The Innovation Diaries

Procter & Gamble allow food company to use its packaging
“It is the first time P&G has allowed another company access to its packaging technologies – used in non-food lines such as Pantene shampoo, Tide detergent and Fairy liquid – and could mean changes to hundreds of food lines across the US. The deal has the potential to be one of the biggest to be developed under P&G’s “connect and develop” open-innovation strategy.”

Turning mobile phone cameras into microscopes
“Robi Maamari stares intently at the screen of his mobile phone. The student is not squinting to tap out yet another daft text message, but looking carefully for the faint blue dots that are the tell-tale diagnostic signature of malaria.”

Scientists find bugs that eat waste and excrete petrol
“Because crude oil (which can be refined into other products, such as petroleum or jet fuel) is only a few molecular stages removed from the fatty acids normally excreted by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, it does not take much fiddling to get the desired result.”

Innovation Avalanche - 41 new business ideas to inspire
“Japanese Yosimiya is selling bags of rice printed with a newborn’s photo, name and date of birth. The bags are shaped to resemble a swaddled baby. But the key feature is that the bags contain the baby’s exact weight in rice. Holding the bag will therefore feel like holding the baby.”

Do innovations ever pay off?
“The authors find that total market returns to an innovation project are $643 million, more than 13 times the $49 million due to an average innovation event. Returns to overall projects are substantially more than returns to individual events.”