Tim and I write a lot about managing innovation as a process. This is important for a number of reasons, but the two main ones are that if we manage innovation this way then it isn’t dependent on any particular person and that it is proactive and constant rather than reacting to a crisis. In […]

Here is a quote from the FIFA spokesperson Nicolas Maingot responding to questions about the persistently horrible standard of refereeing at the World Cup: Maingot also said FIFA was investigating why the giant video screen at the Soccer City ground showed a replay of the controversial Tevez opening goal in contravention of an understanding it […]

Here is a telling passage from Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta, about Larry Page, one of the two founder of Google, reflecting on the career of Nikolai Tesla and the start of Google: Page told me he learned from Tesla that “you can invent the world’s greatest […]

For the second day in a row, Hugh MacLeod’s daily newsletter has sparked a thought for me. Here it is: This reminded me of a conversation that I had recently with one of our potential research partners. We are trying to find a corporate partner for my PhD student Nadja’s research work, and we were […]

Innovation is not just about having a great idea (which is why it’s a lot more than just R&D) – it’s about executing ideas and getting them to spread. Here’s a case in point: Google. I ran across this video through George Siemen’s outstanding newsletter – a talk at the Palo Alto Research Centre by […]

I look forward to the football (soccer in Australia) world cup when it comes around, particularly when Australia qualifies or the Dutch are doing well. This time it’s been a slightly unhappy experience – not just because the Australians got thumped by Germany but also due to the constant drone that comes through my TV […]

When I first got interested in managing innovation, I was coming at it from the point of view of a scientist. To someone with a PhD in biochemistry it was ‘obvious’ that most innovation resulted from the commercialization of science. Looking at OECD innovation indicators back in the 1990s I used to get frustrated that […]

In 2006 I had a massive conference/research trip. I started with a stop in London to visit the Innovation Group at Imperial College, then I went to the DRUID Summer Conference in Copenhagen, the International Schumpeter Society Conference in Nice, and the Academy of International Business Conference in Beijing. One thing that was striking on […]