Innovation Around the World: Palau, China, Brazil & Kenya
Innovation is happening everywhere, and there's a lot to admire about some of the insights behind these excellent ideas:Palau: Sharks, Better Alive than DeadThe southwestern Pacific nation of Palau consists of 250 islands, and is home to about 21,000 people. Many sharks live there also, and in the past the sharks were killed and sold as a central element of the economy. However, now that so many tourists come to view the 130 different shark species, the tourism industry has grown to about $120 million each year, about $6000 per citizen, which is also approximately 80% of the country’s total GDP. In an interesting example of both logical and innovative thinking, scientists calculated that during its lifetime, a single shark is worth about $1.6 million in the local Palau economy. If it is caught, however, it’s worth only about $100. Consequently, Palau recently set up the world’s first shark sanctuary, banning shark fishing in an area the size of France. Follow this very successful example, such sanctuaries are now common in the Western Pacific.China: 15 Day, 30 Story Skyscraper in HunanAn interesting example of innovative thinking from China is the construction of a 30-story hotel near Dongting Lake in Hunan Province, which was completed by Broad Group in 15 only days, and involved 200 workers. To expedite the process, most of the building was prefabricated in factories and trucked to the site during construction. The hotel was built to withstand a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, is engineered to provide very pure air, and is very well insulated to reduce energy consumption. The rapid construction technique of assembly in the factory reduces waste and requires less energy. The company expects to construct buildings like this all over China. But why just China? Indeed … (Also worth noting ... when I first heard about this I was rather skeptical. But the video is quite convincing...)Brazil: Innovation in Public TransitThe city of Curitiba, Brazil is known worldwide for its innovations in public transportation. In the past, buses would move very slowly through the central part of the city because a very large number of people were getting on and off each bus, and each person had to pay the fare at the front of the bus. To speed up the system, the city implemented miniature bus stops at many locations using simple, prefabricated structures. Passengers pay the fare when the enter the mini-bus stops, and when their bus comes, double doors open at front and back of the bus so people can get on and off very quickly. The city also implemented bus-only traffic lanes. As a result, the average travel time for bus riders was reduced by nearly half, which improved the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of people. The city’s bus system includes 21 regional terminals, and seven transit hubs that connect many different types of transit systems together. While the citizens of Curitiba on average own more cars than in similar cities in Brazil, car usage is about one-third lower than other cities because the public transit system is so effective.Kenya: Safer Bus TransportationSpeaking of public transit improvements, a simple approach to education has proven effective in Kenya. Citizens there rely on privately-operated buses to move between the countryside and the cities. However, drivers are often unsafe, and there are many deaths in traffic accidents. In Nairobi, the government implemented a public awareness campaign using modern media tools such as cell phones and social media to encourage people to complain if the drivers were unsafe, and the success of this system led to a significant reduction in the number of accidents, injuries, and deaths. Insurance claims declines by 50%, at a cost of less than $6 per year per life saved. This proved to be a very clever and efficient use of innovation to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
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These are four among dozens of examples that we could cite.So what should we say?Simple. Keep on innovating, world!