April 11th, 2010

Manufacturing Renaissance will be fueled by Hydrogen Convergence

The real promise of hydrogen convergence for small towns and suburban communities lay in manufacturing. It’s pretty obvious that the greatest number of cleantech jobs will be generated in the manufacturing sector. The unfortunate tragedy is that rather than extending our leadership position in hydrogen convergence, the Obama Administration is chasing wind and solar manufacturing where the United States has already fallen behind.

We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise our readers and social media followers that what America needs is a “manufacturing renaissance.” We need to regain our manufacturing footing in order to maintain our current position in the post-Globalization marketplace and provide opportunities for the working and middle class. Otherwise, our competitive advantage in design will be undervalued.

The reason that we are in the current state has little to do with a change in morality or a decline in the American work ethic. This phenomenon doesn’t have anything to do with a decline in the amount of material content in products. It’s not that the current generation was born with a silver spoon in their mouths as confounders would have you believe. The real culprit has to do with land use and urbanization.

Labor maybe expensive in the United States but productivity is high. The productivity gains more than offset the wage differences. Especially when considering the impact of factor price equalization. The problem created by American urbanization is that the land around population centers in developing economies is relatively cheap. And, so is workforce housing.

We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise community leaders that the only way that we are going to overcome these challenges is by embracing hydrogen convergence. We would suggest establishing more cleantech clusters in small towns and suburban communities. This would put the country on a more entrepreneurial footing and allow the forces of industry cluster empowerment to take hold.

Zachary Alexander

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February 26th, 2010

Hydrogen Convergence needs more Amateur Dinosaur Hunters

The PC and dotcom eras were led by people who were motivated by the desire to simply do things better. This is missing from the development of hydrogen infrastructure at this time. There are too many organizations that want to own the hydrogen convergence movement. They want apply a litmus test to those who seek join the movement rather than being grateful for the community.

We at the ebTDesign Forum have published blog segments about the need to use industry cluster empowerment instead of a bi-coastal strategy for deploying hydrogen infrastructure.  The reason for advocating empowerment is because it takes advantage of unique possibilities that each region contains.  And, it provides a platform for colonizing existing industry clusters.

The hardest thing to teach new entrepreneurs is when to shift from a product oriented focus to a market oriented concentration. Product focused executives think in terms of monopolies and high barriers to entry. Executives that concentrate on market development understand that limiting the participation of amateurs will increase labor and training cost. Remember when you are taking down a big dinosaur like the nuclear power industry or the coal industry, there is strength in numbers.

Zachary Alexander

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January 12th, 2010

Applying Reed’s Law to Hydrogen Convergence

As readers of the ebTDesign Forum and twitter followers know, there is a big discussion about how best to deploy new hydrogen infrastructure. At times, this conversation can even become heated. For those that are new to this topic, most of these discussions can be split out into two competing strategies.

The first is a bi-coastal strategy which proposes the building of hydrogen convergence beachheads on both coasts and then working into the middle of the country. This strategy provides access to the wealthiest parts of the country first and leaves the rest of to be built out by the federal government. This is much like the current high-speed internet deployment.

The second is the industry cluster empowerment strategy which utilizes GreenTech clusters to develop unique mechanisms for developing and deploying hydrogen infrastructure.   This strategy acknowledges regional differences and leverages them. It also assumes that local community leaders are the best judges of available resources and receptivity to individual financing options.

Reed’s Law is an assertion that the value of social networks can grow exponentially because of their ability to satisfy niche communities. Industry clusters are at their very hearts social networks. They take on the characteristics of the regions in which they are hosted. But they can also be subdivided without undermining the integrity of the whole.

This means that a thriving GreenTech cluster that is home to a wind community can also host a hydrogen convergence colony without much incremental expense. It also means that a subset of natural gas producers and unconventional natural gas producers in a given region can work together to reduce the cost of hydrogen production which benefits both.

Zachary Alexander

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August 13th, 2009

Using Industry Cluster Empowerment for Hydrogen Convergence

We at the ebTDesign Forum have been talking to all the major automakers this summer about when they are going to introduce hydrogen cars. They committed to the United States Congress that they would be ready for mass production of hydrogen cars by 2015. But they are starting to coalesce around the potential of limited production by 2012 in order to increase demand for their 2015 launch.

As architects, we at the ebTDesign Forum are always in discovery mode. We are trying find impediments to entrepreneurship. Once we get a better understanding of the true nature of these impediments, we then design building blocks so we can use them later during the industry cluster empowerment process. We also develop  semantic viewpoints that can be used to explicitly capture the needs, wants, and relationships of major program stakeholders.

We at the ebTDesign Forum are engaged to help communities, either within a region or within a company, increase their capacity for innovation. So, we want to be working on a solution, not fumbling around in the dark looking for a light switch. If we listen between the lines we can generally hear the faint whispers of challenges that might be years away from breaking through the surface and that’s where we are with hydrogen infrastructure.

Hydrogen convergence does not use industry cluster empowerment the way we normally use this economic growth framework. So we have had to make some minor adjustments to the framework. Normally, we help communities find their own little patch of ground or piece of disruptive innovation to concentrate on. With hydrogen convergence, we are trying to make every community an energy producer.

Zachary Alexander

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July 20th, 2009

Industry Cluster Empowerment is Alive and Well in New Orleans

The Times Picayune is reporting that entrepreneurial hubs are springing up all over New Orleans. These hubs appear to be structured more like business federations than business incubators or accelerators. Business federations allow small and micro businesses to leverage a common innovation-infrastructure to achieve economies of scale.

Local communities benefit from industry cluster empowerment efforts like entrepreneurial hubs because they help change the business climate. They make it acceptable to enter the post-Globalization Marketplace without the overhead or cost structures associated with most large companies. The resolve for putting America on a more entrepreneurial footing starts locally. We at the ebTDesign Forum are happy to see New Orleans take the lead.

Zachary Alexander
The IT Investment Architect®

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July 8th, 2009

Senate Reinstates Funds for Hydrogen Convergence and All is Well

After a couple of very tense months, the Senate Committee on Appropriations restored funding for the Hydrogen R&D program. We at the ebTDesign Forum would like to thank all those people who were responsible for putting America’s energy future back on track and setting us once more on the path to hydrogen convergence. Enjoy this moment of triumph because you have saved many working and middle class jobs that would have been lost if we had fallen behind the curve with our hydrogen innovation.

Tomorrow, we start the process of industry cluster empowerment. Community leaders and entrepreneur support partners need to be shown the value of home grown hydrogen innovation and the challenges of the post-Globalization marketplace. A new hydrogen technology roadmap needs to be drawn up that puts local communities back on the path to self-reliance and prosperity. Had the Congress not taken the actions they did, many in the working and middle class would have seen their chances for achieving the American Dream dimmed. Once again, on behalf the ebTDesign Forum we thank you.

Zachary Alexander
The IT Investment Architect®

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July 7th, 2009

Understanding the Fight For Hydrogen Convergence

Many readers of the ebTDesign Forum are asking what is hydrogen convergence and why should they care. We would advise these community leaders to think of hydrogen convergence as the new Internet or as an emerging platform for economic growth. The fight is to restore funding for the hydrogen car because it is the killer application that moves the change needle on global warming.

This fight for economic freedom in the United States is not happening on the streets. It’s being waged in House and Senate appropriation meetings. Not knowing about this battle for American innovation is understandable because the mainstream media is not covering it. They are not waxing eloquently about yet another impediment to achieving the American Dream. However in the best tradition of neighbor helping neighbor, the Congressional markup process will be webcast live from the Rayburn House Offices at 7:00 PM on July 7, 2009.

The real tragedy is that the same communities that were bypassed by high-speed Internet have been left off the hydrogen convergence roadmap. In places where the hope for achieving the American Dream have dimmed, the Department of Energy has decided to take a wait and see attitude to energy leadership. Instead of championing industry cluster empowerment and making every community an energy producer, the Secretary of DOE has decided to oppose the research and development of American hydrogen car innovation.

Zachary Alexander
The IT Investment Architect®

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April 14th, 2009

What are you doing different with industry cluster empowerment this summer?

You can’t turn on the TV or pick up a newspaper or read a blog without someone talking about the fact that we live in extraordinary times. My question is “Should we be doing something more with industry cluster empowerment to improve the business climate in our hometown communities.” Should we be spending time finding ways to put our business communities on more entrepreneurial footings?

Once again, we at the ebTDesign Forum will be supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week. Global Entrepreneurship Week is an international initiative designed to inspire the next generation of hometown entrepreneurs. This event will bring together local groups interested in enhancing the education and engagement of young people in the entrepreneurial process. This summer, we will be actively planning Let’s Talk Industry Cluster Empowerment Special Events for Global Entrepreneurship Week. How about you?

The IT Investment Architect®

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April 6th, 2009

Why the US Dollar needs Industry Cluster Empowerment.

Last week there was a huge outcry from some Asian countries to leave the dollar behind. Lawmakers in the United States Congress would do well to pay close attention to the tone and tenor of these discussions because the same chorus was heard a year before the banking crisis. Also, a similar uproar effectively ended the Doha Round of International Trade Talks and brought to a close the last economic age.

The post-Globalization Marketplace will be a very different place for everyone. As countries reduce their reliance on fossil fuel, their need for a single hard currency will also be diminished. Research has shown that individuals are rapidly moving away from using cash for personal business transactions. Even more significantly, this trend will manifest as an increase in the importance of influence investments which are the basis for industry cluster empowerment.

A case could be made that international business is currently driven by a fundamental need to obtain US Dollars for oil and other petroleum resources. Industry cluster empowerment could replace fossil fuel dependence as the rationale for market interconnectedness and US Dollar value. Local communities that want to retain their position in the post-Globalization Marketplace will develop satellite programs which extend the reach of their innovation-infrastructures and provide access to additional tacit knowledge.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 30th, 2009

Open Letter to Dir. of Auto Recovery about Industry Cluster Empowerment

To: Mr. Edward Montgomery,

If the auto industry is truly important to the United States Economy then solutions have to be designed to remove impediments to starting new car companies. The best way to do this is to fully invest in industry cluster empowerment. We at the ebTDesign Forum propose the creation of industry programs that unleash the creative skills of middle-class Americans and provides for an orderly movement of these workers into the creative class.

Auto industry research and discovery has to be unbundled from the current manufacturing base and held in independent repositories. Next generation solutions should not have to rely on last generation cost structures and transnational business practices that destroy hometown communities. The current car companies should be thought of as stop gaps that are funded to maintain tacit knowledge. Local communities should then be encouraged to rapidly start industry cluster empowerment programs to take advantage of the available industry specific knowledge.

We recommend the United States investigate the possibility of finding local partners willing to help establish domestic contract auto manufacturing facilities. These facilities could produce “hydrogen skateboards” that would then be sold to hometown entrepreneurs. The hydrogen skateboard was a bright idea considered by auto makers for addressing the continuously low margins associated passenger vehicles. Under this solution, all of the fuel cell technology and drivetrain are manufactured and sold as a single standardized sub-assembly.

Putting America on a better entrepreneurial footing is about creating more than just a slogan pledging support for disruptive innovation. New hydrogen driven companies are needed to produce hydrogen powered cars. This means you need industry leaders (pioneers) who understand the potential of hydrogen fuel cells and are enthusiastic about the current opportunities. Historically, mature companies and aging industries have never led America out of the depths of economic turmoil. It has always been our ability to harness the unknown and yet to be invented.

Zachary Alexander
The IT Investment Architect®

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March 27th, 2009

Update: Industry Cluster Empowerment Podcasts

The new ebTDesign Audio series called “Let’s Talk Industry Cluster Empowerment” is proceeding on course quite rapidly. The goal of these new podcast segments is to start discussions about how to use industry cluster empowerment to drive hometown economies in this country and abroad.

Here are a few of the topics we are considering:

We at the ebTDesign Forum are actively seeking input as we embark on this journey of research and discovery. We are looking for case studies and success stories but any advice or guidance is welcomed.

PS: If you’re not a member of the Strategic Network for Industry Cluster Empowerment (SNICE), now would be a great time to join.

Zachary Alexander
The IT Investment Architect®

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March 26th, 2009

Can Industry Cluster Empowerment Solve Energy Problems?

There was a program announced today that asked the question, “Can Silicon Valley Solve the Energy Problem.” According to our research at the ebTDesign Forum, the answer is not in a reasonable amount of time. No one region can resolve the energy challenges for the country as a whole without at least a generation of pushback. On the other hand, not only can industry cluster empowerment fix the energy problem, it can restore vitality to the entire United States Economy.

Unless local entrepreneurs are involved in the development of these new technologies they will simply die on the vine when they are rolled out into hometown communities. It’s widely rumored that MTV brought down the Berlin wall. If that’s the case then it was the blogosphere and distributed ownership that brought down globalization. The reason is because individuals want to share responsibility for designing the policies that affect their lives.

There is always a sense of entitlement whenever someone from Silicon Valley talks about new research and discoveries. This sentiment is shortsighted because it ignores the negative aspects of transnational business practices that many in Silicon Valley adhere. The Wall Street bankers have not yet realized the need to abandon transnational business practices. Hopefully, the renewable-energy policy makers will hear the change in tone regarding Silicon Valley hatched schemes and recognize the need to put America on a more entrepreneurial footing.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 24th, 2009

Choosing Industry Cluster Empowerment when the Reset Doesn’t Work

This weekend one the commentators referred to the current financial crisis as an economic reset. The problem with this statement is that people don’t economically reset. They have to be helped to transition into the post-Globalization marketplace. Choosing to fully invest in industry cluster empowerment is important because it provides a framework for absorbing displaced workers as they adjust to a P2P Economy that requires them to be more entrepreneurial.

In the post-Globalization marketplace, local industry leaders (pioneers) can use industry cluster empowerment and business federations to create market advantages unavailable to companies with high legacy costs. For those readers new to the ebTDesign Forum, we define globalization as a business strategy where consumption is local and the jobs are distributed globally. On the other hand, the post-Globalization marketplace is a political economy in which the jobs are local and all markets are interconnected.

Many Wall Street bankers don’t understand this process because of their outdated beliefs about globalization and their heavy reliance on transnational business practices. The process of globalization provided senior executives with a healthy sense of self-worth and economic entitlement. Decisions could be made without regard to the impact on hometown communities because credit was cheap and funding was readily available. Hopefully, Wall Street will see the value in a P2P Economy transition once they understand that a simple reset doesn’t work.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 19th, 2009

Industry Cluster Empowerment vs. the Real Danger of the AIG Snafu

Many in the mainstream media and in the blogosphere started sniping at President Barack Obama’s stimulus package before any of the money had been deployed. Since the news broke about the AIG bonus payments, the chorus has gotten even louder. We at the ebTDesign Forum would suggest that readers look at the AIG Snafu as an example of what could have happened if the stimulus package had failed and as the rationale for why we need the foundation for economic change that industry cluster empowerment provides.

Most of the commentators and industry experts (tourists) that complain about the stimulus package have ignored the importance of speed when dealing with an economic crisis. These gurus have underestimated the social unrest that would have occurred had unemployment rates reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. Main Street would have erupted on a much grander scale because the press would not have been able to suppress the details of the government’s inaction.

The United States is not out of the woods yet. The trends lines are headed in the right direction but we still haven’t dealt with the core problem which was the end of globalization. We have only just begun to build the institutions that will be needed for the emerging P2P Economy. In fact, one of the things that may have saved European countries from the hardships we have seen is the quality of their social safety net. This has produced a distinct advantage in the post-globalization marketplace because fewer of their people have panicked.

This advantage should, however, disappear as more of President Obama’s micro business safety net takes hold. Once support issues have been canceled out, countries will have to create market advantage using their ability to innovate and harness enthusiasm for industry cluster empowerment. In the post-Globalization marketplace, leadership will come from those countries and/or communities that are placed on the soundest entrepreneurial footing.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 18th, 2009

Can Industry Cluster Empowerment Salvage a Wasted Decade?

Commentators on the cable news channels like to call Japan’s effort to end its economic slowdown as the lost generation. Few of these industry experts (tourists) take the same tact when talking about the last decade in America’s economic history. When the middle-class almost disappeared in the United States, where was the outrage and where was the outcry for new frameworks like industry cluster empowerment?

Working and middle-class Americans have subsisted on a daily diet of globalization hype and dreams of a brighter tomorrow. First there was the dotcom bust then the Enron debacle and finally the housing meltdown. It’s been almost a decade since the end of the dotcom boom and the majority of Americans have had some good news. While executives at transnational corporations padded their bonus checks, the American Dream has been under attack and many have fallen.

White House officials tell us, we are nearing the end of this economic downturn. They point to positive trends in the stock market and new home starts. On the other hand, we at the ebTDesign Forum believe that the true measure of success will be when America is put on a more entrepreneurial footing and there is wide spread adoption of industry cluster empowerment. The effects of this wasted decade will linger on until hometown entrepreneurs take ownership of their local business climate and stop letting the transnational media set terms of success.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 16th, 2009

More Money for SMBs and More Hope for Industry Cluster Empowerment

Once again, we at the ebTDesign Forum applaud President Barack Obama for strengthening his micro business safety net and supporting hometown communities. The President and his administration seem to understand that it takes time for new companies to be spawned even with industry cluster empowerment.

The cost of starting a successful small or micro business (SMB) has dropped to the point that most would-be entrepreneurs with just a little assistance can afford to participate. The action that the President took today should go along way in thawing the credit markets for small business loans and improving the business climates in many hometown communities.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 13th, 2009

What’s New at ebTDesign on Industry Cluster Empowerment?

This is just a heads up about two industry cluster empowerment projects that have just entered the planning stage. The first is a new podcast series called “Let’s Talk about Industry Cluster Empowerment.” The second is a plan to conduct onsite ebTDesign Forums to help put America on a more entrepreneurial footing.

If there are any topics you would like to see covered in either of these projects, please contact me at ebTDesign or send me a message on LinkedIn. Otherwise, please stay tuned for more details.

Zachary Alexander
The IT Investment Architect®

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March 12th, 2009

Reversing the Flow with Industry Cluster Empowerment

On Monday, Mercedes-Benz announced that this year they would produce a limited number of B-Class hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. This got very little press outside of the blogosphere because so many industry experts (tourists) have forecast a thriving market for plug-in electrical vehicles. When faced with the obvious superiority of hydrogen vehicles, theses trusted advisors say but “they” are in the process of innovating.

Innovation cannot be mandated, managed or presupposed. This leads to the kind of financial engineering that has decimated the capital markets on Wall Street. Innovation can however be inspired, enabled and made to feel welcome. This is what industry cluster empowerment is all about. It’s about changing the conversation so that would-be entrepreneurs will feel hopeful and more willing to heed the calls for economic change in their respective industries.

We must reverse the flow of innovation from off-shore into United States to from our hometown communities into the post-Globalization marketplace. The greatest risk to America’s standing in the world is our growing fear of new solutions for nagging problems like fossil dependence. In fact, fully committing to putting America on a more entrepreneurial footing and industry cluster empowerment would instantly transform seemingly unsolvable challenges into high-priority opportunities.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 11th, 2009

Why Industry Cluster Empowerment Feels so Familiar

At the ebTDesign Forum, we are telling readers that industry cluster empowerment feels so right because it is apart of the American psyche. This must be what it felt like to live on the great plains during the early days of America’s westward expansion. Readers must navigate the post-Globalization marketplace without many of the landmarks or institutions associated with the last economic age just like their ancestors did when they left Virginia and Kentucky.

We call this industry cluster empowerment because it assumes that if the barriers to local entrepreneurship are removed or at least substantially reduced then regional industries will become the main engine of growth for United States economy. Gone are the days when industry experts (tourists) could spread the religion of globalization and ignore the destabilizing aspects of the resulting transnational business practices.

Most management gurus can tell you that we live in extraordinary times but few of these old lions can imagine a way out of this economic downturn. This is because they have become so steeped in the riggers of commodity thinking and the need for efficiency at all costs that they cannot see that the possibilities for economic turnaround lay with the creative skills of the middle and working class, with the hometown communities that they have forsaken for so long.

The IT Investment Architect®

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March 10th, 2009

Why Innovation and Industry Cluster Empowerment Won’t Wait.

The mainstream media ran lots of report card stories today about the Presidency of Barack Obama. Most of them were filled with venom from the other side about the way President Obama is handling the financial crisis and few of these segments showed any signs of hope for the United States Economy in the short-term. They questioned why the President wants to pass a micro business safety net or increase industry cluster empowerment through the stimulus package?

It’s almost as if the real journalists haven’t realized that even though we are in extraordinary times, innovation won’t wait. While the transnational media companies are preoccupied with broadcasting the daily knife fight in Congress, Main Street is concentrating on getting back to the business of innovation. Industry leaders (pioneers) and entrepreneurs support professionals (guides) are counseling would-be entrepreneurs to turn off their televisions and embrace the framework for economic change that industry cluster empowerment provides.

Everything maybe gloom and doom in the halls of Congress but in the real world there is always hope when Americans stick together and stand with the rest of the world. Innovation won’t wait or be managed. History shows that very similar innovation always emerges at different locations around the world and at about the same time. Hopefully, lawmakers will put aside their extracurricular activities then embrace the possibilities of industry cluster empowerment and help President Obama pass a micro business safety net for America.

The IT Investment Architect®

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