Since December members of the Innovation Club have been testing Suunto watches enabled with Microsoft’s SPOT technology.  Although the watches are reminiscent of the calculator watches of the 80’s their advanced features quickly become addictive.  Most notably, they have the ability to wirelessly sync with your Outlook calendar.  Check out the article from the Sloan newspaper, Fifteen, for the full story.

http://media.www.mitsloanfifteen.com/media/storage/paper766/news/2006/12/05/StudentLife/A.Watch.Fit.For.James.Bond-2518578.shtml

Norwich Union has introduced a new driving insurance scheme based on where, how much and how you drive. If it does take off on London, this might be a good startup idea for US metros as well, Anyone interested :)?

The best part of the deal is that they offer you “speed camera detection”.

From their website:

http://www.payasyoudriveinsurance.co.uk/index.htm

” “Pay As You Drive”â„¢ insurance* is a revolutionary new type of car insurance, which enables us to provide comprehensive cover that’s as individual as you are.
Using the latest GPS (Global Positioning System) technology we are able to calculate monthly insurance premiums based on how often, when and where you drive.
“Pay As You Drive”â„¢ insurance could put you in the driving seat and give you increased control of your premiums, you can also benefit from a range of other in-car features including; a free 30 day trial of satellite navigation, a free 30 day trial of speed camera detection and 24 hour access to a personal assistant via your in-car Assistance Button allowing you access to immediate help in the event of an accident or breakdown. You wont have to remember telephone numbers or even know exactly where you are. ”

For all you Web 2.0 enthusiasts, there is “Office 2.0″ conference being held in San Francisco this week.

http://www.office20con.com/

There definitely is a lot of euphoria and hype around web-hosted office applications, i am personally a bit skeptical when it come to adoption of these in enterprise sector anytime soon because

a) Functionality - Can web-based app match the functionality available on the desktop application?

b) Connectivity - We are still atleast 3-5 years away from Ubiquitious Wireless broadband becoming a reality in major business cities.

c) Security/Mindset - Regardless of what the Office 2.0 startups quote about data theft (they claim that majority of data/information theft is done by insiders), how comfortable will an enterprise be in storing their financial, planning and various other documents on a remote server?

BTW, if you are looking for rationale for why you should use Office 2.0, look here:

http://itredux.com/blog/2006/01/16/rationale-for-office-20/

May be in my next post, i will cover why i am still not convinced

If this ins’t the definition of innovative ideas coming out of MIT, I’m not sure what is. This would have been very cool to have had in my pocket when learning newtonian physics!

Innovation Club and Media Tech Club members used the new Motorola MOTOKRZR phone equipped with a supercool prototype mobile blogging application called BlogCentral to record live video blogs from the MIT Emerging Technologies Conference.

MOTOROLA WANTS TO KNOW what you think of mobile video blogging!! Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

The 6th Annual Emerging Technologies Conference, will take place on Sept 27-28th on the MIT campus. This year’s exciting lineup includes an opening keynote by Amazon’s frontman, Jeff Bezos, and other notables such as:

Jonathan Miller, CEO of AOL
Phillip Sharp, Nobel Laureate and Pioneer of RNA Interference
Roger McNamee, Founder of Elevation Partners

There are about 8 breakout sessions which touch on innovative topics including: Anti-aging, human genome sequencing, innovation hindrances, software radio, and other topics.

In addition, there will be representatives from the Tech Review’s list of the world’s most influential leaders under 35 years of age who will shape innovation in the decades ahead. Various tech testbeds, and keynote panels are planned for this two-day conference. Over 75 companies were represented in 2005 which included firms ranging from Kleiner Perkins to NASA to Google.

For more details on the conference goto:
http://www.technologyreview.com/events/tretc/

The MIT Innovation Club has been formally asked by the Tech Review to volunteer at this event. Details for volunteers will be sent out this week.

We recently got an invitation from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia to send teams to its 4th Annual Innovation Challenge MBA Case Competition, sponsored by DaimlerChrysler, Whirpool, American Express, and General Electric.

A quick set of emails to the Sloan student body resulted in greater than 50 MBA students and Sloan Fellows interested in participating. Last year, Sloan placed in the top 10 out of 321 business school teams and with a $20,000 grand prize, it’s no wonder that there’s so much interest from the Sloan student body.

Of particular note: The student teams select the Challenge Sponsor of greatest interest to them and then tackle a challenge from that sponsor. A team of various innovation experts then vote on the challenge solutions and crown the Most Innovation team.

Let’s go Sloan!

With the arrival of September, the MIT Innovation Club is beginning to ramp up for another academic year. After a summer’s worth of planning, the Innovation Club has a lot of new things in store for those of you on the MIT campus as well as around the world:

Further website expansion: After renovating our website last spring, we will continue to add features and expand the information contained within the site. For the past few weeks, we have been beta testing a message board tool which is now available via the ‘Forum’ link at the top of our webpage. We hope that the message board will be a place where members of the MIT community and those of you around the world can come together to discuss innovation and brainstorm new ideas. The blogging that began here in the spring will continue as well, featuring commentary on innovative technologies and business models.

Expanded event and activity schedule: During the summer, we have been in contact with many corporate partners including many from the world of information technology (including Apple, Dell, Intel, LG Electronics, Logitech, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Research-In-Motion, and Texas Instruments) and will host numerous speakers, focus groups, and brainstorming sessions during the upcoming year. We will also expand our relationship with MIT’s Science and Engineering Business Club (SEBC) and host events for both MBA students and undergraduate and graduate students in the science and engineering disciplines. Finally, we have a number of Technology Testbeds planned for the upcoming year. In addition to our flagship Blackberry Testbed, we will put a number of additional “to-be-announced” devices and technologies in the hands of students for their use during the academic year.

New merchandise: We will soon receive our first shipment of Innovation Club Nalgene water bottles, branded with the new Innovation Club logo. During the upcoming year, we hope to expand our lineup of Innovation Club-branded merchandise with details and ordering information posted on the website.

Broader range of I-Teams: On the heels of our success Innovation Lab (I-Lab) projects last year, the Innovation Club will work with MIT’s Desphande Center and the MIT Sloan Venture Capital and Private Equity Club (VCPE) in both the fall and the spring to sponsor a number of I-Teams projects within the MIT MediaLab and with external corporate partners. I-Teams are student teams who assess the commercial feasibility of scientific and engineering breakthroughs and conduct strategy projects for corporate partners and MIT research labs under the leadership of MIT faculty and staff. More information about our I-Teams lineup will be posted here on the website soon.

Free subscription to the MIT Technology Review for MIT community Innovation Club members: In order to help keep its members close to the pulse of innovative products, services, and business models, the Club and the MIT Technology Review now have a special arrangement through which members of both the Innovation Club and the MIT Community will receive a free subscription to the MIT Technology Review.

That’s it for now, with more updates to follow shortly…

As always we welcome all questions and suggestions at innovationclub-execATmit.edu.

We look forward to seeing you soon in person on campus as well as virtually on our message board.

We’ve invested in getting new logos made for the Innovation Club and now have them available for use.

Hey everyone!

Well, the academic year is winding down, along with our Innovation Club activities.

Last event of the year -> ‘Exploring the City Car’ IdeaExchange -> 5-16-05
Tomorrow, as the last official event of the year, the Innovation Club is proud to host the ‘Exploring the City Car’ IdeaExchange. As part of this semester’s ‘Smart Cities’ I-Lab, the IdeaExchange will feature attendees brainstorming about the future of urban transportation and we are honored to have the IdeaExchange sponsored by General Motors in partnership with the MIT Media Lab.

Recent Events
The ‘City Car’ IdeaExchange caps off a busy couple of weeks for the Innovation Club, during which we hosted numerous events.

On Thursday, April 27th, we hosted Tan Rao, Co-founder and CEO, Radiospire Networks. Tan delivered a presentation about emerging opportunities in the Wireless Home.

On Tuesday, May 9th, we co-hosted, along with the Net Impact Club, Elizabeth Johansen from IDEO. Elizabeth delivered a presentation about IDEO’s plans for social impact design.

On Wednesday, May 10th, we co-hosted, along with the Marketing Club, Dave Balter, Founder and CEO, BzzAgent, and co-author of “Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing”. Dave delivered a presentation on the evolution of ‘Word-of-Mouth’ marketing.

On Thursday, May 11th, we hosted Dr. Irving Wladawsky-Berger, VP of Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM. Dr. Wladawsky-Berger delivered a presentation on the state of innovation in the 21st century.

Looking Ahead
After our last Organizers Meeting this Wednesday, the Innovation Club will move into Summer mode and begin to plan the 2006-2007 academic year. Upcoming events and ‘drawing board’ ideas include:

-Distributing a number of Blackberry 8700g and 7100 handheld devices to Club members in our first Technology Testbed

-Planning a broader range of Innovation Lab projects for the next year. After successfully concluding the Hitachi and Smart Cities Innovation Lab projects this year, we hope to kick off several more hands-on, practical experience projects with other Media Lab sponsors and industry leaders next year

-Planning a broader range of Technology Testbed, Speaker Series, and IdeaExchange speaker events and projects for the next year. Much of the summer will be spent building relationships with corporate partners and we hope to be able to announce a wide range of exciting initiatives in September

That’s about it for now. Lots of excitement ahead for the club. Please don’t hesitate to contact us at innovationclub-exec@mit.edu with any questions or ideas