventilator Shortage Unleash a Wave of Innovations” — “As the coronavirus rages across the globe, ventilators that pump oxygen into the lungs of critically ill patients have been embraced as the best hope for saving lives.”
Newsday: “Opinion: The key to beating the coronavirus? Innovation” — “We call ourselves a nation of innovators. As one who has taught and written about the innovation process for more than 30 years, I believe it can be a lens that provides a strikingly different view of all that is being done to fight COVID-19.”
Harvard Business Review: “Understanding the Economic Shock of Coronavirus” — “As the coronavirus continues its march around the world, governments have turned to proven public health measures, such as social distancing, to physically disrupt the contagion. Yet, doing so has severed the flow of goods and people, stalled economies, and is in the process of delivering a global recession. Economic contagion is now spreading as fast as the disease itself.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
