DOCSLIB.ORG

Creative Thinking and Innovation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Creative Thinking and Innovation CREATIVE THINKING AND INNOVATION `ASK TOMORROW'S QUESTIONS, SOLVE TOMORROW'S PROBLEMS' MARTIN CONSTABLE Saigon, Vietnam Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Creative Thinking and Innovation Martin Constable August 23, 2017 Contents Course Description 1 Overview of Lectures 3 1 Task One: Lie to Us 5 1.1 The task . .5 2 Lecture One: Three Case Histories 7 2.1 The Palm Pilot . .7 2.2 The Blackberry . 10 2.3 The iPhone . 12 2.4 General lessons . 13 2.4.1 You are never alone . 13 2.4.2 Keep your eye on the prize . 13 2.4.3 That obscure object of desire . 13 2.4.4 Live every day as if you are going to die . 14 2.5 Lecture one: talking point . 16 2.6 Summary of lecture one . 17 2.7 Lecture one: further reading . 18 3 Task Two: Your Mobile 21 3.1 The task . 21 3.2 The assessment criteria . 22 4 Lecture Two: Problems and Solutions 23 4.1 A classification of problems . 23 4.1.1 Applied and unapplied problems . 23 4.1.2 General problems . 24 4.1.3 Fuzzy vs clearly-stated problems . 25 4.2 A classification of solutions . 27 4.2.1 Linear inheritance . 27 4.2.2 The appropriation . 28 4.2.3 The random mutation . 29 4.2.4 The cross-breed . 30 4.2.5 The re-purpose . 31 4.2.6 The tool box . 32 4.3 Lecture two: talking point . 36 4.4 Summary of lecture two . 37 4.5 Lecture two: further reading . 38 5 Task Three: Future Thinking 39 5.1 The task . 40 5.2 The assessment criteria . 41 6 Lecture Three: The Creative Process 43 6.1 The bumpy ride . 43 6.2 The importance of re-combination and play . 46 6.3 Creative methodologies . 47 6.3.1 The proxy . 48 6.3.2 The fresh view . 48 6.3.3 Breaking it down . 50 6.3.4 The patch and the troubleshoot . 50 6.3.5 Start again . 51 6.3.6 Dreams and coffee . 52 6.4 Lecture three: talking point . 56 6.5 Summary of lecture three . 57 6.6 Lecture three: further reading . 58 7 Lecture Four: The Artist and Their Environment 59 7.1 The creative individual . 59 7.1.1 Can anyone be an innovator? . 59 7.1.2 Hard work . 60 7.1.3 Intelligence, skill and taste . 60 7.1.4 The enquiring mind . 61 7.1.5 Against the establishment . 62 7.1.6 Individual and collective authorship . 63 7.2 The creative environment . 65 7.2.1 The skunkworks . 65 7.2.2 Reinvention . 66 7.2.3 Technology as an environment . 67 7.2.4 The creative routine . 68 7.3 Lecture four: talking point . 72 7.4 Summary of lecture four . 74 7.5 Lecture four: further reading . 75 8 Task Four: Choice of Projects 77 8.1 The task . 77 8.1.1 Option one: the insane king's palace . 78 8.1.2 Option two: the alien's tourist guide . 79 8.1.3 Option three: the party . 80 8.2 The assessment criteria . 81 Course Description \Don't dream it, be it!" Dr. Frank-N-Furter The Rocky Horror Picture Show If it were not for innovation, we would all be still living in caves and hunting mammoth. To be innovative requires that we ask tomorrow's questions and solve tomorrow's problems. This course introduces several key theories, ideas and strategies each of which are designed to develop your creativity and innovation. Key questions are asked: what form does innovation take? What constitutes an interesting problem? Is there anything unique about a creative individual? Practical exercises encourage you to apply what you learn: to develop next-generation thinking, today! Martin Constable 2016, RMIT, Vietnam 1 Overview of Lectures Their are four lectures in this course. Each builds upon the preceding. Lecture One: Three Case Histories. Three mobile devices are examined: the Blackberry (RIM), the Pilot (Palm Computing) and the iPhone (Apple). Each were in their time very innovative products. Each initially succeeded, and two ultimately failed, for very particular reasons. General lessons are drawn. Lecture Two: Problems and Solutions. The focus of this lecture is on the creative output. Any innovative act can be divided into two phases: finding an interesting problem and finding an effective solution. This lecture offers a classification of these phases: defining different classes of problems and solutions. Lecture Three: The Creative Process. The focus of this lecture is on the creative act. What goes on in the sanctity of the artist's studio? This lecture examines the lived process of creativity. Like any process, it has a beginning and an end. Practical creative strategies are examined. Lecture Four: The Artist and Their Environment. The focus of this lecture is on the creative person. Is their anything special about them? How do they become effective innovators? Every creative person functions within an environment. Some are more effective than others. 3 Item 1 Task One: Lie to Us 1.1 The task The first lecture will address the history of three products. The history of a thing will tell us a lot about its nature: what makes it particular and unique. For this first individual activity, you are to write a short history of yourself (around 50 words). The catch is that everything you tell us must be a fiction. The catch within the catch is that this fiction must also in some way be derived from the truth. As an example, I can tell you something about myself: \I was born on mars, and fell to earth when I was five. My father was an electric lightbulb and my mother was a swan." This fiction is based on the following truth: \I was born in Canada, and moved to the UK when I was five. My father was a physicist and my mother was an artist." Choose a few of your favourite responses and discus them in the Message Board. You should discus the fiction, not the true facts. Hence: Acceptable response: \...what colour lightbulb was your father?" Unacceptable response: \...tell us more about your father." You will find that the way that people discus your fiction, will conform to the `rules' of the fiction. Answers that you give will be similarly consistent. In this way, your fiction will expand in a detailed and consistent manner. Of course, the larger function of this exercise is to encourage you to get to know each other. 5 Item 2 Lecture One: Three Case Histories Mobile devices now play an intimate part in our day-to-day lives. The modern smartphone is a multi-function device that doubles as a calendar, camera and entertainment centre. Importantly, through the app store, it can be customised to serve a diverse range of needs. There is a history behind the mobile device that extends back over a hundred years. However, this section details only three devices from the recent past: the Pilot (made by Palm), the Blackberry (by RIM) and Apple's iPhone. Each of these products were, in their time, revolutionary. The particular merit of each device will be described, and key figures in their development will be introduced. Any notable failings relating to the device will also be discussed. At the end of the lecture, general lessons will be drawn from these histories. 2.1 The Palm Pilot Figure 2.1: The Palm Pilot (introduced in 1997). The Palm Pilot (Fig. 2.1) was a low-powered Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) small enough to fit in a shirt pocket. Introduced by Palm Computing 7 in 1997, the novelty of the Pilot was that it was small, simple and it worked. The PDA devices that had preceded it (e.g. the Zoomer and Apple's Newton), aspired to be pocket PCs: fully-fledged, hand-held mini-computers. Compared to them, the Palm Pilot was extremely underpowered and lacking in features. But what it did, it did very well. The core feature of the Palm Pilot was not the hardware, but its elegant and flawless synchronisation software, which paired with similar software on the user's desktop. It featured a calendar, an address book, memos and a to-do list. Its own handwriting recognition system, Graffiti, was a huge advance on Apple's forays into similar technology. Uniquely, it was also small enough to fit comfortably into a shirt pocket, and was extremely cheap. It helped that Palm produced a Software Developer Kit (SDK), using which a developer could make applications that would run on the Pilot. This was enormously popular, and the Pilot became the centre of a lively app community. All these qualities combined to produce a device that people were naturally attracted to. Palm's product manager Rob Haitani famously described this quality as \...the zen of Palm" [1]. Palm Computing was founded by Jeff Hawkins, an awkward and lanky man with a passion for enquiry that extended across different fields. As well as being an accomplished engineer, he had also studied the workings of the human brain, and it was this knowledge that greatly helped in his development of Graffiti. He had a talent for seeing simple solutions to complex problems. Chris Raff, one of Palm's engineers, described this quality: \He had the sort of common sense and logic that just can't be learned. He would say, `What's important is...' and it would be clear what decision we should make" [1]. In developing the Palm Pilot he displayed a maniacal focus on simplicity, strongly resisting any attempt to add unnecessary features to the palm.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Report to Industry Canada
    Report to Industry Canada 2013/14 Annual Report and Final Report for 2008-2014 Granting Period Institute for Quantum Computing University of Waterloo June 2014 1 CONTENTS From the Executive Director 3 Executive Summary 5 The Institute for Quantum Computing 8 Strategic Objectives 9 2008-2014 Overview 10 2013/14 Annual Report Highlights 23 Conducting Research in Quantum Information 23 Recruiting New Researchers 32 Collaborating with Other Researchers 35 Building, Facilities & Laboratory Support 43 Become a Magnet for Highly Qualified Personnel in the Field of Quantum Information 48 Establishing IQC as the Authoritative Source of Insight, Analysis and Commentary on Quantum Information 58 Communications and Outreach 62 Administrative and Technical Support 69 Risk Assessment & Mitigation Strategies 70 Appendix 73 2 From the Executive Director The next great technological revolution – the quantum age “There is a second quantum revolution coming – which will be responsible for most of the key physical technological advances for the 21st Century.” Gerard J. Milburn, Director, Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, University of Queensland - 2002 There is no doubt now that the next great era in humanity’s history will be the quantum age. IQC was created in 2002 to seize the potential of quantum information science for Canada. IQC’s vision was bold, positioning Canada as a leader in research and providing the necessary infrastructure for Canada to emerge as a quantum industry powerhouse. Today, IQC stands among the top quantum information research institutes in the world. Leaders in all fields of quantum information science come to IQC to participate in our research, share their knowledge and encourage the next generation of scientists to continue on this incredible journey.
    [Show full text]
  • View Annual Report
    SHAREHOLDER CORPORATE DESCRIPTION INFORMATION The Annual General Meeting of shareholders Research In Motion is a world leader in designing, will be held on Tuesday, July 14th, 1998 manufacturing and marketing wireless consumer and at 5:00 p.m. at the Canadian Clay and Glass Museum, 25 Caroline Street North, business-to-business electronic access technology for the Waterloo, Ontario. rapidly emerging mobile personal communications market. Corporate Office Its product portfolio includes two-way pagers, wireless PC card Research In Motion Limited adapters and embedded OEM radio modems. These products 295 Phillip Street Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3W8 are sold to a range of major multinational companies, including Manufacturing Facility wireless network suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, Research In Motion Limited and value-added resellers. The Company is listed on The Toronto 131 Shoemaker Street Stock Exchange under the symbol RIM. Kitchener, Ontario, N2E 3B5 Shareholder Enquiries Dennis Kavelman, Chief Financial Officer Research In Motion Limited 295 Phillip Street Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3W8 FISCAL 1998 AT A GLANCE: T (519) 888-7465 F (519) 888-6906 Email: [email protected] • Increased sales 175% to $33.2 million Transfer Agent • Raised $105 million in IPO and became TSE listed The Trust Company of the Bank of Montreal • Received $4.1 million equity investment from Intel Corporation 129 St-Jacques Street West, Level B Montreal, QC, H2Y 1L6 • Launched Inter@ctive™ Pager, Wireless PC Card and OEM T (800) 332 0095 F (514) 877-9676 radio products Auditors • Signed $90 million contract with BellSouth Wireless Data for Zeifman and Company next generation Inter@ctive Pager Chartered Accountants 201 Bridgeland Avenue • Delivered $10 million in two-way pagers to IBM Toronto, Ontario, M6A 1Y7 • Invested a record $6.5 million in R&D – up 45% over 1997 Ernst and Young • Won product awards for Inter@ctive Pager and Wireless PC Card Chartered Accountants 515 Riverbend Drive • Telxon Corporation placed initial order for OEM radios P.O.
    [Show full text]
  • Research in Motion the Communication Challenges of Blackberry
    SAINT MARTIN’S UNIVERSITY Research In Motion The Communication Challenges of BlackBerry Josiah Shelman & Sommer Valles 12/9/2013 When Mike Lazaridis began college, he started making wireless, programmable displays for advertisements. His economics professor convinced him that he had a great business idea and encouraged him to start a company; in 1984 that’s exactly what he did. He started the company with his long-time childhood friend and fellow engineer, Doug Fregin and named the company Research In Motion. Business started out slow as they only sold 100 units of their first LED signs, but soon Mike shifted his focus to wireless telecommunications. In 1992 he hired Jim Basillie, a Harvard MBA graduate and future co-CEO of RIM, to help with the business side of the company. RIM really hit its stride in 1996 when they developed the first two-way messaging pager. From then on RIM continued to pave the way in telecommunications and released their very first Wireless PDA named the RIM 950, which later became known as the Blackberry. RIM has been fighting to stay competitive for the past decade. They have faced many communication challenges, both internal and external to the company, that have led to their decline. Those failures include: lack of two-way communication, lack of leadership, and failures in its internal communications. Internal Communication RIM has been on a drastic decline for the past few years and a major factor has been the lack of internal communications. The CEOs, upper management, and board members have continued to disagree and cannot come to a conclusion on what direction the company should head.
    [Show full text]
  • 2011-12 Annual Report to Industry Canada
    2011-12 Annual Report to Industry Canada Covering the Objectives, Activities, and Finances for the period August 1, 2011 to July 31, 2012 and Statement of Objectives for Next Year and the Future Submitted by: Neil Turok, Director to the Hon. Christian Paradis, Minister of Industry and the Hon. Gary Goodyear Minister of State (Science and Technology) Vision: To create the world’s foremost centre for foundational theoretical physics, uniting public and private partners, and the world’s best scientific minds, in a shared enterprise to achieve breakthroughs that will transform our future. Overview of Perimeter Institute Theoretical physics seeks to understand what the universe is made of, and the forces that govern it, at the most basic level. Because the field is so fundamental, just one major discovery can literally change the world. The discovery of electromagnetism, for example, led to radio, X-rays, and all wireless technologies, and in turn catalyzed breakthroughs in all the other sciences. The discovery of quantum mechanics led directly to semiconductors, computers, lasers, and a nearly infinite array of modern technologies. Theoretical physics is the lowest-cost, highest-impact field of science. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics was founded in 1999, the first attempt in history to strategically accelerate discovery in this most basic area of science. Supported through a visionary funding model, it unites public and private partners, and the world’s best scientific minds, in a shared quest to achieve the next breakthroughs, which will transform our future. As of July 31, 2012, the Perimeter community has grown to include: 18 full-time Faculty 12 Associate Faculty 24 Distinguished Visiting Research Chairs 38 Postdoctoral Researchers 72 Graduate students1 As a major research hub, Perimeter’s conference and visitor programs bring over 1,000 scientists to the Institute annually, catalyzing new research collaborations and discoveries across the spectrum of fundamental physics.
    [Show full text]
  • 1.0 Executive Summary 1.1 History of Blackberry in 1984, Mike Lazaridis
    1.0 Executive Summary 1.1 History of blackberry In 1984, Mike Lazaridis founded an electronics and computer science consulting company called Research In Motion (RIM). For years the company focused on a breakthrough technology, which they called it as the ―BlackBerry‖. It is an easy, secure, and effective device that allowed users to send and receive e-mails while away from the office. Since email had become so popular, people who were on the go needed a way to access their email without having to find a computer. RIM grew into one of the world‘s most valuable tech companies. The BlackBerry became the indispensable accessory of business executives, heads of state, and Hollywood celebrities. The first BlackBerry smart phone was developed in 2003 and in a remarkably short time, they have managed to completely change the way that people communicate. This was a device that not only functioned as a telephone but also allowed for the sending or receiving of email and text messages as well as web browsing. RIM‘s BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messaging service is once popular before. The plan of BBM was to push wireless carriers to adopt as a replacement for their short text messaging system (SMS) applications. 1.2 Current competitive position Since the introduction of the BlackBerry, there was a lot of competitors have appeared on the market and now they are competing with some of the biggest companies in the telecommunications industry. This competition combined with improving technology has resulted in a huge increase in the number of functions that you will find on your BlackBerry.
    [Show full text]
  • Mike Lazaridis
    Mike Lazaridis It was 1986, during his last year at the University of Waterloo, that a young Mike Lazaridis said he had high hopes for his new company, Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM): “We’re pretty solidly established and the future looks good. It’s just a matter of letting people know what we can do for them. We feel our market is just starting to open up,” he said at the time. Remarkably, in just over twenty years Lazaridis is known around the world for his wildly popular Blackberry, a portable e-mail device, and Waterloo-based RIM is a global leader in wireless communications. It’s a significant achievement for a man who immigrated to Canada from Turkey with his Greek parents and just three suitcases. Lazaridis was 5-years-old when he watched his bird-shaped kite soar above the stern of the boat that would take his family to their new home across the Atlantic Ocean. He was fascinated by how the motion of the boat and the wind kept the kite in the air. His curiosity about motion and how things worked only blossomed as he grew up in Windsor, Ontario. He spent hours in the basement of his home building rockets and radios with his closest friend Doug Fregin. Fregin would later help found RIM in 1984 along with Michael Barnstijn. When he was 12-years-old, Lazaridis won an award for reading every science book in the Windsor Public Library. In high school he took science courses to get into university but also enrolled in the shop courses that would allow him to tinker.
    [Show full text]
  • Paperny Films Fonds
    Paperny Films fonds Compiled by Melanie Hardbattle and Christopher Hives (2007) Revised by Emma Wendel (2009) Last revised May 2011 University of British Columbia Archives Table of Contents Fonds Description o Title / Dates of Creation / Physical Description o Administrative History o Scope and Content o Notes Series Descriptions o Paperny Film Inc. series o David Paperny series o A Canadian in Korea: A Memoir series o A Flag for Canada series o B.C. Times series o Call Me Average series o Celluloid Dreams series o Chasing the Cure series o Crash Test Mommy (Season I) series o Every Body series o Fallen Hero: The Tommy Prince Story series o Forced March to Freedom series o Indie Truth series o Mordecai: The Life and Times of Mordecai Richler series o Murder in Normandy series o On the Edge: The Life and Times of Nancy Greene series o On Wings and Dreams series o Prairie Fire: The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 series o Singles series o Spring series o Star Spangled Canadians series o The Boys of Buchenwald series o The Dealmaker: The Life and Times of Jimmy Pattison series o The Life and Times of Henry Morgentaler series o Titans series o To Love, Honour and Obey series o To Russia with Fries series o Transplant Tourism series o Victory 1945 series o Brewery Creek series o Burn Baby Burn series o Crash Test Mommy, Season II-III series o Glutton for Punishment, Season I series o Kink, Season I-V series o Life and Times: The Making of Ivan Reitman series o My Fabulous Gay Wedding (First Comes Love), Season I series o New Classics, Season II-V series o Prisoner 88 series o Road Hockey Rumble, Season I series o The Blonde Mystique series o The Broadcast Tapes of Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • New Technologies and Their Role in Australia's Security, Cultural, Democratic, Social A
    At last – a narrative for Australia For many years we have debated where we are heading as a nation. We have been fortunate to have had a relatively prosperous and happy existence and tend to think that this is a direct result of our abundance of minerals and our agricultural production. While our prosperity has been dependent on resources it has only worked because we have been world class in our production techniques and the technology and scientific research that sits behind them. Make no mistake, Australia is not alone in having huge quantities of iron ore: Brazil has just as much and it is generally higher grade. We compete against the world for our economic success. But what of the future? We seem to have no clear narrative other than that as a small nation we must compete against the rest of the world. And the future can be frightening when one notes the way technology is utterly changing the landscape. Some of the wilder predictions suggest that by 2030, 80% of all jobs will be in firms or institutions that don’t exist now. Aviva Rutkin writing in the MIT Technology Journal1 on the jobs of the future suggested that around half of all currently existing jobs in the USA would be automated by 2030. The good news of course is that while technology is destroying jobs it is also creating jobs. Our narrative then is clear: we must pursue innovation through technology as the main contributor to our future prosperity and happiness. The new jobs generated will allow us to compete with the world.
    [Show full text]
  • EE204: Business Management for Electrical Engineers and Computer Scientists Introductory Case, April 2, 2013
    EE204: Business Management for Electrical Engineers and Computer Scientists Introductory Case, April 2, 2013 Research in Motion and the Future 2013 Introduction On March 29, 2012, RIM, the maker of BlackBerry, announced a review of its future business strategy and its plan to refocus on the enterprise business [1]. New RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said, "we plan to build on our strength [enterprise business]” [2]. “Consumer-friendly features like entertainment applications are not important to the company's core customers.” Mr. Heins’ comments were a response to the declining fortunes at RIM. The company announced that revenues are dropping and it will cut 2,000 jobs. Heins was appointed CEO following the 2012 forced resignations of co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis. CEO Thorsten Heins couldn’t help but wonder if his strategy were correct and whether the actions and plans were going to reverse the company’s negative slide. History RIM was founded in 1984 by 23-year-old University of Waterloo student Mike Lazardis. The original BlackBerry wireless platform and line of handhelds achieved dominance in the corporate marketplace by offering an always-on, highly secure, and easy-to-use immediate push message delivery service. On August 18, 2009, Fortune named RIM the fastest growing company in the world. In recent years, senior executives from IBM and major telecommunications companies have been hired to address this growth challenge. Market Organizations that relied on sensitive information, like the US government and financial institutions, were early and loyal adopters. RIM also had success in a consumer market fueled by “always-on” celebrities like Madonna and Paris Hilton.
    [Show full text]
  • Layout 1 (Page 1)
    BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY REDKNAPP SHARES SLUMP AFTER ON TRIAL SPURS BOSS BLACKBERRY RESHUFFLE FACING BUNGS EXECS FINALLY ADMIT DEFEAT P17 CLAIMS P34-35 Issue 1,555 Tuesday 24 January 2012 www.cityam.com FREE BRUSSELS IN NEW ATTACK ON BANK PAY ▲ in contracts with senior executives year. POLITICS so that they can get money back if In his speech at Guildhall yester- BY JULIET SAMUEL actions are later deemed to have day, Barnier also told a City audi- caused certain kinds of losses. ence that Brussels is not trying to BRUSSELS could make its ultra-strict But Barnier suggested that more undermine London as a leading rulebook on bankers’ pay even intervention could be necessary to financial centre. harsher, commissioner Michel avoid a “violent reaction” from “Contrary to what I often read, Barnier said yesterday during a visit increasingly resentful European vot- there is no plot. No plot to under- to the City. ers. mine the City. No plot to boost Paris The ideas under consideration He told Reuters: “If banks are inca- or Frankfurt at the expense of the include forcing lenders to set a max- pable of self-discipline with regards City,” he claimed, suggesting that imum ratio between their most and to bonuses, then we must act.” Britain would continue to be “at the Asil Nadir and his wife, Nur, arrive outside the Old Bailey yesterday least highly pay staff and requiring He added: “Among the ideas that heart of Europe”. bankers’ fixed base salaries to we are exploring is a ratio between He added that if Europe had given account for a minimum amount of fixed salary and bonus… Another in to UK demands for “safeguards” their total pay package, as opposed idea which could be considered is a for the City at a summit last month, to their bonus.
    [Show full text]
  • 2016 Annual Report Vision
    “Perimeter Institute is now one of the world’s leading centres in theoretical physics, if not the leading centre.” – Stephen Hawking, Emeritus Lucasian Professor, University of Cambridge 2016 ANNUAL REPORT VISION To create the world's foremostcentre for foundational theoretlcal physics, uniting publlc and private partners, and the world's best scientific minds, in a shared enterprise to achieve breakthroughs that will transform ourfuture CONTENTS Welcome . .2 Message from the Board Chair . 4 Message from the Institute Director . 6 Research . .8 At the Quantum Frontier . 10 Exploring Exotic Matter . .12 A New Window to the Cosmos . .14 A Holographic Revolution . .16 Honours, Awards, and Major Grants . .18 Recruitment . 20 Research Training . .24 Research Events . 26 Linkages . 28 Educational Outreach and Public Engagement . 30 Advancing Perimeter’s Mission . .36 Blazing New Paths . 38 Thanks to Our Supporters . .40 Governance . 42 Facility . 46 Financials . .48 Looking Ahead: Priorities and Objectives for the Future . 53 Appendices . 54 This report covers the activities and finances of Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics from August 1, 2015, to July 31, 2016 . Photo credits The Royal Society: Page 5 Istock by Getty Images: 11, 13, 17, 18 Adobe Stock: 23, 28 NASA: 14, 36 WELCOME Just one breakthrough in theoretical physics can change the world. Perimeter Institute is an independent research centre located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, which was created to accelerate breakthroughs in our understanding of the cosmos. Here, scientists seek to discover how the universe works at all scales – from the smallest particle to the entire cosmos. Their ideas are unveiling our remote past and enabling the technologies that will shape our future.
    [Show full text]
  • Senate Renewal 2017
    SENATE RENEWAL 2017 Submitted to: Senate Graduate and Research Council 05/08/2017 Revised 2 IQC Senate Renewal 2017 2 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Over the past 15 years, I have had the privilege to have a front row seat to the creation of a Waterloo success story. The growth and impact of the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) displays the power of incredible vision, sustained commitment and collective efforts to build something truly unique in a way particular to Waterloo. Thanks in large part to Mike Lazardis’ vision and the university’s commitment to research excellence, Waterloo quantum research now stands among the top research institutes globally. Under the leadership of Feridun Hamdullahpur, Quantum has become a research priority for the university and has helped to secure the largest research grant in the university’s history through the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. In total, IQC has attracted over $530 million in funding to the university. In partnership with the Faculties of Science, Mathematics and Engineering, we have attracted the highest caliber researchers to Waterloo, welcomed graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from around the world. Together, these researchers have not only contributed to their disciplines but also advanced the field of quantum research, building on Waterloo’s reputation of research excellence. Beyond research discoveries, the last five years have brought new people, new space and new opportunities to IQC. We have welcomed 13 new faculty, 62 postdoctoral fellows and 178 graduate students to our IQC community. Graduates of the collaborative quantum information program are now in academic and industry positions such as MIT, the Centre for Quantum Technologies in Singapore and the Canadian Securities Establishment, to name just a few.
    [Show full text]