Innovation can happen anywhere and in any industry. Google has dedicated a 20 percent time allotment, which allows employees to work on whatever they want. Gmail was born during this innovative time. In the UK, a schoolteacher organized a school-wide ‘Innovation Day’ one day per week, when students were allowed to choose how they wanted to learn – no grades or marks, only a presentation at the end of the day. Students discovered they enjoyed planning, thinking and producing a better piece of work.
Watching someone ponder in their workshop or in a field at a crop or at a desk may look like they aren’t doing anything. Even when asked what they are doing, their reply might be, ‘nothing.’ That’s because it may not be anything yet. Down the road though, something cool may develop!
The idea to develop this innovation issue came about because we want to try something new and find ways to make things better for our industry.
In this issue you’ll see night-powered irrigation, screw caps for sparkling wine, ways to harvest later and preserve freshness, new research on tip worms, how to enter insect data on your smart phone, improved fruitlet analysis and ways to use social media to engage with your customers.
So, next time you are standing still or staring off into space the outcome might just help you figure out how to fix your machinery, a more efficient way to run your operation or an invention that may change the world. When that happens we want to know too!
