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Articles on Process of Innovation

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Government policies sparked rapid growth and technology innovation in solar energy, wind energy and battery markets. Michael Hall/Getty Images

Technology innovation gives government leverage to drive down emissions fast – here’s how

Technology innovation is one of the Biden administration’s most powerful tools for accelerating progress on climate change. Recent successes in renewable energy and batteries show how this can work.
Maker spaces give engineers and designers the tools to build low-cost medical equipment using locally available materials. Brandon Martin, Rice University

‘Frugal design’ brings medical innovations to communities that lack resources during the pandemic

Engineering students in Malawi and Tanzania have used the materials and tools available to them to build ventilators, personal protective equipment and UV disinfection systems.
Understanding how artificial intelligence algorithms solve problems like the Rubik’s Cube makes AI more useful. Roland Frisch via Wikimedia Commons

How explainable artificial intelligence can help humans innovate

AI algorithms can solve hard problems and learn incredible tasks, but they can’t explain how they do these things. If researchers can build explainable AI, it could lead to a flood of new knowledge.
By encouraging random encounters and free-flowing conversation, coffee shops are engines of innovation. Hulton Archive/Stringer via Getty Images

Why being stuck at home – and unable to hang out in cafes and bars – drains our creativity

By missing out on chance encounters and observations that jolt ‘a-ha’ moments, new ideas, big and small, go undiscovered.
Researchers take a closer look at how activities that engage the whole family can help young distance learners build STEM skills. MoMo Productions/Getty Images

Getting kids – and their caregivers – to practice STEM at home

A new hands-on learning program helps families with young children build their engineering skills.
Many prizes that aim to spur innovation are winner-take-all. VCG for 2019 RoboMaster Robotics Competition Final Tournament via Getty Images

Want to solve society’s most urgent problems? Cash prizes can spur breakthroughs

Society has never faced more pressing challenges. Researchers are investigating how monetary prizes can help focus innovators’ attention, creativity and investment on finding solutions.
Bernard Tobey, a double amputee, and his son, wearing Union sailor uniforms, standing beside a small wagon displaying Secretary of War Edwin Stanton’s dispatch on the fall of Fort Fisher. Fetter's New Photograph Gallery/Library of Congress

How the Civil War drove medical innovation – and the pandemic could, too

Lessons from history make clear that the federal government can spur medical innovation in a crisis, including this pandemic. Providing certainty and clarity is critical.

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