Monthly Archives: April 2009
HSM Global recently hosted a webinar with Dr. Vijay Govindarajan of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in the run up to the World Innovation Forum, and has been kind enough to post it online. Here it is:One of the main points of the webinar is that managers need to consciously look at how they allocate time between:Box 1 – Managing the PresentBox 2 – Selectively Forgetting the PastBox 3 – Creating the FutureWhen Dr. Govindarajan speaks of the future, he is speaking about planning ten years out.He asked webinar attendees how they allocate their time between the boxes, and the unscientific results were that 92% of the participants spend up to 90% of their time in Box 1.According to Dr. Govindarajan, the rule of thumb for a world class company is to spend 50% in Box 1 and 50% in Box 2/Box 3. Even in a recession the … Continue reading
One theory of why there is more innovation in a downturn comes from Professor Dominic Houlder of London Business School. It goes like this:There are two main sources of innovation – invention and discovery.Discovery as it relates to innovation is analyzing where customers are being over-served and where they are being under-served. Discovery is teasing out what needs customers have surpressed during the boom times for a myriad of reasons, and identifying ways to better serve customers. The firms that get this right during the downturn are the firms that are likely to emerge strongest out of the downturn.For more detail check out the video:So, now that you are less busy filling customer orders. Are you using that time to innovate through discovery or only through invention?Where will your next innovation come from?@innovate
Twitter gets a lot of attention these days for being an innovation that is changing the way people communicate with and relate to each other. But is Twitter really a new idea?Yesterday on the radio I heard about a British invention implemented in 1935 that did basically what Twitter does, except without all of the technology behind it. I found this picture on the DJ’s blog:This person back in 1935 had this great idea, this great invention, but it was not an innovation. While the idea was firmly grounded in a latent human need, the technology and the consumer readiness did not exist to fully realize its potential. Otherwise we would all still be going to the train station to use the Robot Messenger.This creates two questions in my mind:What other innovations do we give credit to people in the present for coming up with that were really great inventions … Continue reading
I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend the Washington Innovation Summit by the event organizers. It was a great event that attracted over 400 attendees interested in technology and innovation to Bellevue, WA on April 9, 2009.The event was headlined by Senator Maria Cantwell and Gifford Pinchot, followed by other area technology and innovation dignitaries. (event schedule)Predictably, there was a lot of attention given to what government is doing to provide an economic environment that encourages innovation, and of course to technology innovations under way in the region.There were four technology breakout tracks:Sustainable EnergyInnovative Materials & ManufacturingUrban SustainabilityHealthy EcosystemsDespite the name change from Washington Technology Conference to Washington Innovation Summit, the focus of the event was still more on technology than innovation. I attended one breakout session from the Innovative Materials & Manufacturing track that focused on nano-structure and micro-structure applications and one from the Sustainable Energy track … Continue reading
Registration for Business Innovation Factory 5 (BiF-5) is now open. It will take place October 7-8, 2009 in Providence, RI.I attended BiF-4 last year and it was an outstanding event – both for the quality of the event and the attendee interactions. My blog posts and session videos from the event can be found here.The event sold out last year and despite the economy, the limited number of spots this year will go quickly.As a special bonus for my loyal readers I’ve negotiated a special $50 discount when you enter “BK110″ in the payment code field on the payment options page during registration – this will get you in for $1,150. Groups of five or more can get extra discounts.New storytellers are added each week, but so far they include:Richard Saul Wurman, Founder of TED conferencesJeff Jarvis, “What Would Google Do?”, buzzmachine.comBill Buxton, Microsoft Research, “Sketching User Experiences”Grant Harrison, VP … Continue reading
For decades, innovation in the mobile industry was obstructed by the mobile carriers. Walled gardens seeking to maximize airtime revenue ruled the day and delivering value to customers a distant concern. Carriers had ultimate power to determine what innovations customers would have access to and their contract terms and limitations discouraged application development. Then along came a man with a sledgehammer…. The man was Steve Jobs of Apple, and the sledgehammer was of course the iPhone. The iPhone was a revolutionary handset at the time, and for several of its best features to work, a carrier would need to cede some of its control. Apple took the iPhone first to American mobile service market leader Verizon and was shown the door. Control was retained and the walls of the garden did not come down! So, Steve Jobs did what any good entrepreneur would do, he didn’t take no for an … Continue reading
