In our TEDxPuxi Speakers series, we interview some of the event's headliners. Find them at the half-day of talks on November 3 at the Shanghai Centre Theatre. Tickets can be purchased here.
Currently Director of Innovation at Intel, Kapil Kane’s design and development skills have also been applied to the fields of astrophysics, particle accelerators and automobiles throughout the years as well as leading this department at Apple. In addition to his work at Intel, he runs Ideas2Reality – a China-wide incubator and accelerator of ideas.
Ahead of his talk at TEDxPuxi, we spoke with Kane about designing the iPod, astrophysics, his China-wide corporate incubator and this year's event theme, "Yes! And..."
Having spent a decade each living and working in the US and China, in addition to studying in India; how have these different locations and cultures shaped your work in design and innovation?
Growing up in India gave me a solid technical foundation and an upbringing deeply rooted in culture and spirituality. Both of which I go back to when faced with a really difficult problem, at work or in life.
The time spent in the US allowed me to unleash the creative side of me. This is where I learned how to innovate from the best in the business — be it Jony Ive at Apple or David Kelley at Stanford. The encouragement and support I got from all around me, especially my managers and seniors, made me believe in myself and my abilities.
Finally, the time I spent in China taught me how to get things done at Shenzhen speed! I spent countless days on factory floors in Shenzhen, Kunshan, Suzhou and Dongguan (to name a few), learning the ins and outs of how products actually get manufactured, and that made me a good product designer.
As well as designing products for Apple such as the iPod Shuffle and iMac, you also engage in areas of design in astrophysics, particle accelerators and automobiles. Is there any crossover working across these seemingly diverse fields?
Designing something like an iPod at Apple was completely different from designing a telescope at the Department of Astrophysics at Stanford.
iPod is designed for ease of manufacturing, optimized for cost with a great emphasis on aesthetics. The telescope was one of a kind, had to be precision made to function in extreme environmental conditions. Also, it had to work right off the bat once assembled in the field.
The focus was not on cost or the appearance but the basic functionality. It was absolutely critical to make it super robust. You don't get a second shot at running an experiment at McMurdo Station at the South Pole just because the designer messed up! So, the stakes were very high.
The auto industry was a bit slow for my liking. A new car would take anywhere between four to six years from concept to hitting the road — mostly driven by rigorous safety testing and regulations.
Although the underlying science and math were the same, the design goals for the iPod were completely different than the design goals for the telescope or that for the Jeep Cherokee!
In addition to being the Director of Innovation at Intel, you also run Ideas2Reality, a China-wide corporate incubator and accelerator of ideas. How important has your own career been in setting up this venture?
Two years ago, when I took the helm of innovation at Intel China, I noticed that our employees were creating a lot of cool technologies in the labs but these technologies were not getting converted into businesses at the rate I would have liked.
What I soon realized was that the innovators were mostly engineers and lacked the business acumen to turn ideas into business propositions or the skills to sell their ideas to the management. My work with startups had exposed me to startup accelerators like China Accelerator or XNode who helped tech startups build impressive business plans with which to secure VC funding.
I have replicated this model inside of Intel where the startups are the projects initiated by our employees (we call them founders), VCs are our business units and Ideas2Reality (I2R) is the Accelerator! We help our employees turn their ideas into validated business cases to be presented to the business units to get resourced and funded as official Intel projects and get launched into the market.
I2R is run like a startup with a super lean team. We even work out of a co-working space! This has been my passion for the past two years and what I consider to be the most exciting project of my career.
To what extent has the phrase "Yes! And..." been present in either your professional or personal life?
One of the primary reasons an idea dies prematurely is because it's met with a "No! But...," "we've tried this before" or "we don't do this here" etc., rather than a "Yes! And..."
This is the very reason "Yes! And..." is considered as the rule #1 of improv theater. Because it keeps the conversation going. In similar fashion, saying "Yes! And..." to an idea advances that idea which is critical for innovation.
I do innovation for a living and although I may not utter those exact words all the time, "Yes! And..." is at the very core of what I do. Without a "Yes! And..." kind of mentality, you can't really innovate!
In what way to you intend to address the "Yes! And..." theme at TEDxPuxi given your professional background?
At TEDxPuxi this year, I'm going to talk about how you can be an Intrapreneur — an entrepreneur inside of a large organization. How you can use the power of "Yes! And..." to advance your ideas and turn them into amazing products and services. In essence, I'm going to talk about why you don't have to leave your job in order to change the world!
See Kane at TEDxPuxi on November 3 at the Shanghai Centre Theatre. Check out our preview here, and purchase tickets here.
Read more interviews in our TEDxPuxi Speaker series here.
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