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Danes In Space?

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 by Martin Jacobsen


The Danish “Tycho Brahe” Spacecraft

You’ve probably already heard or read about the Danish space project as several offline and online media worldwide has given the project massive coverage (e.g. Wired, Gizmodo, Discovery and Space.com).

But we think the project deserves a bit of our attention as well. Why? In short: it’s a fantastic project. Kristian Von Bengtson and Peter Madsen have created something truly spectacular by executing an idea that would normally include NASA and billions of dollars. Instead, they have built their very own Spacecraft and floating platform, and they are now about to launch their HEAT 1X it for the very first time. If the test launch, including a dummy, is successful, they will improve the rocket before sending Peter Madsen into space – making Denmark just the fourth country in the world to complete a manned journey into space… And in sharp contrast to the United States, the Soviet Union and China, the Danes will do it without government funding.

A few other interesting facts:

  • The rocket’s heat shield is made of cork.
  • The valves are being heated by a 15€ hairdryer.
  • Every bit of technology in the project is open source – thus free for any company or person to use.
  • Around 20 different sponsors are helping out with e.g. radar technology.
  • Peter Madsen has helped design and construct three submarines, including Nautilus – the largest homemade submarine in the world.
  • The floating launch platform will be towed into the Baltic Sea by the Nautilus submarine.
  • Von Bengtson and Madsen have been updating their progress on The Something Awful Forum
  • Cost of the project? Around 50.000 euros. Or the same price as a well-equipped mid-size car here in Denmark.
  • The Copenhagen Suborbital HQ is situated on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, only a few hundred meters in beeline from our office.

At this very moment, the Nautilus submarine, the launch platform and the HEAT 1X rocket are well on their way to the launch spot near the island of Bornholm. Follow this (Danish) blog for updates.

At Fourmation, we celebrate proactive people doing unexpected things and executing impossible projects. That’s why we pay our outmost respect to The Copenhagen Suborbital and the two Danish daredevils.

Sources: Wikipedia, Wired and Copenhagen Suborbitals

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Weed, Sap, Actinic Keratoses, Intersections and Expeditions

Thursday, July 1st, 2010 by Martin Jacobsen

An Australian weed field.

When hunting for new ideas or wanting to innovate existing services, there may be valuable input from unexpected places. Combining different fields and looking at all new areas can lead to the world of intersections – and thus generate very interesting insights. For example: could a state of the art pharmaceutical company learn from alleged wonder tales?

Throughout history, we have used nature’s flora to alleviate and cure various kinds of deceases. Passing on knowledge through generations, we have shared tips and tricks on how weed, herbs, roots and flowers can be used to an abundance of things.

These techniques are still very much in use. In the Western world, however, there is a tendency to consider these old-fashioned techniques as somewhat hippie-like and indeed very diverged from that of modern medicine studies and research. Fieldwork and product development within the medicine and pharmaceutical industry are mostly done in laboratories and involve highly skilled scientists, budgets and business plans. And though this is not necessarily a bad thing, there could perhaps be some valuable insights and possibilities out there in the nature?

Australian pharmaceutical company Peplin (bought by Denmark-based Leo Pharma in December 2009) are currently working on the development of a new gel to treat Actinic Keratoses (AK), which is the most common pre-cancerous skin condition and caused by excessive sunbathing and use of solariums. And even if most pharmaceutical and medicine companies are constantly working on product development to ensure proper medicine for patients and steady revenue for the company, the story of Peplin’s work with the gel is extraordinary.

The Euphorbia Peplus

For years, Australian locals have used the white sap from a certain weed to cure warts, fight skin cancer and other face lesions. This plant, the Euphorbia Peplus or just Petty Spurge, is actually a common known weed, ruining gardens all over the world – including Denmark and Australia. It came to Peplin’s attention that the plant was worth a study. And the result: it turns out that the sap from the Petty Spurge is indeed very, very powerful and not just the result of a local wonder tale. Besides the gel to treat Actinic Keratoses, Peplin are now conducting heavy research into other products based on the Euphorbia Peplus.

PEP005 is the working title of the gel, which Peplin will launch in 2012 – to a market with a high level of potential: The direct costs for AK in the United States was $1.2 billion in 2004. 58 million people in the United States are living with AK, 11% to 25% of adults in the Northern hemisphere populations and 40% to 60% of adults in Australia have at least one AK lesion.

And the essence of this story? Besides the fact that Peplin’s gel will safe lives, it points towards the potential benefits of moving away from the office or the laboratory. When working with product development, design, manufacturing – in whatever business you are in – we need to realise that we cannot invent everything in the controlled, sterilized environment of our offices or laboratories. We need to get out into the nature, researching wonder tales, talk to people, listen to stories, local traditions and knowledge – in the very same way historic explorers embarked on adventurous scientific and exploratory expeditions.

(Sources: Peplin, Leo Pharma, Wikipedia and Medical News Today)

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Airplanes & Skunk Works

Thursday, June 10th, 2010 by Martin Jacobsen

(Three of the most well-known Skunk Works-developed jet fighters: The F-35 Lightning II, the SR-71 Blackbird and the F-104 Starfighter).

In business, it is common use to leave the normal premises or offices when working with idea generation,  complex projects or conducting meetings. New surroundings can benefit your thoughts and work processes and can result in improved solutions. You may know this by the termSs “process innovation”, “organisational innovation”, “organisational development” or similar, where key is to let go of the creative constraint. But the predecessor to these modern buzzwords was born in an allegedly foul-smelling factory floor in Burbank, California – hence the name, Skunk Works.

Skunk Works©: “A term used in engineering and technical fields to describe a group within an organisation given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, tasked with working on advanced or secret projects.”

Today, the term is widely used in various businesses when describing agile development, production and innovation processes in offline and online environments. The Skunk Works term and story, however, is 67 years old:

In 1943, during the World War II, the allies were facing a rapidly growing German Jet threat. If the Germans would succeed in building a functioning fighter jet, they would gain a massive advantage over the Allies.
Well aware of this, the Air Tactical Service Command of the US Army Air Force, met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation and expressed their need for a jet fighter. The Allied Forces had access to the British developed Goblin  jet engine, but the contemporary development and production time of new fighters meant that it could take years before a functional jet fighter would be ready.

A new approach was required.

Chief Research Engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson was the man for the job. In 1938, he had gathered a team of Lockheed-engineers who in secrecy, and in an isolated, walled-off building at the Lockheed-factory, had developed the world’s first 400 mph fighter – the P-38 Lightning.

Kelly assembled a similar team in June 1943 to begin the development of a jet fighter. Again, he separated the team from the rest of factory, and based on “Kelly’s 14 rules” the Skunk Works rules of operation was born.
Skunk Works was a team of highly skilled engineers, working closely together in a group based on massive autonomy and free of the normal production bureaucracy at the Lockheed Factory – ensuring an unprecedented short production time.

(The XP-80 prototype, aka. “Lulu Belle”, and the P-80 Shooting Star)

And the Skunk Works team proved their efficiency by designing and building the XP-80 prototype in only 143 days. Dubbed “Lulu Belle”, the XP-80 would later surface as the first-ever American jet fighter under the name of P-80 Shooting Star. The American jet fighter was born – and so was an all-new approach to rapid innovation and development.

And the meaning of all this? Today, much of the organisational- and process innovation seen in businesses, are centred around elements of the Skunk Works idea. The problem, however, is that bureaucracy and top-down management are often preventing the real Skunk Works-like development in taking place. This is where “Kelly’s 14 rules” can be applied. Though they originated in 1943, many of the rules are still considered valid today – even if they were invented around the creation of top-secret projects (three of the most interesting and still very much valid rules are listed below):

  • 1. “The Skunk Works® manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. He should report to a division president or higher.”
  • 5. “There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly.”
  • 9. “The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. He can and must test it in the initial stages. If he doesn’t, he rapidly loses his competency to design other vehicles.”

Looking at these rules, it seems rather evident that they can be applied directly to many aspects of business life today. And why? Because the issues of dealing with complexity hasn’t changed. Working with complex projects, it is essential to establish a solid foundation or framework around the team. Within this framework, then, the team will have the time, resources and autonomy to succeed with their task(s). That is why “Kelly’s 14 rules” are still highly applicable to today’s business life.

At Fourmation, we are true believers in the “Skunk Works” approach when working with projects. But what do you think – and what techniques do you use in your company?

(Sources: Lockheedmartin.com and Wikipedia)

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Amateur enthusiast beats NASA with a helium balloon

Friday, June 4th, 2010 by Martin Jacobsen

What is true, radical innovation? It is hard to provide a single, unified answer to such question, but this blog post will present an example of what we believe is an excellent example of integrated thinking and innovation.

For years, NASA has been the primary force in exploring what’s above the sky. They have led countless spaceships into, well yes, space, been a leading force in the ISS Space Station, landed on the moon in 1969 and given us unseen footage and knowledge via the Hubble Telescope and satellites.

So, you would think that their near limitless budget would ensure their leading role in everything they do? Well, think again. British amateur enthusiast Robert Harrison wanted to take his own photos of space. Browsing through the Internet, Harrison found the recipe for what ended as an enormous success. With a $747 setup consisting of a helium balloon, a GPS tracking device, a small parachute and a camera programmed to sleep and reactivate every five minutes to take eight photos and record video. Dubbed “Icarus”, he launched the balloon and the camera rig – and the result is absolutely spectacular.

After posting the results on the Internet, the footage buzzed around the web, and caught the attention of mighty NASA. They phoned him up, curious to know how he had done it. Certain that he must have used an expensive (home made) rocket, they were amazed and bedazzled when they realised that it was a home made $747-camera rig that had outperformed their million dollar setups.

And the learning? NASA is a huge organisation with 17,900 highly skilled employees and a $17.7 billion budget. Still, one single amateur came up with a solution far superior to those of NASA. And why? Harrison didn’t have any managers to refer to, bureaucracy to fight or meetings to attend. He just had an idea and the curiosity to pursue it. So he did. That is a truly fascinating story about a single persons “Skunk Worked” project. And perhaps NASA should give that same “Skunk Works” model a go?

(Source: Gnews.com, Wikipedia, Robertharrison.org and Flickr)

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