Lesson 6: BioBusiness - Healthcare

BioBusiness is a commercial activity based on an understanding of life sciences and life science processes such as biomedical, agri-veterinary and environmental/industrial.

It has already constitutes over 25% of global GDP and 40% of the world’s labor force are dependent on this sector in 2001. What's the reasons behind these? Why did BioBusiness contribute to such a high percentage of the global GDP?



As seen all over the world, we're moving towards an ageing population. Singapore alone, has about 9% of the population are elderly aged 65 and above in 2011, and will worsen to 22% in 2025. What an astonishing proportion, 1/5 of the total population! That would emphasize on the importance of healthcare.

The potential of healthcare has been showing for the past years. People are more focus on getting a longer lifespan, to be able to live longer. So, they will spend any amount that they can afford to to extend their lifespan. This will be one of the reasons why large amounts of investments have gone into advancing the technologies in the healthcare sector. As a result of this, consumers have also been spending alot on healthcare.

I've found some interesting points in one of the readings, "Will Disruptive Innovations Cure Health Care?". Basically, for this article, the main point focus on whether the disruptive innovations are able to improve the quality of healthcare present currently. Disruptive Innovations as mentioned in the article refers to cheaper, simpler, more convenient products or services that start by meeting the needs of less-demanding consumers.
Not all customers are demanding for the same quality of services provided by healthcare, thus it is not right to impose one's thinking on others and therefore making these less-demanding consumers to absorb the high cost of healthcare services.

The following is one of the diagrams extracted from the article which i find interesting:


Apart from that, different professions in the healthcare are now catering to different groups of consumers. The nurses in hospitals are taking up different roles to provide services to consumers who used to be the doctors' job. If it's just a mild illness or common illness such as flu or cold, the less-demanding consumers will not go and see a specialist to incur high costs which provides the same quality of service to that of a general physician.


Last but not least, i would like to point out some points about the video, this is too futuristic but who knows? it might really happen in the future with fast pace of technology advancement. How nice would it be when there's a notification shown just before you on your medication, and getting to know which medication to take without afraid of losing the sticky labels on it? in this case, we don't have to worry about the elderly getting the wrong medications! :)


Presentation on immortality is thought-provoking. It has always been in the movies/dramas related to Chinese history. Will it be a fantasy of the past or a possibility of the future? I think neither. Reason be that although true immortality is really too far fetch, it's not considered as a fantasy of the past as people has been extending their lifespan through the help of technology. On the other hand, neither a possibility of the future as it is for sure that humans have a fixed lifespan, and it is for sure that we will pass away one day. Attaining immortality may be a realm that people hope to be in, but will we be happy? if you're the only one alive in this world, without anyone to share. I guess no.

Rating for this session 7/10.
Looking forward to the 2nd part of BioBusiness.
My turn to do the presentation~ :)

Lesson 5: ICT

I was quite amazed by the interaction of Claire and the virtual boy. When Claire passed the piece of paper to him, it can actually duplicate what's being drawn on that paper! With exact same size and same color/thickness of the pen's ink.

That's the power of technology!

However, no matter what it is, there's sure bound to have the positive and negative impacts on society. Taking this technology for example, like what's being mentioned in prof's blog, it is good that lonely child at home are kept entertained and accompanied by this virtual friend, and at the same time, parents are able to monitor the situation from work. What i felt is that, yes it is good that the child has a companion, but spending long hours interacting with this virtual friend is not good for the child. Even though the child will learn how to interact and communicate with this friend, it might hinders the child's progression towards social life if the parents do not spend enough time with the child. It might isolate the child from the society, as he's been kept too long with this virtual friend. Parents have to take measures in ensuring the proper growth of the child by not overdependent on this type of technology.



Cloud computing..... I've watched this video more than 3 times previously in other modules. I find this video to have introduced cloud computing to its viewers very well. We're able to gain understanding to cloud computing and the contents are very informative and interestingly attracting us in knowing about cloud computing...



Besides that, i think the introduction of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0 has helped us in knowing what's the difference between these 3.


web-3.0. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from: URL http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_coj-STt1Xns/TCy3aS_mO2I/AAAAAAAAAIg/Xu0HH-NUe1o/s1600/web-3.0.png


web1_0-vs-web2_0. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from: URL http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_coj-STt1Xns/TCy3WhXBQeI/AAAAAAAAAIY/jpn9VcIy3bI/s1600/web1_0-vs-web2_0.png


web1to31. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_coj-STt1Xns/TCy3Rs_u4KI/AAAAAAAAAIQ/X3FQYkeg_SQ/s1600/web1to31.jpg


web1to31. Retrieved September 17, 2011, from: http://www.stainwizards.com/page23/files/blocks_image_22_1.png
I find this analogy to be cool. Using the evolution of ape to human for Web 1.0 to Web 3.0

The improvements from the previous and how technology change has impacted on the Web 1.0 --> Web 3.0



For the presentations for this session, i find them quite interesting. I'm engaged to the presentation on the TV as the graphics and layouts used for the presentation is fascinating to me. It does not shut off the audience but keeping the audience wanting to hear the presentation. Good Job! Nice Future Predictions like clicking on the car to see the model and adding on to Shopping Cart. HAHA! even though it might seem weird to buy a car through "on-line shopping" but who knows? It might really happen in the future! Good interaction with the audience.

The other presentation which draws me is the one on Free economy. Even though the slides may not appear as interesting and fanciful as the previous presenter, he gave a very good presentation with good contents and examples to illustrate his point! I've enjoyed the presentation.

Overall rating for this class: 8.5/10

Lesson 4 - Drivers to Change

Started with some questions on what causes change? What drives change? There are really lots and lots of answers to these. We need to be proactive in making things happen, and respond to it. Things are happening and we’re unaware of. Prof used Dodo bird as an example, which was already extinct now. If we’re like the Dodo bird which was unaware of the changes around it, we might be going into extinction. I think awareness is another key to change. We need to be aware of the things happening around, as well as having self awareness in what we can do and do it well, what we can’t do.

The article on fourteen drives of environmental change is very informative. I find the information interesting. The experts are predicting the different types of change in 30 odd years to come. How amazing it is! We’re living in a world of constant changes and evolutions, the change that they predicted for 2060 might not necessary are the changes that might really occur then, the main reason will be the factors leading the world and the direction that the world is going to. What makes a country to be always leading? I think that’s making the change that’s positive and stand out amongst all the other countries. Be the first to make the change! Be the first to think of that change! To be revolutionary might be the key towards that!

Evolution VS Revolution

Evolution that is to make further improvements on the current innovation, technology, ideology etc..

Revolution which is to really step out of the current boundary and explore other possibilities that doesn’t exist now.

Change Management VS Change Leadership

Have to be “thick-skinned” in order to be a leader in changing the current situation because it is always tough to find followers that agree with your change. It is always tough to make the first step! The first follower plays a very crucial role in your change. Without the first follower, there won’t be 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th ….. followers. It is important to find the supporters towards your change. What makes leader a leader? It is not the leader and his/her characteristics, neither is the charisma that they’ll bring, BUT the followers who follow the leader.

The video that’s shown in class is a very good example:

Having quite an intense discussion on the presentation regarding CIO role. The role of the CIO has changed and is quite different from the past. The CIO needs to have technical knowledge in order to lead the whole company with regards to technology. However, for now, the CIO needs to have leadership and change management in them in order to lead.

I would rate this session 8/10.

Topic Review Paper Outline

Specific Innovation of Interest
- Renewable energy and Its Impacts

Rationale for selecting this innovation
- Fossil fuels energy has been reduced to a large extent, people are going towards renewable energy and in fact, renewable energy is on the rise/has already risen to a greater height than before.

Proposed Approach to Development of Paper

Executive Summary

- Background/Introduction
- Timeline of energy
- Introducing the widely used energy and the other alternative sources of energy
- Evolution of energy from past till present

Historical Perspective
- Some of the incidents that occurred over the world which energy is largely involved, e.g. Japan Earthquake and nuclear power plants(nuclear energy)

Current Situation
- How has the use of renewable energy change the world?
- Comparison of using non-renewable energy VS using renewable energy
- Impacts of renewable energy on economy, society
- Drawbacks & Benefits of renewable energy

Future Considerations
- What should be the areas for consideration when it comes to energy?

Conclusion
References

Lesson 3 - Technology & Industrial Development, Innovation Management

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

Started off the lesson after recapping the previous class with a video about the story of stuff. I find this video interesting though it's long. (we only watch the first 5 mins of the video)

It introduced us to what is a materials economy, which starts from
extraction --> production --> distribution --> consumption --> disposable.

1/3 of the Earth's resources are gone, people are using too many stuff at a fast speed. We're running out of resources! Take US for example, the people are using more than what they need, they only make up to 5% of the world's population but consuming 30% of the world's resources and disposing 30% of the world's waste! What an impact will it have on the Earth and the world's population if it continues at the speed? We would require 3-5 Earths! However we only have 1! that's why we have to think of ways to ensure the sustainability of resources for our future generations.

The only solution to the problem will be transforming the linear system to cyclical system through adopting different ways of doing things, through the use of green technology, renewable energy and etc. One of the ways would be recycle. It's able to reduce the waste that people disposed by changing them into new products. That's one of the many ways that countries around the world has been doing to reduce raw material consumption. RECYCLE, REDUCE, REUSE! ZERO WASTE!

The role of technology:

- How can we make sustainable development if the technology applied takes jobs away from people?

I think that technology does not necessary takes jobs away from people but rather creating more jobs that might not be possible in the past without the advancement of technology. People will be able to spend more of their time on valuable stuffs that is efficient and improves their productivity level that will be able to boost the economy. There will always be advancements after the current improvement in whichever area. The drive to new innovation/technology would always be from the current innovation/technology as people would always want to be better than before. Thus with the advancement in technology, impossibilities in the past might not always still be impossibilities in the future.

Landscape Model for Technology Assessment : Conceptual Framework

- Valley Opportunities

- Summit Opportunities

- Cloud Opportunities

Though the approach is to focus on summit opportunities where there's few competitors and having high interests from investors, and there's value for it in the market, if people are able to explore into cloud opportunities that's creating more value and introducing more products into the market for consumers' selection. It might in a way be opening up more routes for everyone, but it needs to be able to take the risks involved and be determined enough to convince people and be confident in their products.

Market Driven Innovation - requires a shorter time as there's already a market for it.
Technology Driven Innovation - needs to create a market for it, requires a longer time and more expensive in general.

I find Prof Arai's perspective of R-D-A interesting through Dream, Nightmare and Reality.

Dream: through researches, it will always seems to be unrealistic as there's yet to have something similar in the market, and thus would be as though it's a dream.

Nightmare: however from the researches to development would most of the times require a long long time for it to be true, and a large proportion of it would turn out to be different from what it was meant to be.

Reality: after surviving through the nightmare stage, it's finally a reality after the product physically and selling off for consumption.

Quite a number of issues and questions raised and discussed in the class. I would rate this class an 8/10. :)