Category: Articles

For transformational ideas to gain traction, it is necessary to bring together a variety of stakeholders to enable the success of each of our portfolio companies.

Danny Grant, PhD is a founding partner and Chief Technology Officer at Innovobot. With over 20 years’ experience in R&D management, and a PhD in robotics, he is an expert in the areas of control systems, mechatronics, robotics and haptics, and a prolific inventor with over 250 patents to his name. Formerly VP Research at Immersion Corporation, he was the lead inventor of the PlayStation 5 DualSense controller.

Choosing a path through the myriad technologies that Industry 4.0 offers is hard enough, but with uncertainties generated by the pandemic, perhaps the universe of viable options has become smaller and more manageable, and the business cases clearer.

Richard Markoff, PhD is a partner at Innovobot. A world-renowned Industry 4.0 and supply chain executive, academic, consultant and coach, he had a long international career with L’Oréal cosmetics, where in his last role as Director of Global Supply Chain Standards, he was the key architect of L’Oréal’s supply chain evolution. In October, he published The Digital Supply Chain Challenge: Breaking Through, a handbook to the essentials of digital supply chain transformation.

As we all experienced the pandemic lockdown this spring and wondered what was coming next, some enterprising scientists were contemplating tracking the COVID-19 virus through our wastewater systems. Researchers at Montreal’s École Polytechnique and McGill University were among the first scientists in Canada to entertain the idea of testing wastewater to track the spread of the coronavirus.

In a very short time, the global need to respond to the threat of COVID-19 changed the way we live. And in that short time, we have seen huge environmental changes.

Restricted movements of people, reduced vehicular traffic and suspended operations of factories have led to noticeable improvements in pollution levels across the planet.

Blue waters flow through Venetian canals, and landscapes that have been obscured by smog for decades have become visible again. People living in Punjab are seeing the Himalayas from over 100 miles away as a result of improved air quality.

As the world grapples with the human and economic crisis unravelling before us, supply chains are finding themselves squarely within the public eye and experiencing unique challenges of their own.

With millions of people suddenly finding themselves working from home as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, I thought I’d share what I’ve learned about remaining effective while working remotely.

A number of years ago, I had a job that required me to work from home full-time and I had to develop habits that ensured that I stay focused and productive. My experience is that working from home can be even more productive than working from the office (less distractions, interruptions etc.) but to do so effectively requires some ground rules that will also help ensure the proper work-life balance.

Water. I’ve always been fascinated with it. The way it sounds, the way it looks, how it feels. I have a personal relationship with water. Whether we realize it or not, we pretty much all do – it’s all around us, at times heard but not seen, felt as rain, only to be grudgingly ignored. I guess I began to realize this as a child watching my father religiously water his vegetable garden over the course of every summer with endless yards of green hose, improvised receptacles and containers, and the occasional hardware store appurtenances that no industrious 1970s city dweller could do without.

Many of the things that we do in our careers as entrepreneurs come from an urge to act.

We act when we see that something is missing in the market. Or when we see that something can be done better. Or in a whole different way. That urge germinates into an idea, grows into a concept, and develops into a vison and mission that we work toward actualizing.