Business transformations can take many forms and often occur at the same time. To understand which approach you’ll need to take, ask yourself two questions: 1) Is your transformation driven by internal needs or external forces? 2) Does it need to happen quickly, or do you have more time to transform?...

Amber Solutions today announced it has been named a winner in the 2021 BIG Innovation Awards presented by the Business Intelligence Group. The award follows Amber being named a 2021 CES Innovation Award Honoree in the category of Embedded Systems and a 2021 Edison Award nominee. Amber’s patented solid-state based technologies fundamentally upgrade today’s existing electrical infrastructure that controls and delivers power in virtually every building on Earth. With powerful, modern intelligence embedded directly in the electrical grid of buildings, Amber enables vastly superior operational metrics and fulfills the vision of truly smarter buildings. The company’s advanced solid-state electrical architecture replaces antiquated electro-mechanical designs, resulting in faster, safer, smarter and more reliable building electrical endpoints that provide benefits far beyond their traditional functions. “More than ever, the global society relies on innovation to help progress humanity and make our lives more productive, healthy and comfortable,” said Maria Jimenez, chief operating officer of the Business Intelligence Group. “We are thrilled to be honoring Amber Solutions as they are one of the organizations leading this charge and helping humanity progress.”...

Building fixtures like smoke detectors and circuit breakers currently use electro-mechanical technologies. Amber, which is based in Dublin, California, is aiming to replace electromechanical switching with solid-state electronics on a path to silicon. “With our technology, before you can even find your phone to call maintenance, maintenance already received a signal,” CEO Thar Casey said in an interview with Crunchbase News. “They know what caused it and they have wireless connectivity so they’ve solved it already.” In other words, every outlet can act like a circuit breaker and, with the embedded intelligence software, it’s like it has a mini-computer inside. Amber’s technology’s sensor awareness can make buildings safer, according to the company, by detecting dangers like fire and gas leaks, and can be used in both residential and commercial properties. “What we came up with at Amber is the second electrical revolution,” Casey said. “We came up with disruptive technologies that are going to be core of every electrical infrastructure of every building. We’re taking the electromechanical switching … and we’re replacing it with solid-state.”...

Venture capitalists love disruptive startups that can scale quickly and keep regulators at bay. But as society becomes more aware of the unintended consequences of new enterprises, especially ones that create technology that becomes a part of our daily life, the people who launch these ventures must become more attentive to and proactive about identifying potential unintended consequences, in order to mitigate them early....