Session 6

In today's session, we discussed about Bio business, which is the commercial activity based on life sciences and such technology based on life sciences. It includes various sectors like biomedical, agro-veterinary, environmental etc. Global bio business includes agriculture, healthcare, food sector, biotechnology, etc. Bio business accounts for 25% of the world's GDP. 

Prof told us about how the USA with only 5% of the world's populations, has 52% of the world’s health care resources. The USA is the biggest spender on health care. As people are gaining awareness about the various kinds of diseases and their cures, the demand for better health care is increasing all over the world.

Bio business provides many employment opportunities, employing 40% of the world's population. Most of the people are involved in low wage agricultural activities, which requires no skill, hence the contribution to income is lower than the employment rate. Agriculture is one sector of bio business, provides the highest proportion of employment opportunities.

We also discussed several concepts like NCE, which refers to New Chemical Entities, which have the potential of becoming drugs, Microbiology revolution refers to creating bacteria and yeasts, Multi cellular organism innovation is basically involved in cloning and so on.

Prof also discussed with us some major drivers of change in the healthcare and biomedical sciences like demographic and epidemiological change. As people go from rural to urban, their health care requirement changes. As population becomes wealthier, we are moving from infectious diseases to chronic diseases. Prof told us about the global burden of disease, which is the total proportion of opportunities lost due to diseases. 

It is predicted that Ischaemic heart diseases will be the leading cause of death by 2020, which is a susceptibility to cholesterol.

Advances in information and bioengineering technology. ICT has contributed significantly to health care. With the birth of ICT and computer systems, lot of progress has come about.

We were shown a video on Obesity, a world wide phenomena, which has become like a pandemic disease. However, obesity has led to high entrepreneurial opportunities. Businessmen are ceasing opportunities to produce and promote products which will help to reduce weight.

Innovation in the medical industry was also discussed. It is important to develop new method and new vaccines to help fight diseases.

One of the challenges pharmaceutical  industries are facing is the specification of drugs. Genes determine what drug affects your body in what way. It is important to know which drug will have what effect on different people. Pharmaceutical industries have to engage in research and development for this purpose.

An interesting thing I got to know about was Nutraceuticals- foods that have drug like properties, food supplements that benefit you and help to combat diseases. This concept was relatively new to me, and i believe it has tremendous potential.

I found an article in an Indian newspaper, talking about the growth of the nutraceutical industry:

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-08-19/news/41425288_1_east-india-dietary-supplement-indian-nutraceutical-market

Another interesting concept discussed in an individual presentation by Luo Xindi, was that of Veti Gel, an innovative way to stop bleeding immediately.

In all, this session was a very interesting one, and I'd like to rate it a 9 on 10. Various concepts were discussed about an up and coming industry of health care, which still has a long way to grow to provide more innovative and better health care products to the masses.

Session 5

In this session, we discussed about the Information and Communication Technology, or ICT. As this technology has developed, the modes of communication between people have changed drastically. ICT has several components, like mass media, internet, social networking, crowd sourcing, gaming etc.

Mass media is one to many communications. Interaction through mass media has developed a lot through the years. the earliest forms of mass media were drums, word of mouth, but now they constitute books, radios, television and so on. Mass media has gone from being a one way instruction to people to an interactive discussion with the people. Mass media has provided for greater feedback from people. However, mass media involves the risk that you open yourself to a universe of information, which has to be verified before it can be accepted.

We discussed about the internet and its advance. With the invention of the World Wide Web, it created a graphic interface. The original Internet was very passive; it was a one-way street. Then the interactive web developed. Prof discussed the concept of an invisible web, which will be omnipresent. We won't even be able to detect the presence of such a web. It will be a part of our everyday lives.

We were shown a video where the concept of the Web 3.0 was discussed. With the evolution of internet to Web 3.0, everything and everybody will be connected to each other. Semantic web is a kind of web that understands the taste of the users. As the web goes more into the omnipresent form, our life will become more productive.

We also discussed about social networking, and how it has built a connection among people all over the world. Similarly, crowd sourcing helps in reaching out to people simultaneously. It helps to look for answers to problems beyond our reach. Wikipedia is a kind of crowd sourcing, where in we depend on other people's concept and knowledge to determine things. 

Gaming is also something, which has a tremendous range of potential. Games help in education, helps to relieve stress, joysticks are used in surgeries and all.

Prof told us the benefits of Cloud computing. It is basically taking advantage of data which is outside your own device. The company does not have to invest in setting up an IT department. It is fast and cheap and efficient. With the current use of cloud computing, there is no need to have an IT department. It’s a very nice arrangement that gives you access to a wide range of facilities and networks at a very low cost.

The focus today is shifting from manual work, to more brain work. Earlier, people were paid for the work they did with their hands, but now higher incomes is awarded to people who are mostly involved in brain works.

 What i took away from this session is that we are in the very early days of information and communication technology.There is a wide scope for development. Productivity has increased only 5 times from the industrial revolution to the ICT/ knowledge revolution.

Because of the knowledge revolution, the importance of manual work is falling; the rate of unemployment in unskilled labor has increased greatly. People who are not willing to learn and grow and get jobs, training and knowledge of the new systems are essential. Skills development is very important.

In all, I would rate this session an 8 out of 10. It was highly informative, and a lot was learnt about what the future holds for us.

Session 4

Week 4 at SMU started with a great class of TWC. DRIVERS OF WORLD CHANGEProf discussed about how the first industrial revolution went from non-mechanized to mechanized. The second one will move from energy intensive, non-sustainable to more sustainable and energy saving technology.“If everyone consumed as much energy as the average Singaporean and US resident, the world’s oil reserves would be depleted in 9 years". To say that Singapore cannot do anything about this is the same as saying that US cannot do anything because they only have 5 % of the population.We then discussed the concept of north and south countries. The north in the 1960s was considered to be all the wealthy nations, while the south countries were the poorer countries. The northern countries outsourced all the production to the south ones, while the southern ones undertook more production to move towards development. This led to major depletion of resources. After the cold war, the first world countries were the capitalist countries, the second world countries were the communist, pseudo rich countries, while the third world countries were the ones stuck in the midst of this, the underdeveloped countries.We also discussed the importance of conserving resources. Once Singapore, and other countries of the world, decide it wants to work on renewable source of energy, it can undertake that target. The people, the consumers need to indicate that they want change, they want sustainable energy, only then will the government and industries decide to move towards this goal. A driver for world change is a factor that can play a direct role in bringing about a change in the world. It changes the rule of the ball game and thus people will have to change accordingly.Prof quoted a few famous, dead people, like Charles Darwin says that the one who is able to adapt to change as the world changes, only that person can survive. If you cannot change with time, you are screwed, you cannot survive. Only if a business environment can change with the changing market conditions, will they be able to survive and prosper. Neither the strongest, nor the most intelligence will survive. Only that who can change will survive.George Bernard Shaw- the reasonable man adapts himself to the environment, accepts the norms of the society but the unreasonable man wants to change the world, he does not accept things he does not like. Progress depends on such unreasonable people. Only they will fight for a change. An unreasonable man says that I want things to work in this way and I am prepared to make it happen.Oliver Wendell Holmes- once we see a different way of doing things, we realize there are many other ways to do it. Our minds don’t go back to the old concepts. Once you have been stretched to a new idea of doing things, you wont go back to the old ways. You change the way you operate.Each game comes with a set of rules. If you change the rules, the game changes. We discussed the various types of Environmental drivers- evolution: growth, change, and metamorphosis. Environmental drivers are also exposures to germs, which changed people, their immune systems. Scientific drivers: new technologies, new discoveries, and easier and faster way of solving problemsCompetition- big driver for change.As people evolve, they want faster and better things. So progress changes all of that.APDC- Action, Plan, Do, Change. It is a circular process, it is slow and developmental.When we talk about technology revolution, we mean a radical change is technology. Revolution allows you to radically transform the way you operate.Disruptive change- it is an irreversible change in your expected future. Disruptive change is akin to revolutionary change.We also discussed how people adapt differently to change in the environment. Accordingly, there are 5 kinds- Innovators, Early adopters, Early majority pragmatists, Late majority conservatives and Skeptics.The chasm between the early adopters and early majority pragmatists is very difficult to cross over.The individual presentations by Eric, Alister and Chong Hui were really interesting, especially the concept of WikiCells, which provides a bio-degradable solution to food wrapping.CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND CHANGE LEADERSHIPProf told us about the three kinds of people, who are like 3 birds- people like eagles, who are informative and soar high in the sky, then swoop in and take advantage of the opportunity.People like Ostrich bury their heads in the ground and pretend like they do not know what is happeningPeople like Dodo who do not adapt to change, and in the process become extinct.It is important to undertake change and not just sit and complain. Unless you are prepared to majestically fall and smash your face on the ground, you will never achieve greatly.W. Edwards Denning says that it is not essential to change. If you want to survive, change, if you don’t want to survive, don’t change. It is not essential to survive. It is a personal choice. If we don’t change with time, we will be left behind and be like the dodo birds.We then discussed the difference between leadership and management:A manager follows an existing trail, but a leader explores new ideas and leaves a new trail behind.A manager works well within a paradigm. Once he knows what has to be done, he gets the work done within the scope.The leader creates the appropriate paradigm for the people to work in. A leader gives the organization a new vision and direction, while the manager ensures that the work is done according to this vision and direction.The concepts of reactiveness and pro-activeness were also discussed. When you respond to change, you are being reactive. When you are leading change, you are being pro active. When you change before you are required to, you are being pro active. Preparing for growth that hasn’t taken place yet is being pro active.We were shown a video about a guy, dancing like a maniac, and how he ends up getting followers. The lesson learnt was that you can't be a leader unless you have followers. Without the first follower, a person is just a nut case. The first follower is the one who generates the other followers. The leader should consider the first few followers to be equals, as all the other followers will follow the first few followers and not the leader. If you can create a movement and followers, you can become a true leader. Anyone can be a leader.Prof also discussed about the Pessimism Time Curve, which has the following stages:Uninformed optimism- you are excited about the future, as it is unknownInformed pessimism- when you actually face reality, you realize the difficulties and then you understand the hard work, you want to give up, can’t handle it.Crossing over from informed pessimism to informed reality is a very hard one.Informed reality- you accept the challenges, you accept the realityCompletion- you finish it off.The individual presentations by Chermaine on Steve Jobs vs John Kotter was really amusing. It was really interesting to see Steve Jobs management skills being judged on the basis of some basic management principles. Shien Tah, also, presented an enlightening perspective on Jack Welch's personality.I would rate this class an 8 on 10. A lot of interesting and innovative ideas on sustainability were discussed, along with the very conflicting ideas of leadership and management, which has always created confusion!

Individual Topical Review Paper Outline

Topic: Video Conference- Evolution and Future. 

Executive SummaryVideo conferencing is such a technology, which enables people to communicate with each other, face-to-face, without actually being present there. It allows audio and video communication between people with the use of computer networks.  In this paper, I will try to show how video conferencing has developed from its first use to the present day, and what lies in the future for this amazing technological invention. 

Why I chose this topicThe concept of video conferencing is a fascinating one as it has literally broken all barriers between people. I am interested to see how this technology will help us further down the road. In this paper, I would like to explore the role of video conferencing in our lives. 

Introduction
·       What is video conferencing?
·       What is the technology used?
 
  Historical perspective     
·       Invention of video phone
·       Use of video conferencing in the past.
 
 Current situation
·       Development of video conferencing
·       Role of Skype in enhancing use of video conferencing
·       Impact on society

  Future Consideration
·       Trends in future
·       Further application of video conferencing

 Conclusion   

Bibliography   

Session 3

TWC classes, I've realized, are way different from any other class I have. Instead of a set syllabus and course books, we have interactive discussions and debates on such a wide spectrum of subjects. It is a class where we exercise any kind of opinion we may have.
The class started with the first part on Technology and Industrial Development: Towards Sustainability. We discussed the linear and cyclical approach to industrial development. The linear approach is leading to a fast depletion of the natural resources as it involves accumulation of the raw materials, manufacture of the product and subsequent dumping of the product. There is no scope for sustainable use of the resources in the linear approach. An interesting fact I learnt was that USA has 5% population and consumes 30% of the resources. If all lived like that, we would need 4-5 planets like earth. It is essential to move towards a cyclical approach and ensure that all the countries in the world can make use of sustainable and efficient industrial development.
We were shown a video called the Story of Stuff which basically illustrated the destruction caused by linear industrial development.
We discussed how Europe is moving towards developing renewable resources of energy. Europe is trying to ensure that all the other countries of the world are also moving towards developing newer and modern methods of production. The old pattern of industrialization needs to be changed.

Prof also told us about the concepts of externality and internality. When something isn’t your cost, its an externality. For example, the pollution caused to the society due to the production of some commodity by me is an externality, as I don’t have to pay for it. If, however, I have to be responsible for the pollution created by my activities and have to pay for it, it becomes internality.

The third reading discussed about business communities, and how in the past, they scoffed at the idea of sustainability, but now businesses are realizing that it is in their best interest to move towards sustainability. More and more companies have gone greener now for their best interest. They see the strategic advantage of moving towards green. Sustainable products are going to more expensive than non sustainable products. Hence, the consumers should be willing to promote sustainable products.

An interesting policy that can be adopted by the government is the Green public procurement- promote green products through government.

Labeling products as eco friendly raises awareness among people. It is called green labeling.

 The presentation by Prashant on the 'Sustainability in Fast Fashion' was interesting and brought to light the various environmental hazards caused by unnecessary change in fashion. Fashion is a highly unpredictable industry, where new trends come and go everyday. To keep up with this change in trend, a large amount of resources is wasted and this is absolutely senseless in the present times, when the need to conserve resources is essential.

The presentation by Joseph and Jolene were highly informative too. 

Part 2: Technology and Innovation Management

We discussed the Shahi landscape model for technology assessment: three parts, valleys, summits and clouds.

Summit is technology intensive, knowledge intensive, high barriers of entry

Valleys are low knowledge, low technology and not very innovative

Cloud is the opportunity, which is not exploited yet, and there is little knowledge about it. When a cloud idea is explored and brought to reality, it becomes a summit opportunity.

A summit idea can become a valley one very fast if no new knowledge and innovation is brought into it

For example, Apple products have declined majorly but every time they bring in a new product to rise to the summit soon. Now it is falling as no new innovations are being made.

What is essential is to get the right balance in whatever you do. Focus should be on summit opportunities. In order to create summit opportunities, we need to go through research, development and application.

Research is the process of coming up with new ideas and new things to do. It is the process of invention of new products. Typically, research is conducted in academic and research institutions. Research is like working with raw diamonds.

Development is the process of translation ideas into products in the market place. It is essential to respond to the needs of the people at the market place and that is what development aims at.  Development is the process of shaping and mining the diamond to make it presentable to the market.

Application is the actual process of selling the product in the market. It involves the sale of the diamond in the market place.

According to Prof. Arai, Research is considered to be a dream, development a nightmare and application a reality.

Prof. told us that there are two ways to develop a product, technology driven and market driven.

A market driven product has a high demand among consumers. Technology driven products don’t have any market demand as such but may be an interesting idea. A poor company would want to make mostly market products to earn more money. A richer market may be in a position to produce technology driven products, to create a demand for a product, which did not exist previously. Example, sony Walkman, iphone. The product generated and created the market. Generally, a market driven product is more beneficial to a company than a technology driven product.

A smart investor is one who comes in when the idea is new and hasn’t been exploited already. A smart investor sees the opportunity of the product in the market. Money made like this is called smart money.

Also in this session, Micheal and Kartika presented.

Kartika spoke about Singapore and its scope for innovation. For any country to develop and grow, it is essential to present each product with a new degree of innovation so as to attract the attention of the consumers. People are increasingly diverting from taking risks, and such a situation will ultimately lead to monotony and a poor market.

I would like to rate this session an 8 out of 10. What I take away from the class in Prof. Shahi's model, an innovative one, describing the various opportunities in World markets.

That's all for the day. Individual Topical Paper, here I come!