What does innovation mean to you?
Push the boundaries of existing components/systems to a functioning level that the current status-quo would not consider them to work functionally together. Innovation can be either said adaptation or the creation of an entirely new component that benefits society. This benefit shall contribute in making life easier, alleviating a certain existing process, or improving our understanding of a certain subsystem to lead the path towards the next innovation. A component within society is not limited to a "mechanical/material" product, it can be a new law, a discovery that leads to a change in understanding, a process, or a new way to interact with our environment.
What do you believe is the most important capability for companies to thrive in the economy of tomorrow?
The core of each company are it's employees. Each employee needs to understand their role, how their task fits the overall goal/mission of the company, and how this mission/goal/product the company delivers integrates and delivers upon society. It is to ultimately understand the direct or indirect impact of such product on society. Only then, can a product be adapted to changing circumstances that arise through innovation of other components (see definition above) that may influence this product. This also needs to include the understanding when a product needs to be abandoned and a new one created.
How can we leverage our collective strength to create a more prosperous future?
Education and Educating. We need an educated society, one that is able to think critically, that is able to understand that systems can be complex....our system as a society is a complicated network of many components that all work together --> Education.
Only then, we, as forward-thinkers, innovators, scientists, teachers/professors, can deliver upon our work but for that we need to master how we communicate the importance of our work and its impact to society in an understandable, engaging manner --> Educating.
Describe your project and work and what makes it so innovative?
Creating a new traffic management system in the stratosphere to accomodate high-altitude balloons, high-altitude airships, solar-&-gas-powered drones, supersonic and hypersonic aircraft. The challenge is in accomodating new types of aerial vehicles, considering their vastly different characteristics in flight performance, materials, energy, propulsion and their dependencies on the atmosphere that do not allow them to fly like a common commercial aircraft and create highly unpredictable trajectories and other limitations. This system needs to be save, efficient and fairly accessible to all stakeholders involved.
