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Design Concepts will be here, there and everywhere July 23 and 24!

First, a team of staff members are continuing the tradition and participating in the annual Scenic Shore 150 bike ride to raise much needed funds for the Wisconsin chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Riders take to their bikes for two-days traveling 150 miles along Wisconsin’s scenic Lake Michigan shoreline while supporting a great cause.

Next, despite the heat, staff members are fighting hills, streams, barbed wire and even flames as they participate in the Tough Mudders competition to raise funds for the Wounded Warrior Project. This isn’t your grandfather’s fundraiser, with an industrial strength obstacle course and insanely rigorous physical challenges. Toss in 95 degree heat, and we’ve got ourselves some really Tough Mudders!

And, finally, we’re sponsoring the Startup Accelerator at Sector 67 here in Madison! The day will be a fascinating “unconference” that brings together lots of talented people to talk about design and entrepreneurship and more.

You can’t miss us this weekend – we’re everywhere!

We’re thrilled to have recently published a digital white paper through Appliance Design publications. In addition to being available on the Appliance Design Web site, we’re distributing it here to help you sort through the maze of battery options. We hope the battery chart and application information helps you make a powerful choice that will set your product apart from the competition.

Truth be told, the article just scratches the surface – we have so much more we’d like to share. So please feel free to post a comment or question if you’d like more information tailored to your specific design challenge. Or even if you just want to talk batteries. Let’s face it: alkaline, nickel-cadmium, lithium iron phosphate. We can’t get enough of this stuff.

Read and Download Powerful Choices: Selecting the Right Battery for Product Applications

For the last few years, we’ve heard a great deal about STEM education – science, technology, engineering and math – and the critical need to encourage kids in these disciplines. In fact, the National Science Foundation has shared daunting statistics speculating that 80 percent of all jobs created in the next ten years will require math and science skills.

And if that doesn’t impress upon us the importance of kids’ engagement in STEM, we can re-watch Math, Science and the Future of Our Nation – A Town Hall Meeting (2010) and the ominous picture it paints. As the narrator warns in the first 5 minutes, “For kids in middle school today, by the time they enter the job market, it will be nearly impossible to succeed without a good foundation in math and science.” Music majors everywhere, take notice.

I recently tweeted a link to an article that seemed to suggest encouraging kids to participate in these subjects might be like ladling cheese on top of broccoli – heavily engage kids in STEM subjects by packaging the classes with things they already enjoy. And while we know that model works – parents everywhere can testify to the power of cheese – we’re collectively missing the innovation boat.

Frightening the humanities out of us will not make us better engineers or mathematicians. Isolating STEM education from other subjects to build the best and brightest can never address the broad and deep knowledge needed for true innovation.

Creativity, artistic vision, divergent thinking or the ability to communicate our ideas will always continue to play a powerful role in the innovation process. Educating for a particular skill set may only create a commodity and not encourage the broader design thinking that drives innovation. Yes, I said design thinking. Empathy, creativity and rationality, as Ms. Norvaisas would say, all sitting side-by-side.

Innovation isn’t taught through individual subjects, no matter how valuable STEM subjects may be. True innovation may best be accomplished through an holistic approach that embraces a broad range of subjects, including the humanities, as equal partners in the innovation process.

Daniel Lee, senior mechanical engineer, project manager and DJ, brings us this cymatic study with cornstarch, water and a speaker. Sure there’s science behind this non-Newtonian fluid experiment. But at it’s heart, it’s dancing cornstarch.

Dave Franchino, president and principal of Design Concepts, will speak at the national Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Conference April 11 – 13, 2011, in Madison, Wisconsin. Franchino will present Leveraging Innovation: How to Partner with a Product Development Firm on Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 2:00 pm at the Monona Terrace.

The SBIR Conference includes Skills Workshops designed to give attendees the tools and the contacts they need to be successful and avoid common pitfalls. The Skills Workshop led by Franchino will share ideas and information on maximizing the powerful relationship between small business owners, researchers and entrepreneurs and a product development firm. After learning more about the strategies and tactics that form the foundation of successful design projects, attendees will be able to evaluate the risks and rewards of collaborative innovation partnerships.

To learn more about the conference, visit the SBIR Web Site.