Everwise, InovAtiva, BayBrazil Annual Conference

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Ilana Robbins Gross and I from Everwise attended the BayBrazil annual conference: “Brazil in the 21st Century” yesterday on the Stanford Law School campus. I have known Margarise Correa (Founder & CEO of BayBrazil) for some years and admire both her leadership and ability to bring together the Brazilian diaspora of the Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area. Ilana and I were there to learn and expand our network and also to meet potential mentors for the InovAtiva Brasil mentoring program I have been working on for the past year. Everwise just launched the mentoring platform for InovAtiva!

The conference included notable speakers, including the Honorable Mauro Vieira (Ambassador from Brazil to the USA) and Virgilio A.F. Almeida (IT Secretary, Ministry of Science, Technology of Brazil). Both the Stanford Law School and the co-sponsor Rock Center for Corporate Governance welcomed us. Big technical companies were represented by Airbnb, Uber, Evernote, YouTube, Visa, Nike, Google, and DocuSign. The entrepreneurial community had speakers from Movile, Fazedores.com, ADVANCE Medical, and SambaTech. Financial interests were discussed by BNDES, Redpoint e ventures, Valor Capital, Qualcomm Ventures, Atomico, eBricks, and Silicon Valley Bank. I was not surprised to meet Lucie Newcomb (a sister TechWomen mentor) also attending the conference. It was a fascinating and worthwhile day!

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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Entrepreneurship in South Africa: Branson SA

Jane Rankin Branson Center South Africa - Sept2014

13 September update: 11 September Global Health Forum Recording.

Tonight, I am hosting my second show in the People to People Global Health Forum weekly radio program. The topic for 11 September 2014 is: “Entrepreneurship in South Africa: Branson SA”.

Please join People to People’s radio show – Thursdays at 9:00 pm Eastern Time.
Access the weekly show online or phone 646-595-4742 each Thursday evening.

I will be interviewing guest: Jane Rankin, Training and Development Manager at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, Johannesburg Area, South Africa. The Branson Centre SA is an independent centre of entrepreneurial expertise. These entrepreneurs are making a huge difference not only to their immediate families and communities, but as the business leaders and employers of the future, they will also contribute significantly to economic growth in South Africa. Jane Rankin holds a MBA Degree from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) and a Bachelor of Social Science Degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of Cape Town.

The Branson Centre is a customer of Everwise, for which I am the Vice President – Mentoring. I am also the (pro bono) Vice President – Social Media for People to People. People to People (P2P) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care and reducing the spread of diseases in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia and African diaspora communities.

Image Copyright 2014 by Jane Rankin

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Why Ideas are Killed

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I was reminded during a recent meeting of this sign that my father, Wade Dickinson, had on his desk for decades. The quote is from one of his role models: Charles Kettering – American inventor, engineer, businessman, and the holder of 186 patents:

Why Ideas are Killed
Man is so constituted as to see what is wrong with a new thing – not what is right.  To verify this, you have but to submit a new idea to a committee.  They will obliterate ninety per cent of rightness for the sake of ten per cent of wrongness.  The possibilities a new idea opens up are not visualized because not one man in a thousand has imagination.

My father was granted over three dozen US patents during his life in a wide variety of fields.  Five more patents have issued since he died in San Francisco at age 85, in 2011. I hope that I can continue to be creative – and to see new things – as long as he did!

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Wade Dickinson’s US Patents – Issued Since 2011
8,420,042 Process for the production of carbon graphenes and other nanomaterials
8,377,408 Process for the production of carbon nanoparticles and sequestration of carbon
8,277,145 Engineered, scalable underground storage system and method
8,256,992 Underground sequestration system and method
8,256,991 Engineered, scalable underground storage system and method

Wade Dickinson’s US Patents (1965-2011)
7,914,749 Clathrate hydrate modular storage, applications and utilization processes
6,206,112 Multiple lateral hydraulic drilling apparatus and method
6,142,246 Multiple lateral hydraulic drilling apparatus and method
5,035,285 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube
4,991,667 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method
4,974,672 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube
4,872,509 Oil well production system using a hollow tube liner
4,865,128 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube
4,852,668 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method
4,790,394 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method
4,787,465 Hydraulic drilling apparatus and method
4,763,734 Earth drilling method and apparatus using multiple hydraulic forces
4,750,561 Gravel packing system for a production radial tube
4,715,128 Curvature probe and method
4,693,327 Mechanically actuated whipstock assembly
4,560,934 Method of transporting a payload in a borehole
4,527,639 Hydraulic piston-effect method and apparatus for forming a bore hole
4,524,324 Downhole instrument including a flexible probe which can travel freely around bends in a borehole
4,501,337 Apparatus for forming and using a bore hole
4,497,381 Earth drilling apparatus and method
4,431,069 Method and apparatus for forming and using a bore hole
4,091,807 Intra-vaginal device and method of use
3,938,504 Method for measuring vagina dimensions
3,854,476 INTRA-VAGINAL DEVICE AND METHOD
3,811,443 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION
3,811,424 ARTIFICIAL METHOD FOR MODIFYING THE REPRODUCTIVE CYCLE IN ANIMALS
3,811,423 DEVICE FOR INSERTION INTO THE REPRODUCTIVE TRACT AND METHOD OF USING SAME
3,546,927 ULTRASONIC TESTING APPARATUS
3,460,492 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DISPENSING SEEDS COATED WITH A MAGNETIC MATERIAL
3,407,650 Ultrasonic apparatus for detecting flaws
3,407,649 Method and apparatus for generating a high power ultrasonic burst pulse signal
3,407,122 Solar still with a cassegranian optical system
3,299,696 Apparatus for generating, directing and receiving ultrasonic wave trains
3,299,695 Ultrasonic testing apparatus
3,299,694 Method and apparatus for detecting flaws using ultrasonic helical waves
3,282,087 Apparatus for generating ultrasonic waves
3,250,120 Method and apparatus for determining flaw locations
3,186,216 Method and apparatus for generating and receiving ultrasonic helical waves
One more from the 1950s… Still looking

Image Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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US-India Panel Hosted by IIE at LinkedIn

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I enjoyed hearing the “Roundtable on Strengthening Educational Ties between India – U.S.” panel from Gujarat last week.  The event was hosted by the Institute of International Education, with Trish Tierney of IIE-SF as the moderator. The panel was held at the LinkedIn San Francisco offices when registration numbers outgrew the original venue.  I was particularly interested in the discussion about the importance of entrepreneurship and mentoring in India.

The subject of women in technology came up several times. My favorite quotes:

  • “We are focused on women because men would happen in any case.”
  • “For women, Engineering is the last frontier.”

Image Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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Street Memorial for Toddler Mi-Yana Gregory

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Walking to lunch every day in the San Francisco Mission District, I noticed this sad memorial to the hit-and-run traffic death of toddler Mi-Yana Gregory. The police are still looking for the car and driver that killed the two year old girl. Her family is raising funds to pay for Mi-Yana’s memorial service. 109 people have donated so far toward the $5,000 goal – with $500 left to collect.

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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Home Winemaking

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Our friend Murf just held one of his home winemaking parties in Boulder Creek, California. John, Paul, and I got together with a group of family and friends in Murf’s combination HO scale model train layout and winemaking room to help clean equipment, roll barrels, fill and cork bottles, and taste some chemistry. The Cabernet Franc from the last party and the Merlot bottles from yesterday are delicious and will keep this group in table wine until the next party. We are discussing Zinfandel and Barbera grapes for the next buy.

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

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What I Learned in Brazil

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For many months, I have been enjoying working with the InovAtiva Brasil team – developing an entrepreneurship mentoring pilot program. Even though the Everwise team was only in Brazil for a week, I took away three new cultural ideas:

  1. Never put your purse on the floor – purses should be placed on a chair or table.
  2. It is OK to use your whole name in business correspondence – including all of those middle names that your mother only uses when you are really in trouble.
  3. Do not touch your food – use a napkin or toothpick when you cannot use a knife, fork, or spoon.

This last learning reminds me of my grandmother, Evelyn Louise Van Gilder Creekmore, who never broke a rule of politeness in her life. When the family was talking late at night at her home in Knoxville, Tennessee, she would sometimes share her secret plan. Grandma told us that one day she would give a formal dinner party. She would send out written invitations to all of her stuffiest social friends. Her table would be set with crystal, silver, china, linens and flowers. When the guests were seated and the dinner was served, it would be corn on the cob, olives, barbecued ribs and every food she could think of that was almost impossible to eat without fingers. Of course, Grandma Creekmore never did such a thing – but sometimes she liked to think about it.

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Evelyn Louise Van Gilder Creekmore in 1940

Images copyright 2011-2014 by Katy Dickinson

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