Welcome ...to the inaugural European Innovation Conference 2011!

The EIC2011 conference is a new and exclusive platform for innovation practitioners from large corporations in Europe (over EUR 500 m in turnover). At the conference more than 200 innovation practitioners from large corporations in Europe will engage actively with one another on current innovation practices, with a focus on open innovation and new business creation.

EIC 2011 is Your Opportunity to:

* Immerse yourself in the topics of open innovation and new business creation.
* Meet your peers at this exclusive event only for innovation practitioners from large firms in Europe (over €500 m in turnover).
* Be inspired by business speakers from a range of leading corporations, including Nokia, LEGO, HP, Google, DSM, Philips, Novozymes, IBM, and several others.
* Learn about open innovation from thought leader and renowned industry expert Dr. Henry Chesbrough, who has coined the term "open innovation" and authored several books on the topic. Dr. Henry Chesbrough will give keynote talks and spearhead the open innovation track during the conference.
* Exchange experiences and insights with your peers at this highly interactive event.
* Participate in the innovation tracks and workshops on: Open Innovation, New Business Creation, Customer-centric Innovation and Global Innovation Challanges.
* Receive a free copy of Dr. Henry Chesbrough’s book “Open Services Innovation” to be published in January 2011.

Topics for Innovation Tracks and Workshops

Exclusive Event

The daily programme is designed to be participative and takes place against the backdrop of Hotel LEGOLAND’s playful atmosphere. Participants will be treated to a daily lunch and dinner with their peers.

Visit the link http://www.eic2011.com to find out more about the programme, the speakers or practical informations.

If you need personal support, please contact me via e-mail

Talks Christopher deCharms looks inside the brain

Neuroscientist and inventor Christopher deCharms demonstrates a new way to use fMRI to show brain activity -- thoughts, emotions, pain -- while it is happening. In other words, you can actually see how you feel.

Talks Henry Markram builds a brain in a supercomputer

Henry Markram says the mysteries of the mind can be solved -- soon. Mental illness, memory, perception: they're made of neurons and electric signals, and he plans to find them with a supercomputer that models all the brain's 100,000,000,000,000 synapses.

12 Tips to Learn How to Be Curious

Wikipedia defines curiosity as:

“any natural inquisitive behavior, evident by observation in many animal species, and is the emotional aspect of living beings that engenders exploration, investigation, and learning.”

Some people are born curious like Leonardo da Vinci. For others, curiosity just “kicked in” over time. Like anything else, curiosity can be learned. It’s never too late to learn how be curious. Finding your passion in work gets easier and the journey more interesting if you develop curiosity. So how can you learn it?

... so? how can you become curious? ... easy:

1. Don’t accept Spin: often what we’re exposed to is only the tip of the iceberg. Scratch the surface by digging a little deeper. Look at it from another perspective, then investigate any or all new information that you find.

2. Ask Questions: just like a little kid, think about “how?” or “why.” Asking more questions is like turning over more rocks. You never know what you’ll find.

3. Ask ‘What if…’: Think in the three possible scenarios: default to worst, most likely, and best-case scenario. Or think in terms of Sci-Fi like “what if, in a parallel universe” or “what if, in another life time, it had turned out like this?” Try the “what if…” approach.

4. ‘Turn Questions into Quests’: The first thing I could do when I get curious about something is go to Amazon.com or Google.com and do a search. There is always an answer to a question. Look for it!

5. Dig deeper than the RSS feed: breadth is nice, but depth is better. Taking a deep dive into the object of your curiosity is more satisfying than only looking at the high-level or macro view. Think verticals, not horizontals, unless your 360 view has you motivated to research breadth and depth.

6. Use available Tools: Amazon.com is a great resource for finding the books for your research. If you’re brainstorming, then mindmapping is always effective. Use note cards or all the usual ways you collect information so you can easily organize your thoughts later.

7. Put disconnected ideas together: over time, you learn how to see disparate things, realizing that they may be related.

8. Play: Find a way of incorporating what you like to do for play?

9. Get Proactive: it’s easy to accept things as they are, but we have take initiative if we want to be curious. When we’re learning how to be curious, you’re actually going out of your way to do it so it becomes a habit.

10. Network: talk or e-mail other who you respect on the thing you’re curious about.

11. Find a ‘Curiosity Buddy’: it’s more fun when we get curious with a buddy. It will make for lively discussions and more field trips to the bookstore!

12. Slow Down: Just sit. Reflect. Once you find great information, then sit down. Do nothing. Let the thoughts come to you, and then reflect on it.

article found here

Science's 10 Most Beautiful Physics Experiments

1. Double-slit electron diffraction

The French physicist Louis de Broglie proposed in 1924 that electrons and other discrete bits of matter, which until then had been conceived only as material particles, also have wave properties such as wavelength and frequency. read more

2. Galileo's experiment on falling objects

In the late 1500's, everyone knew that heavy objects fall faster than lighter ones. After all, Aristotle had said so. That an ancient Greek scholar still held such sway was a sign of how far science had declined during the dark ages. read more

3. Millikan's oil-drop experiment

Oil-drop experiment was the first direct and compelling measurement of the electric charge of a single electron. It was performed originally in 1909 by the American physicist Robert A. Millikan. read more

4. Newton's decomposition of sunlight with a prism

Isaac Newton was born the year Galileo died. He graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1665, then holed up at home for a couple of years waiting out the plague. He had no trouble keeping himself occupied. read more

5. Young's light-interference experiment

Newton wasn't always right. Through various arguments, he had moved the scientific mainstream toward the conviction that light consists exclusively of particles rather than waves. In 1803, Thomas Young, an English physician and physicist, put the idea to a test. read more

6. Cavendish's torsion-bar experiment

The experiment was performed in 1797–98 by the English scientist Henry Cavendish. read more

7. Eratosthenes' measurement of the Earth's circumference

At Syene (now Aswan), some 800 km (500 miles) southeast of Alexandria in Egypt, the Sun's rays fall vertically at noon at the summer solstice. Eratosthenes, who was born in c. 276 BC, noted that at Alexandria, at the same date and time, sunlight fell at an angle of about 7° from the vertical. read more

8. Galileo's experiments with rolling balls down inclined planes

Galileo continued to refine his ideas about objects in motion. He took a board 12 cubits long and half a cubit wide (about 20 feet by 10 inches) and cut a groove, as straight and smooth as possible, down the center. read more

9. Rutherford's discovery of the nucleus

When Ernest Rutherford was experimenting with radioactivity at the University of Manchester in 1911, atoms were generally believed to consist of large mushy blobs of positive electrical charge with electrons embedded inside — the "plum pudding" model. read more

10. Foucault's pendulum

Last year when scientists mounted a pendulum above the South Pole and watched it swing, they were replicating a celebrated demonstration performed in Paris in 1851. read more

Just for your curiosity ... something you may not have read till now :)

Have fun, Ella