How to Breed an Innovative Business Idea — #9 of 31 Proven Skills [Research]
Skill #9: Copy by Observing Things
The metaphor of climbing up one side of a mountain and down the other is a useful one for demonstrating the innovative technique of Copying by Observing Things.
I have used it in previous ‘Copying’ posts and again in the image above to illustrate how the Printing Press came to be invented.
A Pressing Problem
In 1450, a German craftsman and inventor, Johannes Gutenberg was searching for a way to automate printing, something he thought about constantly. This pondering, combined with his broad industrial knowledge, caused him to perceive that different types of presses, particularly coin stampers and wine presses, not only allowed direct pressure to be applied to a surface, but also imparted a shape to it. As is illustrated in the above ‘Breeding Mountain’ image, he ‘descended’ from this broader capability of ‘imparting a shape’ to invent the Printing Press, which had the capability to very efficiently impart text characters onto paper.
In Copying by Observing Things, Gutenberg was responding to a recognized process going on in his mind whereby he was able to mentally associate from the problem-solving capability he had observed (physical pressure leaving a shape) to an unresolved issue latent in his thoughts (how to mechanize printing). Two previously unconnected thoughts came together to give him a solution he could implement and birthed the Printing Press.
Copying by Observing Things is one of 31 personal innovative skills I was able to identify in researching thousands of successful business ideas.
Other Examples of Copying by Observing Things*
The area covered by replicating or originating by Observing Things is extremely broad, encompassing not only man-made things such as the wine and coin presses associated from by Johannes Gutenberg but also experiences with nature and wildlife as well. In his book, The Shark’s Paintbrush, the author Jay Harmon talks about “forward-looking companies that are releasing ingenious products that mirror innovations found in nature”. Examples he gives include sunscreen that replicates hippos’ protective sweat (presumably without the odor!) and hospital wall coatings that emulate sharkskin’s antimicrobial properties.
But innovating from observation of what occurs in nature is not just a recently discovered skill as the invention of Velcro demonstrates.
In 1941, Swiss agricultural engineer George de Mestral went for a walk with his dog in the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. On their return, he noticed that many burs from the cocklebur plant were stuck fast to his trousers and to the dog’s coat. Under a microscope, he detected that the burs contained tiny hooks that caught in the loops of his clothes and in the dog’s hair. He ‘associated’ from the general capability of cocklebur plants in nature to ‘adhere reciprocally’ to ‘loops’ in other materials via tiny hooks they possessed. In so doing, was able to breed artificial hooks and loops embedded in man-made materials to achieve a reciprocal binding mechanism. How George de Mestral invented Velcro by mimicking nature is represented below.
Anyone can come up with an innovative idea if the circumstances are right. Casually observing what exists around us can be more than just a pleasant pastime if we knowingly rise above what we are experiencing and then add our imagination.
Takeaway
*Thousands of categorized, innovative business ideas can be found at Sebir.com
