Internet of Things

A recent report commissioned by streetlight design and manufacturing company Lucy Zodion has found significant barriers to smart city development in the UK. The report contains research into the opinions on smart cities of senior contacts from councils across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The in-depth interviews conducted in May and June 2016 gauged the appetite for smart cities among UK councils and opinions on a range of topics, from the biggest obstacles to smart cities to the most pressing priorities for councils

I recently purchased this iPhone 6s/6 Leather Case by Plenty with a Card Slot. Its made of high quality looking leather and seems to fit very closely to the phone, unlike some of the plastic iPhone cases I previously used. It also has a Credit Card Holder on the Case and comes with a Stylus Touch Pen and Walnut coloured Gift Box. I don't know if I will be using the card holder feature but it seems to be pretty snug (which is a good thing so your credit cards don't fall out!) One thing I have noticed - the case comes up to the edge of the glass on the screen, so if you put it down hard on a rough surface and don't have a screen protector, it may scratch. Just something to be aware of.

[The one that works! I actually wrote this post standing up.] Anyway, I have a secret – I have been coveting a standing desk for a few years now as I have some issues with my neck and back that require me to take breaks frequently.  Of course I forget to do this so usually at the end of the day I have aches and pains to remind me of my forgetfulness (is that even possible?) Anyway the ones I have seen online look great but are often out of my snack bracket in terms of cost , or are not quite the right size to fit in my very tight home office. So I did what any moderately driven architect would do – I set out to try to figure out how to build my own. Of course when starting any project, we always recommend to our clients at Incite Design that they set objectives for what sort of results they want and some constrains which usually involve time/cost/quality in some combination. I of course wanted all three but the laws of project management  have shown me over the years that you can only have any 2 of the three. So I improvised. I found a few designs online, which looked really good, but looked like a full time standing desk- I needed a convertible. Other also seemed intriguing but appeared to require some time in construction, which I wanted to minimize. Others involved changing out a large portion of the existing furniture in order to have enough space to move in the new standing desk. Which wasn’t going to work for the reasons listed above. But overall it had to be simple and cost-effective. Because my desk is located in a corner I started to think about using the wall and if there was a way to somehow use that to help lift the monitor. I figured the monitor going up and down was the most important factor to manage as the keyboard is light and can sit on something portable and the track pad is Bluetooth wireless and can go anywhere. So I started thinking about laundry elevators – those things which you can use to hoist your laundry line up and down to put clothes on them on washday. I had about 20 minutes over lunch one day and I found something at the local home improvement store. It could work but I thought that it was a bit too big to fit in my diminutive space. As I was leaving the store I went through the plumbing aisle and saw the iron pipe and fittings. Maybe I could make something work from there? Sure enough, I found what I was looking for. I grabbed what I though I needed and threw it into the car. It took a few days for me to get an hour or three to be able to assemble it (not really assemble as I had to drill a few holes, test and adjust) but the result is what you see here.) The monitor slides up and down on the pole attached with heavy-duty wall plugs to the wall and I grab a footstool and platform to hold the keyboard and track pad. Those with keen eyes will notice I repurposed the platform from the monitor stand that I used to use. I am pretty satisfied with the monitor setup, but honestly am not thrilled with the keyboard and track pad configuration. Yes it works and gets me out of the chair so I can type standing, but it looks a little, ‘meh.’ So I will be continuing to think of that as I continue to use it. But for under $35 (not including my time of course!) it’s a good temporary solution until I can save up for one of these!               What do you think of the setup? Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be glad to answer them!

I am finally getting a chance to post after a whirlwind of activity surrounding the first SMB Exchange event that I co-created with Arik Johnson of Aurora WDC and Ravi Nayak of the Toronto Board of Trade. And I can announce publicly that the event was an overwhelming success! But before I get to what people said about the event a few words about what it was and why we created it: We felt there was room in the market for a focused event which really delivered networking and learning to entrepreneurs. We used a planning process that enabled us to think differently about the event to make this event unique in the market and maximize value to attendees. We wanted to give start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators an opportunity to exchange ideas, share experiences and learn from their peers so they could accelerate their business growth. Through consultation with other business leaders, this one-day event addressed the unique needs of Small and Medium-sized businesses and identified solutions that enhance the effectiveness how they presented their value propositions to the market. Here are the topics that we put together with the help of our Advisory Committee:   What made this event so different? We constructed theme topics that were facilitated by SMB business leaders, who had relevant experiences they shared to address all of the attendees’ challenges. (And we banned PowerPoint presentations!) So instead of the traditional podium talk with a question and answer after we arranged all the seating in 2 semicircles facing each other so attendees could see everyone else in the room. Then we had the two business leaders presenting for each session give a brief case study on how they approached challenges with their business and we then facilitated a discussion with all the participants and built on the initial cases. In this way all the attendees could contribute and tap the collective wisdom of the other attendees in the room! Other key parts of the day were a facilitated networking session with attendees “30 second” elevator pitches to build an initial relationships and a working lunch where attendees presented their own challenges to their table and got personalized advice based on the group’s experience. Many business cards were shared around the tables at these parts of the day! We also built an online community for networking before the event which gave attendees the opportunity to start the conversation and come prepared to build relationships. Finally, we have had great feedback to the event! Here are just a few of them: “SMBX2012 was an exceptionally valuable day for me and my business. From the breakfast keynote to the selection of breakout sessions and the facilitated networking, I was impressed with the quality of the organization, speakers, and fellow participants - I learned a lot, got a chance to introduce myself, my business and my goals, and came away with immediate and longer term opportunities. And to top it all off, the food was plentiful and delicious! My idea of a day well spent.” - Angela Meharg, (Attendee) “The event was well organized and well attended and exceeded my expectations especially considering it was an inaugural event. Congratulations to all on the organizing team.” - Rob Henderson, President, StudentAwards, (Presenter) “It was a pleasure and honour to participate! Congrats on a great event! ” - Maggie Fox, CEO, Social Media Group (Presenter) “It was a great event. Honoured to be part of it!” - Sunny Verma, President, TutorBright (Presenter) As with most new innovative offerings this required a lot of different thinking about what was capable and a great team that worked hard and really over-delivered to make the day a success. So thanks to the team and also to all the participants- we couldn’t have done it without you!    

I hope everyone is having a productive summer! I am keeping busy with a few speaking engagements- notably the Canadian Consumer Insights and Trend Spotting Conference August 14 and 15th in Toronto. I hope to share some of what I have learned building an Innovation Process at the Toronto Board of Trade to leverage the work we did on getting deep customer insights from our members.    

I am honoured to be speaking at the Queens University Innovation Summit on March 10th. I will be speaking on the 4Cs of Innovation- lessons I have learned in the corporate environment. I hope that those who attend the session get a few ideas from my experiences and that we develop a dialog on how they can put their unique slant on the material.

Today I am taking on a new role as Director of Product Innovation at the Toronto Board of Trade. It’s a great opportunity to join a fantastic team and help to advance the success of the Board’s members and the entire Toronto region I’ve been reflecting over the past few weeks on how I got here. Although I started in the working world practicing Architecture (post degree from the University of Waterloo) I always had an interest in the business side of the firm. Completing my MBA at Queen’s was the first formal step on a long journey that now takes me here. But what I never really left behind was a love of creatively taking client needs and translating them into something that gives the client more than they could have imagined. That’s why I’m thrilled to be here- I couldn’t have crafted a more perfect job if I’d written the position description myself. It takes both of these parts of my background and puts them together. As this next chapter begins, I am looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead and want to thank all the people who have helped me get here: friends, family and colleagues (you know who you are! :>) It constantly amazes me how generous you all are and am glad to be able to be associated with such a great group. As always, comments are welcome!