Sometimes we humans can come up with some fantastic ideas. Take the now cliched, sliced bread, or Velcro, the zipper, buttons, self-lighting charcoal, box cutters, scissors, washers, dryers, and all those little things. What would life be like without them? What would life be like if we never had any of our little inventions? Paper clips, safety pins, slippers - all gone.

We take for granted all these little things, and some of the big ones, like telephones, electricity, indoor toilets, television, coffee makers, microwaves, and computers. The aging baby boomers know what life is like without some of these things, but the generations of the last twenty years don't have a clue.

Then, there are the bad inventions. These either aren't useful or just break. And some inventions need constant attention despite all our technology, or aren't good for the environment. Lots of stuff was invented before we understood all the problems that would result.

Like asbestos, lead pencils, crappy tar roof shingles, and things like that. Some of this stuff obviously wasn't meant for us to live with despite their function. Either they will make us sick, or in the case of the tar shingles, you have to call out your local Sacramento roofing contractor to get things fixed every eight years of suffer the consequences of moldy, leaky roofs or lose heat because it's letting all the air out.

So, what's this all about really? Just thoughts about inventions - what works, what doesn't, the effect on our lives - good or bad, and feeling both the awe of the amazing ones, and the bewilderment of the ones we keep using even though they aren't worth it.

The other day, I was talking with a small business entrepreneur who had been successful in a number of businesses in his life and always garnered a six-figure income. Today, he's looking for a new venture, something that would satisfy his entrepreneurial and innovative mindset. Okay so what sort of business might be wise for such a person in the present economic circumstances you ask?

Well, this is my question of the day too, and without further delay, let me explain what my first choice would be. I like service businesses because they are generally the last hit, and first to recover - and easily adaptable by modifying processes. Also the easiest to innovate or find additional niches - in other words, customers have needs, and if you can fulfill them and turn a profit, there are lots of needs to service which to me = nothing but growth, - if you can handle the rocket ship, and have a team in place that is of a "take no prisoners" based mentality, while maintaining absolute customer service.

Service businesses can grow faster, take less investment, and you don't have to sign a 10-year lease to get a building to do business in. These are some additional pluses. The challenge with entering a business where you sell a product is if you innovate too fast, you end up with massive amounts of unused inventory, or you have to make small batches and thus your per-unit cost goes up. Perhaps it is this dilemma that has most inventors selling their innovation, inventions, and concept to other companies who have a distribution chain set up and a marketing plan already in place.

Yes, Server Businesses are wonderful, and I can say this from experience. I always find it so very interesting that so many people don't think about service businesses when it comes to innovation - they should. And with that, I'd like you to sit back and think about this too. If you have something else to add, please contact me by email. Good day.

One of the biggest challenges facing organizations these days is translating IDEAS into INCOME. Most organizations (both large and small) are fully aware of the need to come up with big ideas and many have sophisticated systems, processes and techniques for doing just that. Unfortunately, this is often where creativity and innovation meet a roadblock. Organizations, both large and small, don't always know what to do with those ideas that are generated. They don't know how to translate those ideas into income - into results and outcomes. They don't know how to bridge the gap.

As a leader in a large organization, or as an entrepreneur/small business owner, your success lies in knowing how to close that gap. So, then, you ask, how exactly do I do that?

Here are a few suggestions and questions to get you started:

• First, define your challenge - the problem - you are trying to solve or need you are trying to meet. Be clear on the challenge and what success looks like, including a big goal that will compel you to make a change and inspire creative thinking and action.

• Then, check how you are going about the process of getting insights. Secondary research is important--statistics--about what people like or don't like about your products/offerings. It is equally important to observe your clients, watch them in their natural environment, and spend time understanding them to come up with fresh, novel ideas with value.

• Check your idea generation processes. How are you generating ideas? How do you challenge those in your organization to come up with big, bold ideas - different from what your competition down the street comes up with? Remember to be aware of your beliefs that don't serve you or limit you from taking risks.

• Once you've determined that your idea generation process is most effective, what system and tools do you have in place to capture those ideas, and vet them? As well as approve them and find sponsorship - that is, someone who is willing to go out on a limb and support the ideas?

• And finally, gain success and momentum by piloting or testing your ideas on a few or a limited population. Through some trial and error you will help to realize your success more quickly if you test (prototype) your ideas and then work out the kinks before a full-scale launch© Copyright 2010 Andrew Pek and Jeannine McGlade. All rights reserved.

So, you ask what is the Blender Theory of innovation, well it wasn't anything until 5-minutes ago when I was making myself a home-made Frapuccino, no the Frapuccino wasn't perfect, close to the real thing, but it saved me a trip to the local Starbucks today. Nevertheless, whereas, I didn't get my authentic White Mocha Frapuccino, what I got instead was a new innovation theory and concept, namely this new coined phrase; The Blender Theory of Innovation, which is indeed an innovation creation in itself right?

Now then, what do I mean by blender innovation theory? Well, what I mean to say is that if an inventor, creator, or innovator wants to come up with new and exciting concepts, often it pays to take information, experience, know-how from many different areas of the human endeavor and mix them all up. In fact, as we teach, train, and program Artificial Intelligent computer systems to become creative, this is exactly what they must be able to do.

They must be able to cross-pollinate, mix and mingle, combine unique data and information, and look for similarities, differences, adaptations, and then couple it all together in different ways. Just like a human might borrow information from various sectors and combine those with the individuals experience, education, observations, discoveries, etc. To do this one has to ask questions, lots of them, and then mix it all up, mix it together like a blender does when making a customized Frapuccino at Starbucks.

It's relatively a simple concept to imagine when you think about it. When you order your drink, they ask you what you want, and how you want it, then they blend it all up and give it to you. Well, if you are doing your own blending of your own concept, perhaps you will begin to see why this technique and innovation strategy works so well - because it sure works for me.

I hope you will please consider all this, and if you have new thoughts on how best to program future AI software to be creative, or a technique you have used to innovate, then please shoot me an email, let's talk, compare notes, and see if we can take creativity to a higher level. Until then, please consider all this and think on it. Blend it all up, and see what you come up with, and be sure to try out my new theory too; The Blender Innovation Theory, that is.