1969 was a pretty interesting year for the Swiss watch industry. That was the year the Omega Speedmaster became the first watch on the moon. Meanwhile, back on earth, there was a serious race to make the first automatic match that included a chronograph. Jeffrey Stein retells this story in International Watch magazine, and it’s […]
How much do we know about innovation in mining (and other mature industries)? Last week I gave a keynote speech at the CEEC Workshop aiming to facilitate a paradigm shift in comminution. CEEC is the Coalition for Eco-Efficient Comminution. Communition is the process of smashing rocks as part of the mining process. The workshop gathered […]
What is the most important innovation ever? I’ve argued before that it is hand-washing in hospitals. This innovation was a major driver in the improved health outcomes that have increased our life expectancies from less than 60 years at birth to nearly 80 in most developed countries. It’s such a simple idea, and so easy […]
First off, you should go and read all of Atul Gawande’s commencement address to Williams College last weekend. It will take a couple of minutes, but it’s well worth the time. I’ll wait. Here are some of the highlights for me: …the critical skills of the best surgeons I saw involved the ability to handle […]
I often tell people that failure is an essential part of innovation. What do I mean by that? I think that what I really mean is that to innovate, we have to learn. It’s not the failure that drives innovation, but rather the learning. There is really a hierarchy of failure: System failure (the collapse […]
Here are three posts that caught my eye recently that I think you should read: Ten Rules for Maker Businesses What kind of business model do you need if you are building things? Chris Anderson from Wired addresses this question with some excellent advice on issues from pricing building good relationships with your shipper. Check […]
Note: This is part of a series of posts discussing The Innovation Matrix. See this post for a description of the full model and what can be done with it. We can use The Innovation Matrix to help us understand how the innovation capability of firms evolves over time. A great case study in this […]
People frequently ask me “How can I be more innovative?” The answer can be elusive, as they are often asking for permission to innovate, which you will rarely receive. Fortunately, you can learn to be more innovative. Here are some thoughts on how: Innovate because you have to. I was talking with Brendan Coram last […]
