PBS challenge

[gailkate]

I don't have a clue where to put this, so I'm considering it a current event. PBS has sort of a contest going on. I don't know if there will be prizes, I just think it's an interesting idea. You can find the entry link here:

www.pbs.org/nbr/blog/2008/07/get_innovative_with_nbr.html
And here's their intro.

January 22nd, 2009. Nightly Business Report's 30th anniversary will be here before you know it, and we're gearing up for it with a special project, "The Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years." A group of professors from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will judge the nominations you submit via the Knowledge@Wharton website.

You've got lots of innovations choose from. Just think about it! There's the World Wide Web, hybrid cars, medical breakthroughs... heck even Paul Kangas and the Nightly Business Report team are an innovation. The program was a pioneer in business journalism, bringing economic and market coverage off the page and on to television screens in 1979.

We invite you to post your comments about this project and about the innovations you are considering at the bottom of this blog entry. Let's discuss those innovations and think about just how they've changed the world.

Just remember...if you post an innovation here, you still need to submit it on the Knowledge@Wharton website -- if you want the judges to review it.

I haven't actually thought much about this, but I plan to and hope you will, too. We should be able to come up with some good ideas. Heck, we're smart and goodlooking and people like us.

[gailkate]

OK, here's more. They've annoyingly covered some of the obvious ones and it seems to have a product orientation, more business-related than I realized at first. Maybe that isn't a limitation - after all, any innovation is marketable in some way, I suppose. That may be a separate question in itself. Can an innovation be an idea and if so, what such innovations have never led to making a buck? Anyway, I'll have fun pondering this.

The Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years

In 1979, Visicalc, the first spreadsheet software was introduced, Sony rolled out the Walkman, and ESPN began broadcasting sporting events to cable TV companies. And Nightly Business Report debuted.

In the years between then and now, the world has seen a wealth of innovation... from black rotary phones to BlackBerrys.. from paper checks to ATM & debit cards.. from rooms filled with bulky, mainframe computers to PC's that fit in a pocket.. Finding newer, faster and better ways to do things has changed lives around the world, and changed the way business is done.

In a joint project, Nightly Business Report and Knowledge@Wharton, the online research and business analysis journal of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, will examine the 30 most important innovations of the last 30 years in a special series of stories, and a half hour special... to mark the 30th anniversary of the PBS program.

Help Select the Top 30 Innovations
Nightly Business Report and Knowledge@Wharton invite you, our viewers and readers, to recommend what you believe to be the top 30 innovations of the past 30 years.

The deadline for receiving your recommendations is Sept. 15, 2008.

Based on your recommendations, a panel of judges from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania will select the top 30 innovations - and also the most significant innovation of the past 30 years. The judges will make their selections based on the following criteria:

Did it improve quality of life, having a direct and/or material effect on quality of life?
Did it address a compelling need? solve a compelling problem?
Was it a fresh breakthrough with a "wow" factor?
Did it change the way business is conducted?
Did it increase the efficiency of how resources are used?
Did it spark an ongoing stream of new innovations on top of the original innovation?
Did it lead to the creation of a vast, new industry?