Ask HN: How to find papers with technologies that have potential for products?
Hi, I am interested in a structured way to find papers that may lead to innovative products. The idea is to look into the CS Stanford syllabus and read papers in the reading material. Any other ideas? Does anyone else also have this need?
9 comments
It sounds like you're looking for a structured approach to creating new ideas.
There's no need to do that. Turning innovation into a process is exactly what happens at big, stodgy companies. They all are marching to the same drumbeat, innovating in exactly the same ways. It's all bland and boring - the really unique interesting ideas are an exception to the norm.
All those papers in the Stanford CS syllabus, guess who else has read them? Every other CS student that has ever went to Stanford. There are thousands of people who have had the exact same ideas you will have when you read those papers.
Just let your interests drive you. Let yourself fall down Wikipedia and reading holes. Traverse ancient web 1.0 sites with terrible design and a lack of meaning. Find a totally out of date computer science book and read it cover to cover. It's weird how the most dull, ancient history ends up being a wealth of ideas - just because no one has thought to look there yet.
There's no need to do that. Turning innovation into a process is exactly what happens at big, stodgy companies. They all are marching to the same drumbeat, innovating in exactly the same ways. It's all bland and boring - the really unique interesting ideas are an exception to the norm.
All those papers in the Stanford CS syllabus, guess who else has read them? Every other CS student that has ever went to Stanford. There are thousands of people who have had the exact same ideas you will have when you read those papers.
Just let your interests drive you. Let yourself fall down Wikipedia and reading holes. Traverse ancient web 1.0 sites with terrible design and a lack of meaning. Find a totally out of date computer science book and read it cover to cover. It's weird how the most dull, ancient history ends up being a wealth of ideas - just because no one has thought to look there yet.
More than anything, I’m trying to expose myself to the current technological front because it’s likely that some ideas there haven’t been implemented yet. I totally agree that there are ideas to be found in past situations, and every now and then, an incredible leap forward emerges thanks to some ancient theorem. In fact, I believe it makes sense to combine both approaches. As for the competition of ideas, I don’t see it as much of a problem. Ideas can be combined with others, and even if the exact same idea comes up, there are still numerous fields where it can be implemented
Most research universities have departments specifically set up to license technologies and inventions produced by their labs:
- https://tlo.mit.edu/
- https://otl.stanford.edu/industry/explore-technologies
- https://jhu.technologypublisher.com/
- https://tlo.mit.edu/
- https://otl.stanford.edu/industry/explore-technologies
- https://jhu.technologypublisher.com/
My experience with Australian universities is that companies that suitably structure their collaboration with universities also get R&D tax concessions.
The T&Cs favour established companies with revenue that benefits from the reduced taxation.
Interesting, thanks!
Innovative products are the result of the application of software engineering to solving problems in specific domains. CS/SE papers are focused on theory and gaming the academic system, i.e. getting grant monies.
If you want to create a profit generating product, then study up in some non-IT domain, understand the most pressing problems and solve one that current technology renders feasible. For example, the principles of generative text systems was conceived back in the 1950s. It wasn't until GPGPUs became sufficiently capable that the implementation of the theories became feasible.
If you want to create a profit generating product, then study up in some non-IT domain, understand the most pressing problems and solve one that current technology renders feasible. For example, the principles of generative text systems was conceived back in the 1950s. It wasn't until GPGPUs became sufficiently capable that the implementation of the theories became feasible.
Interesting take. I also think this one can be combined with cutting-edge technologies. For example, the papers ‘Spellburst’, ‘Natural Language is All a Graph Needs’, and ‘Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior’ gave me a lot of ideas that can be used in a non-IT domain. In general, I am looking for a way to find more of those easily and quickly.