The Reading Room – What’s the SCOOP?

Now in a regular Friday spot, this is the Reading Room, a weekly roundup of what we’ve been reading, watching and listening to. You can see these updates even more regularly if you follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter.

• We all love to see technology improving lives. That’s why this headline caught my eye. “New Robot Designed to Crawl Through Stroke Victims’ Brains”. Wow, right. The string, or snake-like robot is comprised of a nickel-titanium alloy that provides enough flexibility for the complex maze of blood vessels within the brain. A rubbery paste or hydrogel coating embedded with metal specs allows the bot to be magnetically controlled by doctors. Sound like science fiction!
• As EMS companies come to terms with the changing challenges they face, another new CEO was announced. Sanmina has named Hartmut Liebel its new CEO. Liebel will succeed Michael Clarke, who will have an advisory role through the transition, the electronics maker said. Liebel joined Sanmina in July as president and chief operating officer, and prior to that held positions at iQor and Jabil Inc.
• Well worth a read for anyone exploring the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is Mastering the duality of digital: How companies withstand disruption, from McKinsey Digital. For established companies in an increasingly digital world, making incremental changes to longstanding business models isn’t enough to succeed. To sustain growth in the face of disruptive threats from digital challengers, incumbent companies must overcome two challenges at the same time: innovating with new digital businesses while also digitizing core holdings. The findings of multiple McKinsey Global Surveys on digitization show the defining elements of strategies and operating models that are built for this duality of digital.
• According to MIT Sloan, “AI isn’t coming for your job, yet. But leaders do need to understand how machine learning, natural language processing, and other intelligence will impact their business.” Both hype about AI’s immediate potential and fear about its effects are exaggerated, according to MIT Sloan professor Thomas W. Malone, director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence.
• Check out this blog by one of my industry heroes, Dan Gamota of JABIL. Learning to Fly: University Partnerships as an Engine for Global Innovation.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: According to Forbes, New Billionaire Daniel Dines is Boss of the Bots. Daniel Dines is Romania’s newest billionaire. UiPath, the company Dines cofounded, creates bots, or blocks of code that automatically carry out repetitive tasks. You might associate bots with Russian election ruses or customer service stand-ins, but UiPath recently garnered a $7 billion valuation by selling a more humdrum kind that can pull numbers from invoiced PDFs into accounting software, or process insurance claims.

PODCAST OF THE WEEK: In preparation for the Women in Tech sessions and the SCOOPstudio debate at SMTAi, I am listening to “The Female Founder”, a resource guide for all things entrepreneurial. On this podcast, you’ll hear inspiring stories from founders, investors, engineers, and movers and shakers in the startup ecosystem. Rachel Sipperley’s mission is to empower others to become Incredible entrepreneurs and provide tangible tips to turn ideas from dreams to reality.

 

That’s it until next week! For more regular musing connect or follow me on LinkedInor Twitter.

Read more, watch more, hear more, know more – that’s the SCOOP!