Serendipity generator

Wharton professors have patented a process of mining database to identify crossover application of technology innovations:

To overcome those problems, MacMillan, along with Steven Kimbrough, Wharton professor of operations and information management, and John Ranieri, vice president of the bio-based materials business at DuPont, have developed a patented process that will help companies analyze databases of information about technologies and suggest new markets where they might be commercialized.

"We have a serendipity generator," MacMillan notes. "Serendipity happens every now and then, but this process reiterates the connection."

Why is serendipity such a rare commodity? "The fundamental problem is that technologists know nothing about markets, and markets know nothing about the technologies," MacMillan says. "It is like a black hole. It is very hard to see behind your experience space