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 […]
One of the major themes on the blog is how innovations are created from new connections. The connections can be between people or technologies. Today I want to continue this connections theme but instead talk about innovations resulting from new connections in our minds. To start with, have a look at this famous optical illusion. […]
How can we come up with the perfect innovation? One that will last forever, and make us rich, and perfectly solve the problem it was designed for? The short answer is – we can’t. Well, it’s not completely impossible, but it’s awfully unlikely. Here’s an example that shows why. I’m in London for the DRUID […]
How has the internet changed the innovation process? It has had a number of impacts, particularly on collaborative innovation, which is becoming increasingly important. Here is a short discussion on this topic from one of our previous Innovation Leadership Executive Education courses: George Dyson has a nice metaphor for the changes involved in answer to […]
As we keep saying on this blog, innovation is risky and hard work. Having an idea is easy but selecting the best idea and turning it into something of value is where most failure occurs. Given these challenges, it might be tempting to let others do the innovation. Clearly if someone else is going to […]
One of the reasons that firms are often hesitant to innovate is that innovation creates uncertainty, and a lot of people are uncomfortable with uncertainty. Here is short clip from one of our earlier Executive Education courses where I talk about how we can use innovation technologies to reduce uncertainty a little bit: Innovation technologies […]
Here’s an interesting question: Why is the Retirement Age 65 in most developed countries? I’ll give you a second to think about it. Or google it. Here’s a hint: the retirement age of 65 was first selected in 1880. Here’s the answer: the retirement age was set at 65 because when it was first introduced […]
I love the story of the development of the Graphical User Interface (GUI). It was developed by Xerox in their Palo Alto Research Center. They used it on their first commercial home PC, the Xerox Star, but that didn’t sell very well. While the history is a bit muddled, Apple definitely knew of the work, […]
A significant report was released last week on Australian public sector innovation. It’s called “Empowering Change” and I think it represents a blueprint for an important sector that has traditionally had a very fragmented approach to innovation. In Australia it represents 30% of the economy and delivers services that are vital to the well-being of […]
