Office by Alex Penny
I’m sure many of you read the recent article on Google X in the NYTimes. Putting aside whether or not you think that Google should invest in projects like the ones mentioned in the article (I’m a believer) there is a larger phenomenon that I think is worth calling out: Going after big problems.
Beyond the noble and inspiring qualities of tackling issues like how to build an elevator to space, I was immediately struck by the possibility of “technology transfer” from the innovations that are likely to be generated. NASA is probably the most obvious example of technology transfer and has had over 1250 “success stories” of technology transfer from their labs into the lives of consumers and businesses. From human computer interaction (HCI), to healthcare and beyond NASA innovations have permeated our lives and the technology for these innovations came about through the application of research on much “larger” problems. NASA was founded in 1958 and has been around for 53 years, that works out to about 23.5 technology transfers per year of its existence. That’s not a bad record. I can’t begin to assign an average value per license/transfer but all in all it’s possible to see how either licensing or producing technology from experimentation like this could work out for Google across a huge spectrum of hurdle rates for the type of capital investment needed.
In the end, I don’t profess to know exactly how technologies derived from solutions to the myriad of problems that Google X is tackling will impact our lives in the future, maybe they won’t. But I wouldn’t bet on it and besides, this is EXACTLY the type of leadership from a large corporation we need right now. Fearless and looking forward with a glint in the eye.
NB: I do realize that this came off as a huge “homer” blog post and I think Google does deserve a lot of criticism for execution on a couple of major launches over the past few months (Google TV at the top) but those get dissected to no end by “professionals” so I try not to spend as much time writing about them.
