Historically we equated Eastern Europe with great industry. Factories and production, a kind of trudge towards making uniform, utilitarian products that are designed to be useful and functional. What you may not realise that a lot of innovation and creative have come from this region and now it’s the hub of some great innovation and development.
Let’s go back a bit in the history of innovation from the region – what did you buy when you last visited the stationery store? A ballpoint pen in order to make notes? This was invented in Hungary, a place that also the invention of artificial blood and the Rubik’s Cube. It was also the birthplace of John George Kemeny who in collaboration with the American Thomas Kurtz invented the BASIC computer language.
Going further back, it was the Serbian Nikola Tesla who discovered and patented the rotating magnetic field – the precursor to the discovery of alternating electric current.
So from the past to the very innovative present. Francis Tapon, the author of The Hidden Europe: What Eastern Europeans can teach us cites a simple example that he saw while on a trip to Belarus “The kitchen cabinet had dish racks embedded into the cabinet itself. Water would drip through landing into the sink or counter top. Because there’s no need for a separate rack Belarusians gain extra counter space.”
There is increasing emphasis on research and development in Eastern Europe and more collaboration. This in turn has meant more support for projects involving Eastern European companies. Let’s finish by looking at two new startups who’ve come from IBM’s Smartcamp startup project.
Profitero is a collaboration of people from Belarus, the Ukraine and Ireland. Their service allows online retailers to analyse the prices of their competitors, allowing them to adapt and compete themselves. With more people increasingly purchasing products and looking for services online this information is likely to become even more important in the next few years.
Skin Scan is a potentially life saving development from Romania. If someone is concerned about a mole or a mark on their skin they can scan a picture and send it to the company. They then analyse it for any potential problems to a 70 per cent degree of accuracy. This means that if someone is nervous about seeing their doctor or wants information before seeing a specialist then they have someone they can see first.
In short, there is a wide range of inventive skill and entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe. As governments seek to invest more and create more research and development facilities in this market, as larger companies build centres it’s going to be fascinating to see where the next innovation hub lands.
Rob
2/03/12
