What would Lyft look like if it were designed by Belgians? What would Twitter look like if it were designed by the French? How would the functionality or the scalability of these technologies differ?
While immersed within a specific country and culture with commonplace technologies, it is quite easy to overlook the impact of these pieces of technology on other cultures, and the impact of other cultures on innovation. In this episode, lecturer, researcher, entrepreneur and Belgian resident Christel De Maeyer provides us with useful insights in innovating for scalable and transnational technology.
Is there a culture of tipping in the country or region that you’re listening from? In the U.S., tipping for services is almost as ordinary as using the services themselves. Tipping in Europe, however, is atypical – so perhaps a Belgian version of Lyft would lack a tipping option. Would this Belgian version of Lyft be scalable to the rest of Europe? Likely not, as Christel explains that the 24 different languages in Europe can often act barriers to innovating for scalable technology. Furthermore, each country in Europe may have a slightly different set of regulations and standards for innovation.
On the other hand, technology can also act as a facilitating tool to bring countries together rather than separated by cultural differences and barriers.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is an important example of such facilitating and augmenting technologies, especially in an increasingly data-driven world. Christel notes that data sets are especially valuable and decisive in the training and aesthetics of AI technology, as they can fuel bias – further highlighting the importance of a human touch in technological innovation.
As an entrepreneur or innovator, do you ever feel like you need a breather? With the help of the Peace Innovation Network, Christel is currently developing a chatbot to help you do just that! ‘Breathie’ is an emotional AI chatbot with a goal of helping entrepreneurs and innovators relieve stress through an emotional understanding and set of responses. Christel and her team even attempted to train the chatbot to tell jokes; however, the timing of the jokes within a given conversation is a work in progress!
Margarita and Christel’s conversation is chock-full of insights and ideas surrounding innovating for scalable, transnational technology. Here’s more of what to expect:
- A discussion of the value privacy and security in different countries
- International differences in customer service and customer support
- Wearable devices
- Training AI with a human touch
- Etiquette as a social code
- Game designer in residence Chris Bennett’s MDAO model for innovation
- What actions you can take after listening!
References
Sponsored by Game Design Thinking
Christel’s AI chatbot, Breathie
Join the Peace Innovation Network
Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things by Don Norman
Rosalind Picard’s Work
