Innovation can truly change the world but only if the world can access them. One key innovation is broadband. This week, we dive into a new innovation that is bringing mobile broadband access to the rural and developing countries.  We cover such topics as:

* Dealing with two different types of innovation antibodies

* The economic challenge of bringing innovations to developing countries and how to overcome them

* The timing of inventing, innovating and the market readiness

*  Patience when it comes to overcoming technology challenges

* Background on broadband access in Africa and specifically in Rwanda

Guest:

Dr. Vanu Bose, Ph.D., is the Founder of Vanu Inc. and serves as its Chief Executive Officer and President. Dr. Bose is the principal inventor of the software radio technology that serves as the basis of Vanu Inc.'s products. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Jumpstart, a non-profit focused on early childhood literacy, and is also a member of the Board of Overseers for the Boston Museum of Science. Prior to graduate school, Dr. Bose developed a technical teaching curriculum and on board medical, computer and satellite communications systems for a DC-10 flying hospital for Project Orbis, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to fighting world blindness. Dr. Bose completed his doctoral thesis on software radio in April 1999, and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) in June 1999. He received his Master's degree in EECS from M.I.T. in 1992 and two Bachelor's degrees, one in EECS and one in Math, from MIT in 1988.

You can contact Vanu at vanu.com

Facebook page for Vanu, Inc.

On LinkedIn.

Killer Question

Where do we perform product research and development? Where else could this be done?

What is your organization’s philosophy about design and development? Do you keep everything in-house, or do you outsource as needed? There are two schools of thoughts on this. By keeping the design process in-house, a company can build a sense of continuity and cohesion that links the entire family of products together in a satisfying way. Or you can outsource as needed, hiring talent for specific products and moving on once that product is complete. Neither is right or wrong; the more important point is to have a rationale for whichever strategy you choose, and to extract the most value from it.

Look at a company like Herman Miller. Their Aeron chair is an iconic design for the technological age, but it wasn’t designed internally. Instead, Herman Miller outsourced the design to leading designers that have their own firms. The famous husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames designed the classic 1950s Eames chair the same way. The point is that Herman Miller knows what their strengths are: manufacturing and distributing the final product. They also have a huge amount of practical expertise. For instance, they have experts in ergonomics, the less obvious details that are critical to the overall comfort and practicality of a product (e.g., the way a chair distributes the body heat generated by the user). They share this very specialized knowledge with designers, and then throw the company’s expertise into selling the final piece of furniture. Herman Miller has a very different idea of where design, research, and development should take place. Herman Miller has adopted the philosophy that it’s more important to ensure that the best and brightest are working on your product, and that this is a higher priority than making sure the work is done in-house.

In the past, I led  projects for specific countries. So why would you design it in the United States?