Changing the world is no easy task — entrepreneurs know that more than anyone. But what if it was a little more fun?

There are lots of things we know we ought to do — recycle, take the stairs instead of the elevator, not litter — but they’re kind of a pain so we don’t always do them. Enter the fun theory: that making things fun can change people’s behavior. You might have seen Volkswagen’s videos before. They tested the theory in a series of public experiments, like making subway station stairs more enjoyable, and filmed the results. But the campaign doesn’t just promote environmentally friendly cars (by showing people the fun side of acting responsibly). It’s also a great avenue for exploring innovation.

Here’s one video. Watch the others here.

In addition to the three viral videos Volkswagen created, they also opened up a contest. People from all over the world have come up with a host of ways to turn mundane tasks into a good time. (I kind of wish I had a magnet system like this at home…)

The Fun Theory and Entrepreneurship

Could any of these be viable products? Is fun a good starting place for changing the world? For product development?

People have plenty of bad habits and businesses spend billions of dollars trying to fix them for us (just think about diet foods). But the trick is making a fun product. Framing the product as something neat, new, and entertaining in terms of advertising is old hat. It’s like the difference between the mouthwash that turns kids’ teeth blue so they know where to brush (a product that could actually be fun) and saying your brand of car is fun to drive by showing someone taking high speed turns on the Autobahn (real people don’t get to drive like that). What do you think?

Customers

What does this say about how VW views its customers (as compared to say, Toyota)? And what about the advertising aspect of it? Is this a good way to educate people about a company? Or is the brand placement too subtle (there aren’t any VWs in the videos at all)? When the creator, DDB Stockholm, won the Cannes advertising grand prize, a judge noted: “For us, that campaign was about creating a culture for a later conversation to happen. I think if they had driven that product story in at the very beginning, the work wouldn’t have been as powerful, and I don’t think it would have been that sticky.” What do you think?

Applying the Fun Theory In Your Life

Even if you don’t invent the next Slap Chop, here’s how you could implement the fun theory in your own life:

1. Honestly assess your behaviors and make a list of the ones keeping you from greater health and happiness.

2. Create a fun alternative to each behavior.

3. Involve friends and family and implement your new behaviors.

4. Keep track of your progress. Try a new approach if you’re not having fun.

What task do you wish was more fun?

Photo courtesy of Kharied.

Want to know what Chinese takeout, drug runners, and violins have to do with educational innovation? Watch the video.

We’ve written about innovation in the face of hardship before (like with last summer’s protests in Iran and war spurring telemedicine). This time, we’re looking at education. In a recent TED talk, Charles Leadbeater, a financial journalist turned innovation consultant, said that instead of spending all our time studying the best examples of educational models (like Finland’s or New Zealand’s, which studies rate the highest), we could be learning from the countries with the worst school systems. And not because they’re cautionary tales.

These are the places where there’s a huge need, unmet demand, and not enough resources for traditional solutions to work. So, he says, they’re the places where the most innovation occurs. And because these innovations aren’t working within existing systems, they might actually be easier to transplant than, say, the tenants of Scandinavian social democracy that lead to good schooling. They’re also inexpensive.

Favelas in Brazil and slums in Kenya are turning education on its head. Instead of “pushing” education onto students (like with exams, memorization, homework, etc), they’re pulling students in. Laptops, games, and projects not only draw children off the street, but also deliver the practical skills and knowledge they can’t wait 10 years to acquire through a traditional education. He highlights some fascinating learning technologies and makes some interesting points. (Transcript here)

Interested in some of the programs he mentioned?

You can find even more examples in this white paper, “Learning from the Extremes,” by Charles Leadbeater and Annika Wong.

For an example of educational innovation Acton-style, read about the Acton Academy.

Photo courtesy of Dude School.

Have you seen the “Did You Know?” video yet? Sony Corp just showed it at their annual shareholders meeting.  It highlights the pace of innovation and how it’s expected to accelerate in the next decade.  It was also featured in Time magazine (”What College Students Don’t Know”) and was shown at the Economist’s Media Convergence Forum in October.  There’s a wiki with the source material, too. Watch it below. It does a great job of challenging our assumptions about the future.

So what does it all mean?  We’re interested in your comments.

The video was created by Jeff Brenman, Karl Finch, and Scott McCloud.

The U.S. Commerce Department is doing two things to aid aspiring entrepreneurs of today: the creation of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the Department of Commerce and the launch of a National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

The Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship will focus on the beginning steps of the business cycle, including taking a business idea and making it into a concrete business plan. It will be under U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke who has been working hard toward support and help for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

According to the U.S. Commerce Department’s Web site, the office will focus on

• Encouraging Entrepreneurs through Education, Training, and Mentoring
• Improving Access to Capital
• Accelerating Technology Commercialization of Federal R&D
• Strengthening Interagency Collaboration and Coordination
• Providing Data, Research, and Technical Resources for Entrepreneurs
• Exploring Policy Incentives to Support Entrepreneurs and Investors

The National Advisory Council will guide the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in policies concerning small businesses. It will be made up of experts in the field, such as entrepreneurs themselves and angel investors.

Read more about the new additions here.

Photo courtesy of michaelfritz.

At its core, entrepreneurship is about solving problems.

As protests continue in Iran, the news is filled with stories of innovators rising to meet the challenges created by the media crackdowns. They’ve used Twitter to confound censors, engineered ways around blocked websites, and found ways to increase internet access. With 70% of Iran’s population under the age of 30, and a very tech-savvy culture, (in the 1970s, before the Revolution, Iran had the largest concentration of mainframe computers outside the US and engineering and computer science have kept up since) perhaps such ingenuity should come as no surprise.

This innovation reminds us that entrepreneurship often rises out of conflict and hardship. Entrepreneurship is, after all, about meeting needs and solving problems. Hardship, loss, and conflict are in no way good, but we should stop and celebrate those who have both persevered and helped others.

Here are four stories of people who made the best out of bad situations — through entrepreneurship:

• Cambodia: Demining expertise. Three decades of war have left millions of unexploded land mines littering the small country, which is approximately the size of Florida.  Over the past decade, as Cambodians have worked to make their land safe again (since 1979, nearly 40,000 Cambodians have suffered amputations as a result of mines), they have become world leaders in demining techniques and technology.  Entrepreneurial Cambodians are now exporting their expertise and helping other conflict-riddled countries, like Sudan, Angola and Afghanistan.  (Global Post)
• Colombia: Drug violence begets protective clothing. Sixteen years ago, in a country plagued by drug violence, Miguel Caballero set up shop, hoping to fill what he perceived as a local need — bulletproof clothing.  Today, his line, which includes bullet proof underwear, attracts customers like President Obama, the Mexican military, and Russian businessmen.  The company grossed $15 million last year and continues to grow.  “If the product functions in Colombia, it’ll function in any part of the world,” notes Caballero.  (Global Post)
• India: Hunger spurs agri-tours. Despite agriculture making up 18% of its GDP, international comparisons show that the average crop yield in India is typically 30% to 50% of the yields in countries like the US.  Moreover, 200 million Indians go hungry.  Travel agencies have turned this problem into an opportunity with agri-tourism.   Now, enterprising Indians mix sightseeing with fact-finding.  They tour Israel to learn about its superior water-management techniques and greenhouses, Australia to learn about varied crops on large farms, and Holland to learn about advances in floriculture.  Such tours have recently spurred investment, as Indian farmers implement what they learned abroad. (Indian Express)
• USA: From the battlefield to the ER.  The military is often the first to develop and use healthcare technology.  As conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq continues, the US military has been developing state-of-the-art medicine to give injured soldiers a better shot at recovery.  In addition to high-tech bandages and substances to limit blood loss, the military has been a leading innovator, and the largest spender, in the field of telemedicine, the delivery of health services via remote telecommunications.  Now, entrepreneurs are using the military’s progress to offer telemedicine services to everyone from children in rural California to African villagers. (Nurse Zone)

Photo courtesy of Reuters