Burning Questions 2007

Keys to Spurring Innovation

Boston knows innovation. As Michael Best, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the co-director of the Center for Industrial Competitiveness, put it, "Massachusetts has lost more industries than any region in the world, but has also created more industries than any other region."

"Boston started the auto industry and lost it to Detroit," say Bob Krim, executive director of the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative, and Janey Bishoff, a member of the group's board in The Boston Globe. "After 30 years headquartered here, AT&T moved to New York. The personal computer industry was lost to Silicon Valley. Yet in these and other cases, the original innovation which occurred here produced a critical mass of talent and technological capability that seeded other innovations.

In research funded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and John Adams Innovation Institute, the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative identified "key factors that have helped spawn innovation and regenerate the economy: a driving entrepreneur or team of leaders; a diverse mix of people, businesses, and educational institutions, which foster networking; local funding; local demand, which pushes entrepreneurs to define ideas and perfect products; and national or global demand for those same ideas and products."

Innovation Center to Open in New Orlean's Upper 9th Ward

New Orlean's Upper 9th Ward was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina two years ago and rebuilding has been slow. Hoping to spur the area's renaissance, The Idea Village, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH) and Regions Bank along with support from Mercy Corps and Tulane University have announced the creation of The Idea Village @ N. Galvez Business Innovation Center.

The center is expected to open early 2008 and will provide access to retail space, technology, technical assistance, financial services, and other essential resources necessary to economic recovery and development. It is hoped the center will be "a catalyst for a robust commercial corridor that will fuel private investment throughout the neighborhood, giving residents a sense of confidence, ownership, and participation in their community."

Another Study Links Business Success to Innovation

In an article on the Scotsman.com, Michael Lewrick, a PhD student at Napier Univeristy in Edinburgh, said: "The most important factors for innovation and success shows that the essential elements required to achieve this are an active knowledge of the business, a distinctive network between companies, universities and research facilities as well as the ability to obtain resources at short notice."

While the findings are not revolutionary, they do reinforce basic prinicples and underscores the need for businesses to become part of an innovation ecosystem that extends beyond its four walls. It also highlights the challenge that traditional resource allocation systems in large organizations can present to innovation. The process is too often lengthy and cumbersome making it difficult to seize an opportunity quickly.

Surveying Innovation in Wales

"The Sustainable Innovation in Wales Survey is designed to explore in-depth what innovative activity is going on within companies, the attitude of business people towards this activity and the factors that influence it.

Organised by the Wales Quality Centre and DNA Wales, the study, which aims to sample around 200 companies, covers three broad areas: innovation activity, barriers to innovation and innovation culture."

These are some of the same areas to be covered at Burning Questions 2007: Leading for Innovation to be held in nearby London on October 24 - 26, 2007.

If you are a business in Wales, you can complete the survey at www.walesqualitycentre.org.uk or www.dnawales.co.uk. We'll encourage the surveyers to share the results here as soon as they are available.

Does Size Matter?

Apparently so, according to a new study on innovation by futurethink. Specific combinations of organizational size and styles are dictating innovation success they say.

“This is not a proverbial case of David versus Goliath, rather a case of David and Goliath,” emphasizes Lisa Bodell, chief executive officer of futurethink in an article on Reliable Plant. “Our results demonstrate that actually it is both the largest (50,000-plus employees) and smallest (500 and under employees) organizations that are most effective when it comes to innovation.”

One wonders if those in the middle -- apparently stuck in their innovation efforts -- are more focused on maturing their processes and structures as they grow from being smaller, more entrepreneurial players to more established firms. There are always those points when firms have to stop, breathe, and reorganize what they do. However, the large span of the gap -- from relatively tiny to giant -- would argue against that being the issue. Perhaps instead is that small firms need to be innovative in order to survive, get funding, etc. and the largest firms have gotten to that point by being successful innovators. In other words, you have to be innovative at the start and then only the innovative survive to get large.

More distressing, the research reports that the average innovation score at reporting companies was 8.3 out of a possible 20. As they say, the only way to go is up.

What do you think? Tell us now or tell us in person at Burning Questions 2007: Leading for Innovation.

Innovation for Innovation's Sake?

Here's an interesting article written by Graham Walker of Cognos that points out the danger of innovating just for the sake of putting out something new.

"...there has never been as much pressure for organisations to drive this (innovation) process, and get it right quickly. We live in a world where the consumer is better informed and has more choice than ever before. The capacity to evolve quickly has never been as important. Quite simply, if you stand still, your competitors will not, and you will be left behind."

"But, organisations must be careful to not fall into the trap of pushing innovation for innovation's sake. It is not just about coming up with the most exciting and original idea. Senior executives must ensure they are driving intelligent innovation and it is critical that the success or value of a new idea is judged on the impact that it will have on the bottom line and company goals."

This is much of what will be talked about at Burning Questions 2007.

Innovation and AIDS Prevention

"People who have some good ideas related to AIDS prevention and support work will get a chance to secure funding for their schemes at this year’s Viet Nam Innovation Day," according to Viet Nam News.

The Viet Nam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control and World Bank yesterday launched Viet Nam Innovation Day, which this year has the theme of ‘Stop AIDS: keep the promise’."

Finally -- An Innovation Predictor

"Many stockholders wish they could look into a crystal ball to forecast a firm's performance. Researchers at the University of Minnesota have found that they need something far less mystical to predict future innovations of firms," reports Science Daily.

"The answer lies in the words of the CEO," said Rajesh Chandy, professor of marketing at the university's Carlson School of Management. "By simply counting the number of future oriented sentences in annual reports we can predict future innovation by the firm."

Of course now once the results of the study become well known we can expect share price watchers at public companies to be instructing their wordsmiths to put as many words as possible that are attributed to the CEO into the future tense. And, with the spate of private equity buyouts, there will be fewer annual reports at which to look. This is a valuable bit of research nonetheless.