...EXTENT OF INNOVATION....How to board a non-stop train while it's moving

Do you always struggle to reach the platform in time when catching a train? Then how about a platform which comes to your house before catching up with a non-stop high-speed locomotive?

That's the idea behind Moving Platforms, a transport concept dreamt up Paul Priestman, director of British design group Priestmangoode.

The high-speed train would run non-stop between two ends of a continent, such as from Los Angeles to New York, never actually entering cities or towns. Instead, a network of trams would carry passengers out of the city to a line outside. 

                                        Jump on board a moving train (Image: Priestmangoode)

Artist's depiction of the local tram and non-stop high speed train docking to allow passengers to transfer from one train to another. (Image: Priestmangoode)

"You could get onto a tram on your street and then seamlessly travel from that onto the high-speed line and then get off at your destination in another city, then onto a tram and then end up at your destination without ever having gone in your car or perhaps got on a bus,"Priestman told CNN.

The tram would speed up while the train slowed down, allowing the two to safely dock for the same time a train would normally spend sitting in a station. Passengers could also use trams to transfer from one high-speed train to another.

But while the idea sounds innovative - New Scientist first featured it in an article in 1969.

Artist's depiction of the docking system viewed from the inside of the local tram (Image: Priestmangoode)

The idea echoes a similar scheme created by Taiwanese inventor Peng Yu-lun in 2007. Yu-lun's concept keeps regular platforms, but passengers use them to board a small shuttle that attaches to the roof of a high-speed train.

THIS IS CALLED ENDLESS INNOVATION..................................

The Entrepreneur

Manage the risk of starting a business by learning how different entrepreneurs overcome the hurdles of new businesses through actual cases and success stories. Gain powerful concepts and tools that create successful entrepreneurs, learn how to find opportunities and create workable business plans that will help you pursue your dream business. This program will teach you "how to" of setting up a business: the investment involved; the operations of the business; the market you need to target and the proper management of finances.



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An in-depth marketing knowledge is essential in establishing a business. The topic teaches the students to use IT as a tool for finding and evaluating opportunities in the market.

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Creates guidelines to develop valuable network essential for entrepreneurs. It teaches students to effectively create business networks.

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Discusses the procedures and step-by-step action in putting up and sustaining the operations of a venture.

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Innovation

The process by which an idea or invention is translated into a good or service for which people will pay, or something that results from this process.

To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination, and initiative in deriving greater or different value from resources, and encompasses all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often results from the application of a scientific or technical idea in decreasing the gap between the needs or expectations of the customers and the performance of a company's products. In a social context, innovation is equally important in devising new collaborative methods such as alliance creation, joint venturing, flexible working hours, and in creating buyers' purchasing power through methods such as layaway plans. Innovations are divided into two broad categories: (1) Evolutionary innovations are brought about by numerous incremental advances in technology or processes and are of two types (a) Continuous evolutionary innovations result in an alteration in product characteristics instead of in a new product, and do not require any user-learning or changes in his or her routine. Examples are the multiblade shaving razor, fluoride toothpaste, and laptop computers. (b) Dynamic continuous evolutionary innovations require some user-learning but do not disrupts his or her routine. Examples are fax machines, instant photography, and handheld computers. (2) Revolutionary innovations (also called discontinuous innovations) require a good deal of user-learning, often disrupt his or her routine, and may even require new behavior patterns. Examples are photocopier (xerography) machines, personal computers, and the Internet. Innovation is synonymous with risk-taking and organizations that introduce revolutionary products or technologies take on the greatest risk because they have to create new markets. A less risky innovation strategy is that of the imitator who starts with a new product (usually created by a revolutionary-innovator) having a large and growing demand. The imitator then proceeds to satisfy that demand better with a more effective approach. Examples are IBM with its PC against Apple Computer, Compaq with its cheaper PCs against IBM, and Dell with its still-cheaper clones (sold directly to the customer) against Compaq. Although many innovations are created from inventions, it is possible to innovate without inventing, and to invent without innovating.