Thoughts on technology, strategy, creativity, and other random things that interest us.

To Think Outside the Box, Look Outside the Box!

Entrepreneur Resources | July 22nd, 2010 by Neeraj Kamdar | 2 Comments

Some of the greatest inventions are inspired from ideas that come from another industry or somewhere totally unexpected. Velcro, invented by George de Mestral is a great example. In the summer of 1948 in Switzerland, after walking his dog, he noticed the burrs (the plant seed-sacs that cling to animal fur in order to travel to fertile new planting grounds) that had caught on to both his pants and his dog. His curiosity led him to run to his microscope and inspect one of the many burrs stuck to his pants and noticed small hooks on the burr clinging on to the fabric on his pants. That sparked off the idea for Velcro – currently a multi million dollar industry and the rest as they say is history. Today, it is hard to find an office or home without at least one item that uses Velcro.

Another common technology we take for granted these days, the ATM, was inspired by a chocolate dispenser. John Shepherd-Barron, credited as the inventor of the ATM, was frustrated about not being able to have access to his money, after he reached the bank a minute late on a saturday in 1965. As he lay in his bath that night, the idea of the chocolate dispenser hit him. He just had to replace the chocolate with cash. In 1967 the first of ATMs was installed at a Barclays bank branch in North London.

Breakthrough ideas and products rarely if at all, come from the same industry. Revolutionary ideas come from metaphors. Metaphors from nature like the burrs that inspired Velcro or metaphors from other industries like chocolate dispenser inspired ATMs. The best way for entrepreneurs and inventors to create the next velcro or ATM is to maintain awareness and observe other industries to see how they have solved their problems. TED.com is one of the most amazing resources to do so. TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Originally a conference bringing together people in Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED), it has now expanded to include speakers from all industries. These speakers are inventors, thinkers, and thought leaders, from various industries and walks of life, sharing their experiences, visions, discoveries, and inventions with the world. TED.com features a new talk every week and all the talks are viewable online for free. So go to TED.com and soak up some inspiration. Take the help of all these amazing thinkers to look at things with a different perspective.

Nature is also a great source of inspiration. Nature has solutions for some of the most mind-boggling problems. One need look no further than the complex processes involved in cross pollination by bees. The answers and the metaphors are all around us. All that is needed is awareness. To Think Outside the Box, you have to Look Outside the Box.