The notion of "lateral thinking," and its impact on the discovery process is hardly a new concept to the research community. Everyone knows that most major scientific discoveries occur when inductive reasoning is forced to take a back seat to more creative, and sometimes less logical, problem-solving techniques. As the saying goes, "logic can prove, but it does not invent."
Last year, IBM began staging "jam sessions" as a way to foster breakthrough thought, and often to set the stage for future technological innovation. Typically involving 8 to 25 people, and lasting anywhere from one hour to a full day, these sessions provide participants with a scenario to ponder. The idea is to get everyone to generate insights that might not surface through more traditional problem solving.
On July 7, IBM Research hosted its biggest session ever when it brought together 700 summer students with 200 researchers in each of its eight labs around the world for eight hours of brainstorming. Dubbed Summer Jam '98, the day was dedicated to exploring how technology will change the way we live, work, learn, think and play in the year 2020 -- a number that also served as a reminder, as IBM Chairman Lou Gerstner commented in his opening remarks at the Jam, of what he hoped was one of the day's outcomes: "Clear vision."
The morning sessions examined the ways in which technology will continue to fundamentally reshape our lives, global society, commerce and learning. During the afternoon sessions, the groups focused on core technologies of the future and how they might be applied to specific industries -- a beverage company, a fast-food company, automobiles, banks and mail delivery. The last hour of the day featured a "battle of the jams," where student/researcher teams presented their concepts for new products, services and solutions.
Those ideas were nothing if not technologically ambitious.
Imagine a beverage that morphs to your desired flavor as soon as it hits your taste buds.
Or picture the leading manufacturer of jeans going to "real time" manufacturing that allows
people to purchase custom-made clothing designed and fitted in dressing-room kiosks around the
world. Or how about a new business opportunity for health care companies: using sophisticated
computing and biological technologies to grow synthetic tissues and meld them with sensors
to create smart implants.
IBM Fellow Bernie Meyerson believes that thinking that ignores practical
constraints can still be highly practical: "If you look at some of the really
great advances in society, they are driven by people who recognize the white
space as being unbelievably fruitful and shade it accordingly. Many of the ideas
I heard today were about the absolute white space. These folks don't worry about
the rules -- they plan to rewrite them. And they will."
