Dear Colleague,

The rates of innovation adoption seem to be speeding up. It took almost 
200 years for the Royal Navy to adopt citrus juice to prevent scurvy in 
British fleet. It took 50 years for the telephone to reach 50% of U.S. 
households, beginning before 1900. In contrast, it took just 5 years for 
cellphones to accomplish the same penetration in the 1990s. With new 
communication channels such as social media, innovations seem to spread 
faster and faster worldwide. Yet, over 95% of the patented inventions 
are never licensed at all. In other words, most innovations never get 
adopted.

Why do some innovations come to be adopted widely, transforming the ways 
we live, work, and play, while others do not? Why do innovations with 
obvious advantages fail to spread, while suboptimal technologies tend to 
dominate? If these questions interest or puzzle you, please join us on 
Monday, February 9, 2-3 pm, in Hornbake 2116, for the third meeting of 
the iSchool Innovation & Entrepreneurship Reading Group. Light, healthy 
refreshments will be provided.

The iSchool Innovation & Entrepreneurship Reading Group 
(ischool.umd.edu/innovation) aims to disseminate and advance knowledge 
of innovation and entrepreneurship. In Spring 2015, we meet on Mondays, 
2-3 pm to discuss classic and new articles on key issues in innovation 
and entrepreneurship, in conjunction with INST 621: Managing Digital 
Innovations in Organizations. All members (students, staff, and faculty) 
of the UMD community are welcome to attend any session. This group is 
sponsored by the Center for the Advanced Study of Communities and 
Information (CASCI) and led by Dr. Ping Wang ([log in to unmask]).

On February 9, we will discuss the following chapter of a classic book:
Rogers, E. M. Diffusion of Innovations, Free Press, New York, NY, 2003, 
Chapter 1. Available at 
http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0641/2003049022-s.html

See our full schedule at http://ischool.umd.edu/innovation .

-- 
Ping Wang, Ph.D.
University of Maryland, College Park
http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~pwang/