Solving problems, creating value
For a 20-year-old undergrad at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Adam Berg has a pretty clear idea of what innovation is.
"It's a limitless approach to problem-solving with a goal to provide value to people," the native of Wasilla, Alaska, said.
(John J. Kim/Sun-Times)
He's well along that problem-solving path with his work at IIT on AudioDoc, a portable teaching device with innovative interactive features to help students learn a foreign language.
Berg's work on the project -- which is part of IIT's interdisciplinary program in entrepreneurism and innovation -- earned him the 2007 Young Innovator's Award.
"As an electrical engineer, I really wanted to work with the cutting-edge language research that the project's sponsor, Attila Kondacxs, was bringing from his doctoral work at MIT," Berg said. "But I came to understand the deep implications of the language-learning tool we were creating."
As anyone who has struggled to learn a language knows, the biggest obstacles are pronunciation and definitions.
AudioDoc addresses both.
Documents of all sorts can be installed on the AudioDoc audiobook. When a user fails to understand a word or expression, he can pause the program, review the text word-by-word, and with the press of a button, look up the meaning or translation of the unknown segment.
"There are literally hundreds of millions of people in the world right now actively learning English or other languages, and this tool is truly a unique -- and lucrative -- take on learning.
"I put myself in the shoes of someone learning English who has no access to native speakers. ... It just made sense to have what we were creating: an interactive, audio-based language-learning tool on your cell phone."
Berg expects to graduate in May, and in addition to his school work and development of AudioDoc, he's active on campus.
"I'm currently working with the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Academy at IIT, and we are encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship on campus by creating opportunities to be creative, and to make entrepreneurship real to students.
"We host the IEA Idea Challenge, run conferences, networking dinners with entrepreneurs and many other events to expose students to the world of entrepreneurship and to inspire students to think creatively."
Berg sees a close relationship between entrepreneurs and innovators. "There's a bit of rebelliousness and independence inherent in both -- to go against the prevailing norms, to start your own business."
He's on his way.