Big+Picture+Essay+-+The+Opportunity+Space+of+the+Future

During the three-minute animated video, Grimmer, president and co-founder of Plum Organics, explains how entrepreneurs can apply the principles of design thinking to develop a new product, business or entire industry. - See more at: http://www.kauffman.org/newsroom/plum-organics-co-founder-mixes-passion-and-the-practice-of-design-thinking-in-new-kauffman-video-sketchbook.aspx#sthash.D7cX9aPD.dpuf || media type="custom" key="23659582" || What do you know how to make? Could you make the product you love yourself if its manufacturer disappeared? When was the last time you actually "made something?" Tinkering is a hands-on, immersive activity that gives you new insights through building and experimenting, rather than simply thinking and talking. Tinkering seems to have disappeared from the American dialect in terms of appreciation for individual ingenuity and self-reliance and even more so in economic terms. What role(s) do tinkerers have for the 21st century? How can you become an engaged tinkerer? The mantra of tinkering: "Hands-on, deeply immersed, and fully committed to the problem at hand." || media type="custom" key="23418004" || America was built by makers -- curious, enthusiastic amateur inventors whose tinkering habit sparked whole new industries. What is the role (social, economic, educational) for makers in the 21st century? What are the skills, motivations, and mindsets of makers? Are you a maker? Why or why not? How will you become one? || media type="custom" key="23417974" || Open source technologies present a revolutionary way to level the competitive playing field for the production of goods and services. Why buy anything from a manufacturer when you can make whatever you need? Why not build a prototype for your new product in your customer's office? Technology that was available only to, say, the military, is now available to everyone. Open source poses substantial challenges to intellectual property protection and enormous opportunities for enterprising individuals who will "make" the future by building upon the modular work of others in the maker community. || media type="custom" key="23417950" || While watching this video you should think about ways technology - especially robots - can be designed to work //collaboratively// with us to support our work tasks. Think about what //tools// we should build to support learning and productivity. What kinds of jobs are people willing to do now and what will they be willing to do later in their lives? || media type="custom" key="23417844" ||
 * This is an individual assignment that is worth 5 points toward your overall course grade.
 * After viewing these presentations, you will write an essay in which you describe (1) some of the driving forces of the economy you will likely experience during your principal earning years, (2) the types and applications of technologies that will drive commerce, and (3) what you expect your role to be in that envisioned future. **In other words, you are writing an essay about //your// future in a technological, economic, and socially uncertain world of commerce.**
 * Your essay should be at least three paragraphs in length, should make substantive references to the contents of the videos and lectures, and is due as a Word document submitted to MGT386@gmail.com (for MGT386) or NVDBAMA@gmail.com (for New Venture Development) by midnight, August 30.
 * View each of the lecture modules and videos provided below to start your big picture essay.
 * **Neil Grimmer: The importance of design thinking in entrepreneurship (3:00)**
 * **Gever Tulley: Life lessons through tinkering (4:09)**
 * **Dale Daugherty: We are makers (11:47)**
 * **Massimo Banzi: How Arduino is open source imagination (15:47)**
 * **Rodney Brooks: Why we will rely on robots (9:56 - posted June 2013)**