The day's lesson started with the continuation of 2 presentations from last week with regards to Technology and Human Innovation. Kirene shared with us about men's propensity to create war technology in the name of "defense" and the author of the article felt that is was unnecessary to develop this kind of technology. I understand the need for defense (especially in the context of Singapore) but in our world today, strength is king and it is human nature to be the strongest and most powerful. Yun Ting continued with her article on surrogacy and I am personally not against surrogacy if a couple is infertile. However, as Yun Ting shared, it is sad to know that some people are starting to look at this as a way of making money and are even going to an extent of creating a baby even before the parents are found. (This would mean adoption rather than surrogation) This is a classic example in which technology was first created for the right reasons but have been misused due to the greed of men.
The discussion on sustainable development kicked off by a screening of a video called the story of stuff. What really sank into me was the fact that we were using a linear system to run on a finite planet. Simple but true. The fossil fuels and raw materials that we have are all limited and we need to learn to manage our resources for the future generations.
Simply defined:
Sustainable development is choosing options to take care of your needs but ensuring the same options are still available to future generations.
Industrialisation has indeed brought about massive growth in many developing countries. They benefit from the "advantages of backwardness" through knowledge and rent spillovers and also the increased amount of productivity means less labour costs and higher profits. It is also more possible to meet the millennium development goals for these countries as there is a greater access to education and healthcare, as well as a lower level of poverty and higher levels of employment.
However, industrialisation has brought about environment problems as well. As shown in the video, America has 5% of the world's population but they are using 30% of the world's resources. A loss of natural resources, pollution, as well as global warming are just of the few problems that industrialisation has caused.
In my opinion, I feel that education and increasing public awareness is one of the most effective methods to encourage sustainable development. People are more influenced to use less, and buy from companies that are practicing green technology. One drawback though is that the products might be more expensive. Another good method that the EU has come out with is the integrated product policy. This takes into account the entire life cycle of a product and aims to improve the overall environmental performance of the product.
Samatha's presentation highlighted the project in Abu Dhabi called Masdar City. Before this presentation, I never knew this project existed, but I must say that this is a good start in moving towards sustainable development. This city aims to use only half the amount of energy than that of a normal city. It has a wide array of interesting features like a comprehensive transport system and this city will be without cars! People will be travelling in PRTs instead- personal rapid transits. I would be waiting for the completion of this project and would love to visit this place someday!
Our next discussion involved the topic of Innovation Management and it was interesting to know how technology achievement could be measured via the Technology Achievement Index. (TAI) The TAI takes into account a few factors such as patents issued, the percentage of internet hosts as well as telephone usage and electricity consumption. This is similar to the Human Development Index that we discussed during the previous session. Surprisingly, Singapore is considered a leader but China is only considered a dynamic adopter. I guess one of the reasons why technology innovation in China is low is that there is a low need for innovation and productivity as China has a large amount of labour supply.
Prof also discussed his views about the entire innovation process of RDA- research, development and application. One key takeaway point that I have would be that creativity is only the beginning of the long process of innovation. The thinking of a idea or concept is dependent on ones creativity but innovation only comes in when the concept can be applied to our daily lives. Prof also shared about the valley, summit and cloud analogy. We talked about how corporations can be in a valley if they do not innovate, and with successful innovation one can be in the summit, while certain companies are in the cloud if they are dealing with technological innovation rather than market driven innovation. Tech innovation essentially involves creating something that the market has no demand for, and subsequently convincing the market that it is useful for them. This involves a high cost as R&D needs to be done, and there is a certain risk factor involved as there is a chance that the market will not buy your idea. To me, it is important for companies not to be complacent, as although they may hit the summit, they might still go down to the valley as there is always competition in any industry.
Zhao Qi talked about how 3M used to be a dominant player and a falling star but now it attempts to be a rising star again. One thing I felt that was rather interesting was that the employees were given their own free time during work to flex their own creative muscles and think of new innovations that we could use in society. Matthias shared about how a China is emphasizing on the development on green technology and I think that it is heartening to know that China is the number one user of green technology in the world. His discussion points also included the topic about foreign talent in Singapore, and I agree with prof's view that foreign talent may be allowed in Singapore as it brings about many benefits, including employment and it may help to boost the economy, however, it is equally important that the foreign companies also transfer their skills and knowledge to our society so that we are self sufficient in the future.
This lesson was very informative and I have learnt a lot. I feel that one area that we could have discussed on would be on recycling. Recycling would transfer the linear system of production to a cyclical one and think that it is important to recycle in our society today. I would rate this lesson 8/10.
Lenard
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