In this week’s What Matters podcast, we hear from Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation—a nonprofit group focused on driving innovation through large, incentive competitions. In 2004, the foundation awarded the Ansari X PRIZE, a $10 million award for the first private group to build and launch a reusable, manned spacecraft. Diamandis recently spoke with Paul Jansen, a principal in McKinsey’s San Francisco office, about how prizes can spur innovation, create new markets, and address some of the world’s thorniest socioeconomic problems.
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In the early 1990s, a seasoned executive shared a metaphor that has stayed with me ever since: he said that innovation is like a coral reef. Marine biologists don’t fully understand what causes reefs to form, he said, but we do know that human actions can nurture or harm the process. The same is true for innovation—a natural, chaotic, unpredictable process that is hard, perhaps even impossible, for well-meaning outsiders to foster.
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Can companies measure the impact of their innovation activities? Can they benchmark their performance on innovation against that of their peers? Can the long-term effects of innovation strategies be tracked systematically? Yes, yes, and yes. In fact, not only can companies objectively assess innovation; we believe they must.
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The economic crisis has changed the competitive landscape dramatically for companies around the globe. Cost cutting is in vogue but expense control alone will not suffice. Innovation is the surest way to not only survive the downturn but to come out stronger.
Amidst the pain of an economic downturn, comes an overlooked competitive opportunity for companies: during recessions, only major innovations pass the test of success. These are the kinds of innovations that can sweep away older business models, creating a foundation for major growth that will endure long after the downturn has passed and a New Normal has taken hold .
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Asia has strengths that promise to make it a leading center of technological innovation in the 21st century. These strengths are substantial, fundamental, and durable. At their base lie aspects of culture, on both a civilizational and generational time scale.
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Back in the 18th century, the inability to accurately measure the longitude of a ship’s position made transoceanic voyages high-risk ventures—for investors as well as sailors. The answer? In 1714, the British government offered a cash award of £20,000 to anyone who could develop a way of precisely determining a ship’s longitude. Nearly 300 years later, prizes meant to spark solutions to complex problems are experiencing a renaissance.
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Analyses and comparisons between innovation environments never fail to generate quite a bit of both interest and controversy. The interest must be in large part because we all understand how critical innovative capacity is to economic competitiveness and sustainable growth. The controversy, however, often seems to be due to the somewhat imprecise definition of the concept.
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Even—perhaps especially—in times of economic turbulence, innovation remains the most important differentiator separating economic winners from also-rans.
Update: Interactive heat map now available (19 March, 2009).
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The most innovative countries—which will also be the highest earning in the future—will be those that embrace a model of “innovation economics,” which places technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship at the center of economic policymaking.
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China and India will be important centers of innovation in the coming decades. Not only are both nations producing a rising share of key technological innovations, but they are also pioneering innovations in business models that allow their companies to prosper in low-income markets.
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A 2004 IBM study on innovation, called the Global Innovation Outlook (GIO), suggested that there are three key factors for innovation: common technical standards, collaboration, and customization.
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Can humankind find its way to a world that is cleaner, safer, and fairer than the one we inhabit today—and can we do it with 50 percent more people? The answer is, possibly. It will require a complex interaction of vision, innovation, and policy all coming together at precisely the right moment.
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The biggest opportunities for innovation, productivity, job creation, and economic growth can now be found as we apply the huge advances in IT, the Internet, and related technologies to address problems in the marketplace and society at large.
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If you want to find solutions that make a difference, the best place to look may be the community center down the street.
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“The destiny of a company like Alessi, an Italian design firm, is to work and to live as close as possible to the borderline. The borderline divides the area of the possible and the area of the not possible.”
“The question is no longer what do you own or not own; it’s how can you leverage your assets to realize the most value.”
“While we are still reaping the benefits of seeds we planted 10, 20, and 30 years ago, we’re not planting new seeds at the rate we once did.”
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- Where innovation creates value
Is the United States on the verge of being pummeled by a technological hurricane? Professor Amar Bhidé says no and explains why the US is able to stay ahead.
01 Apr 2010 · 09:45:33 PM GMT
This is well known that money makes us independent. But how to act when one has no cash? The one way only is to receive the personal loans or just bank loan.—personal loans
In response to Nurturing the innovation reef
05 Jan 2010 · 10:38:34 AM GMT
Gross oversimplification on many different levels. I like the resulting dialog, questions and comments more than the article.—thesullster
In response to Nurturing the innovation reef
10 Nov 2009 · 04:31:17 AM GMT
Intriguing article.—George Kalakanis
In response to Building an innovation nation
07 Oct 2009 · 05:55:13 AM GMT
While I support the ideas presented, I think it is narrow minded to talk about the “national” perspective. It is not necessary to keep educated immigrants in America for Americans to benefit from their deeds. We live in a global economy a...—Bengt Bjorck
In response to Nurturing the innovation reef
05 Oct 2009 · 05:16:06 PM GMT
I want to associate myself strongly with the comments here regarding the relationship between smart immigration policies and innovation. I was the project director for the recent Independent Task Force on U.S. Immigration Policy, sponsored by the Cou...—Edward Alden
In response to Nurturing the innovation reef
04 Oct 2009 · 06:54:40 PM GMT
Silicon Valley has created a technological innovation ecosystem. Since the economy is 80% service, the ecosystem for developing innovative services that truly serve human and community needs is not as well developed here. BVA is supporting developm...—Darlene Crane
In response to Nurturing the innovation reef
- BusinessWeek on Innovation and Design
- Creative Class
- Doors of Perception
- Irving Wladawsky-Berger's blog on innovation, technology, and leadership
- Kauffman Foundation
- Managing innovation: Pages from Alessi's handbook
- McKinsey Quarterly on innovation
- Policy Innovations
- Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner
- The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation
- X PRIZE Foundation