Cesar Harada’s Open Hardware Oil Spill Cleaning System

There is a common point between oil, plastic and radioactivity which is the fact that they are man made problems controlled by natural forces. Billions of barrels of oil are flooding are oceans resulting in water pollution. The main point made by Cesar Harada is that we have the power to cause these problems as much as we have the power to solve them. We may be the cause of the oil spills and pollution but we also have the power to stop it or at least minimize the damage we have caused.

Oil spills almost always coat everything they touch and once it reaches the beach the oil coats and clings on to every rock and grain of sand which can damage the plants makes the area unsuitable for animals habitats.

Birds

Sea birds often dive into waters to hunt for food which results in them being covered in oil from oil spills. Oil spills also damage nesting grounds, potentially causing serious long-term effects on entire species. For example the Gulf of Mexico as mentioned by Harada.

Marine mammals

Oil spills kill thousands of marine life every year, the oil clogs the blowhole of whales and dolphins which can disrupt their ability to communicate and eventually suffocate them. Oil coats fur of otters and seals, leaving them vulnerable to hypothermia.

Awareness of the central point to the talk

Awareness of this issue has allowed Cesar Harada to realize how we can use these natural forces to repair these man-made problems. Harada wanted to create technology that was fast, cheap and open-source. Harada designed a highly maneuverable, flexible boat capable of cleaning large tracts quickly. But rather than turn a profit, he has opted to open-source the design. He was able to build an international network of innovation for selling technology using this shape shifting hull.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs are creative thinkers Entrepreneurs have to be creative thinkers which challenge the conventional way of doing things, innovation different aspects of traditional business such as products, methods and marketing campaigns. Instead of settling with how oil spills are being dealt with Harada created a product that is propelled by the wind and the hull controls the trajectory. The whole boat could morph its body to move swiftly in the water.

Entrepreneurs are risk takers

Entrepreneurs are risk takers with a positive attitude by taking a chance and devoting their time, money and other resources to something they believe will work. Harada took a huge risk to create a new product that had never been done before. He quit his dream job, moved to New Orleans and kept studying how the oil spills was happening. He risked his whole life to help the world solve a major environmental issue.

Management and leadership

Management involves the activities of planning, organising, controlling and leadership as part of their duties. Harada was able to fulfil the management criteria by planning this career to create a successful product, organise a team of young engineers, control the running and making of the P and lead the teams to success.

Leadership is the art of motivating people to act towards achieving a common goal. Harada’s idea attracted thousands of people from around the world who saw potential in his idea and offered their ideas by creating their own prototypes and giving feedback which allowed him to make improvements to his idea and hire a suitable team to create the product.

Business environments

Only one of its kind which means there is no competition between businesses. Ability to remain concentrated on issue at hand. Entrepreneurs don’t have much capital to operate their business. Harada had no one to help come up with solutions to solve new issues that came about.

He was able to create a crowdfunding platform on kickstarter and he was able to raise 30 000 dollars in around a month. Increased investment opportunities. There may be a substitute product that could threaten the success of the product. Although Harada would like to create a product that was cheap this innovation would be very expensive to create.

Environmental scan

Strength of competitors - Harada recognised a gap in the market, there was a way to clean up oil spills in our oceans more efficiently. Harada’s original idea meant that he didn’t have any competitors in the market. Harda has a high competitive advantage because the P is the first product of its kind.

Identify opportunities before imminent - The creation of the P could bring about threats because he posted his ideas online which meant that anyone could have seen them recognised his faults and use them to their advantage to create a better product before Harada did.

Stability of resources - Harada posted his idea for the Pi on a crowdfunding platform on kickstarter to try gain the finances he needed to create his product and in just over a month he raised 30 000 dollars. With this money he was able to hire a young engineering team a rented a factory to work in.