Defining Innovation

I think we can all agree that innovation is a buzzword today. It seems like everything is an innovation and everyone is an innovator.  Yet, innovation means different things to different people, depending on their perspective or profession. People often talk about innovation being a good idea and a company is judged by the number of patents filed. Is that innovation?

Let me take a moment to share with you my definition of innovation and ROI as it pertains to our business and clients.  

To me, innovation is transforming ideas into market-leading, practical products – products that are affordable and impact life and society every day. Innovation for innovation sake is wasted investment. Innovation must be useful to a company’s target audience not just be a ‘cool’ idea that will hopefully find an audience. As for patents, they must be monetized so they add value to a company’s bottom line and give the company a competitive-edge.

Innovation is also about identifying new markets, improving existing systems and product evolution. Given the recent economy, many companies chose to invest in new market opportunities for existing products or expanded into emerging countries. Improving products is just as important. Often, you might be able to solve a problem by repurposing concepts from another industry or even learning from nature, a growing field called biomimicry. Despite the Latin translation, innovation doesn’t have to be something new.

But most importantly, innovation has to be repeatable and sustainable. It’s not about one brilliant idea but being able to sustain the product innovation process. And, innovation happens across the company not just in the R&D department. Today’s innovation community includes new business development, strategic planning and competitive analysis teams, among others.

Given our economy, innovation must result in revenue growth and increase market share within an accelerated timeframe. Therefore the innovation agenda and ROI must be tightly integrated with a company’s corporate goals.

That’s my opinion. What’s yours?

Invention Machine’s Innovation Agenda

I have been writing regularly about innovation trends and the importance of executives championing a company’s innovation agenda. Now let me share with you my company’s innovation agenda and give you a taste of what’s to come in 2010.

Our innovation agenda is pretty straight forward. Hire and retain the best minds. Help drive and sustain our customers’ innovation initiatives and boost their return on innovation. Our technology is designed to strategically infuse innovation into every step of the product development process and deliver the right products, quickly and cost effectively — which in turn positively impacts a company’s bottomline.     

Like many CEOs, I meet with customers regularly to learn about their challenges and achievements. I then share the information with my team so they can create new technology or programs to meet our client’s innovation goals. Each week I also meet with my executive team and collectively design and shape our corporate agenda. Here are Invention Machine’s focus areas for the year:

Product Development

As leaders in our industry, we pay close attention to our customers needs and act on them quickly. Several months ago, they told us that collaboration and identifying experts were important to their business. We delivered Invention Machine Goldfire 6.0, with automatic expert identification and collaboration functionalities, along with other new features. Now global teams can use the technology to better collaborate and work outside their silos.

As the role of innovation is expanding, so is the usage of Goldfire, our innovation intelligence platform. Initially thought to be the exclusive domain of scientists and engineers, companies now recognize that innovation happens across the organization, every day. Mapping to this shift, we have decided to broaden Goldfire’s innovation workflows and are looking to add new workflows for tasks such as tracking user sentiment and technology landscaping. 

We will also incorporate additional capabilities to manage broad deployments while making the software easier to adapt across multiple departments. New language support will be added to expand Goldfire’s current multi-lingual offerings of English, French, German and Japanese. 

Client Services

This year, our focus is shifting from just successful software implementations to becoming a trusted advisor. To ensure our customers success, my team has created roadmaps to empower users to easily design an Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem, build high performance teams and see return on innovation  within 90 days. Our innovation experts will work closely with individuals to tailor the use of Goldfire to their specific job functions as well as design customized workshops for broader groups that will help the team further accelerate the innovation process.

Marketing

As innovation practitioners and champions, our clients are dedicated to delivering successful projects.  As we all know, just delivering great products and processes are not enough. One must effectively communicate the value of innovation initiatives to their peers and other potential communities across an organization. Therefore I have asked my marketing department to engage with our clients and their internal communications team to create campaigns that will effectively spread the word of their innovation success. This will also help attract people from other departments and geographies who may be able to pitch in as well as learn from best practices, all of which will foster better collaboration and impact revenue.

These are some highlights. Obviously I am not giving you every detail of our corporate strategy. Would you? In the meantime, I’d love to hear how you help drive your company’s innovation agenda.

Green Innovation in a Struggling Economy

Despite the state of the economy, companies must incorporate green innovation process and design eco-friendly products. In fact, an Aberdeen Group study found 62% of manufacturers are pursuing green product development initiatives. Yet, most companies are unsure about where to begin, how to prioritize investments and justify the high cost of going green. 

Needless to say, going green is a business imperative that drives a company’s bottom-line and competitiveness.  Green innovation is primarily about new product development and redesigning existing products so they are environmentally compliant.

Here are some tips on going green the right way, based on observations and conversations with leading innovation companies:  

• Identify a sustainability executive to champion and measure green innovation initiatives. The program must tie to the company’s business objectives and drive revenue.     
• Operationalize green across the enterprise so ‘design for green’ becomes part of the standard innovation process – whether it’s new product development or redesigning products, they must comply with the sustainability guidelines.
• Assess and understand what percentage of your company’s intellectual property portfolio is green compliant and quickly transform those patents into market-leading, eco-friendly products.  
• Use innovation software to generate concepts that identify green compatible material substitutions to upgrade strategic products so they meet environmental and regulatory standards.    
• Utilize semantic technology to research and apply revolutionary principals such as biomimicry to design eco-friendly products.

In short, companies that adopt and drive green innovation initiatives will gain financial and competitive edge, which in turn will help foster people, planet and profitability. 

What are your thoughts on going green?

Innovation Trends in 2010

This is the time when everyone is recapping the year and forecasting trends in the coming year. So, let me jump on the bandwagon and reiterate some of the trends I have been talking about based on customer interactions.

Innovate to Dominate: Innovation will continue to be a focus for all Best-in-Class companies. No surprise there. In NESTA’s recent ‘Everyday Innovation’ report, 78% of participants said innovation is key to improving their products and services and 70% said their focus on innovation has been reinforced. Also, 80% claimed innovation is an important part of their role. However, just ‘innovation’ is not enough.

Reign of process and collaboration: In 2010, we’ll see large enterprises as well as small and medium businesses focusing more on structured and sustainable innovation vs. an ad hoc innovation process. Sustainable innovation is the only way for companies to compete globally and drive the innovation economy. In addition, global collaboration with experts will become an integral part of the innovation process so teams can leverage innovation intelligence and deliver the right products the first time.

Changing of the guard: Emerging companies and countries around the world will become more innovative. Innovation leadership will no longer be exclusive to Global 2000 companies or established global powers.  In fact, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland topped the 2008 list of world’s most innovative countries, while the US dropped to number eight. Don’t be surprised to see China and India topping next year’s list. Emerging growth companies will also become innovation leaders as they can quickly amass greater market cap values and overtake or take over yesterday’s leaders. This is possible because lower stock prices in this economy have made multinational companies more vulnerable to acquisitions.

Ideation to productization: In 2009, the US patent applications dropped by 2.3 percent, primarily due to the economy, according to experts. Perhaps this trend will continue as companies will focus more on transforming ideas into commercial, revenue generating products and leverage existing technology from different industries to design new products or solve problems. After all, a company’s true success is measured by its revenue and products sold, not number of patents.

Green is the new black: Companies will continue on the path of green innovation. Today, many companies and government are still talking the green talk. But few are able to design cost efficient products that meet customer demands. In 2010 we expect to see more companies operationalise green innovation across an enterprise, making it a key business imperative for driving profitability and competitive-edge.

These are my top predictions. What are yours?

Seven Years and Counting

I recently passed the seven year mark as CEO of Invention Machine. You’d think that I’d get the ‘seven year itch’, reevaluate my life and look for the next opportunity. Frankly, I can’t imagine separating myself from Invention Machine given the global innovation trends and the traction we’ve built and are seeing in the industry.

Last month we hosted our second user conference in Boston. It was attended by innovators from 10 countries, representing some of the best minds in the manufacturing industry. Right after the two-day event, CTO James Todhunter and I left for a trip to Europe and Asia. There, we met with more than a dozen customers and partners. Needless to say, the discussions around innovation were stimulating. The feedback, outstanding.

Here are highlights of what I heard from our clients at the conference and around the world:

• Companies recognize the benefit of investing in innovation, despite the recession. A quick analysis showed that companies that attended our October user conference outperformed market by 11.5% over the past 13 months. Investing in innovation does deliver results.
• Companies are making Invention Machine Goldfire the standard for concept research and sustainable innovation.
• Invention Machine is meeting their corporate innovation agenda, including identifying new markets, designing competitive products in half the time, and repurposing technology to drive revenue.
• Invention Machine Goldfire is a game changer, they said. It powers an innovation intelligence ecosystem that delivers precise intelligence to scientists and engineers and other innovators across the organization. Translation: companies are saving on labor costs, increasing productivity, delivering the right products the first time, and repurposing existing products into new markets – all of which leads to increased market share and competitive-edge.  
• Resellers are excited to be part of our global network, especially the new resellers who can now meet the innovation demands of small and medium businesses.

 As a CEO, such feedback is music to my ear. And, I’d like to increase the flow of such comments over the next few years. I am proud of Invention Machine and our accomplishments.  More importantly, I am grateful to my Invention Machine team, our customers and the industry influencers.  Thank you for your continued support.

Here’s to 2010 and beyond.

Boost Revenue with the Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem

During a recent trip to Europe, I had the opportunity to meet with more than a dozen clients. It was great to listen and learn from executives and engineers on how they are navigating through today’s challenging times and what they are doing and need to do to maintain their innovation edge. It was also gratifying to see how our innovation software is helping drive their innovation initiatives and hear rave reviews about our next technology release.

Now, as I mull over these conversations, two key items rise to the top. First, every company has multiple groups of innovators and each group needs relevant intelligence to drive their innovation tasks. Secondly, every company must have an Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem to drive sustainable innovation and revenue. Let me explain.

The innovation community

Global companies have multiple communities of innovators. In most, about 10-20 percent of innovation workers are master innovators who focus on driving disruptive innovation and strategic innovation initiatives. These projects include designing new products to increase competitive-edge, redesigning existing products to cut costs or identify new markets to drive revenue. This small group of scientists and engineers takes full advantage of advanced innovation technologies.

The second group consists of every day innovators who work on smaller innovation tasks, ranging from solving problems for customers and resolving field situations to researching competitor landscapes and ways to reuse existing technology. In addition to engineers and scientists, they could also be members of new business development, strategic planning and competitive analysis teams. This group of every day innovators represents 70-80 percent of employees, and while they may not make headlines, their innovation ensures their companies’ success.

Collectively, both master and every day innovators are responsible for maintaining a company’s innovation edge. In order to drive optimal success and help the community of innovators do their jobs effectively, each individual needs access to the right intelligence. Precise innovation intelligence can validate concepts upfront and help them deliver the right products the first time as well as solve every day problems faster.

Precise intelligence is the heart of innovation

To knowledge-empower these innovation communities, every company should design an Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem^TM – a framework for delivering precise and critical information from a variety of sources that lead to increased productivity. Internal innovation intelligence can come from legacy product design, best practice and customer usage while external content includes competitive intelligence, technology trends and scientific theories. Giving the innovation communities access to such critical information empowers them to deliver on strategic and every day innovation tasks and initiatives effectively.

Let me give you an example. One of our life sciences customers recently reported that by using Invention Machine Goldfire to drive their Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem, the engineers reclaimed more than 20 percent of their time, effectively increasing productivity by more than 30 percent. Invention Machine’s innovation platform allowed the engineers to devote more time to revenue-generating activities and deliver more products to market, faster.

Drive revenue with Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem

By knowledge-enabling the innovation community with an effective Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem, a company can successfully:

• increase productivity and cut development costs
• drive and sustain a continuous innovation process
• design cutting-edge products repeatedly and
• increase growth, revenue and market share.

I’d like to hear your thoughts on creating and supporting an Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem. Do you think it will help boost and sustain productivity, innovation and market share?

Government Intervention or Innovation?

Government intervention is not a new, untested concept in America. Banks, mining companies, railroads and now insurance companies and automobile manufacturers have been the beneficiaries of government support for economic and social gains. We still talk about the collapse of the entire economy during the 1930s and the savings-and-loan industry implosion in the 1980s – both times the government stepped in to rescue the economy.

History shows that brief and select government involvement can have some positive short-term impact on the economy. To power America as an innovation economy, however, government should step away from longer term business intervention and direct management of corporate operations.

I’m not suggesting that the government fail to intercede for the protection of tax-paying citizens or the environment. But political intervention without sufficient planning, operational competencies and exit strategies can lead to lackluster performance, a “good enough” mentality, lost competitiveness and a dearth of innovation, whether here or across the globe. Take China, for example. Industry reports cite that state-owned commercial banks in China are largely the cause for sluggish financial services profitability. Complacency has replaced competitiveness and innovation is low.

On the other hand, look at India. Since the government stepped back and opened up the market, innovation has soared.  Tata Motors’ Nano, dubbed “the people’s car,” has made headlines. It provides a safer and more fuel friendly alternative to the two-wheelers that have been the standard mode of transportation for families throughout the country. The cost? Twenty-five hundred dollars, the cheapest car on the planet. That’s just one example of affordable innovation.

A year ago I was in India to meet with our customers and resellers as well as other movers and shakers in the innovation space, including Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, president of the Indian National Science Academy. It was refreshing to hear their views on innovation culture and the impact of global collaboration in India, which has fostered innovation and attracted multinational companies like General Electric to open labs there. I also believe that the country’s tri-parte consortium – the government, academia and industry — has helped India make the list of top innovative countries, along with Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland.

How does government intervention limit innovation?

• It forces companies to think short term and not about what they have to do in the present to gain a competitive edge once the market turns around.
• Political agendas can target CEOs, make them insecure, resulting in their replacement or shifts within a competent board, leading to executive turmoil and instability.
• Cuts are made to R&D budgets, stalling innovation and reducing investments in sustainable innovation processes.
• Innovation workers are cut arbitrarily while administrative, legal and management positions are saved to work through the bureaucracy.

The dilemma in the United States is in dealing with the “General Motors” of America – the situation where the government owns substantial equity in a company. By selling its assets to emerge from Chapter 11, GM, once a powerhouse of patents and products, will no longer be an innovation leader.   

Even consumers agree.  According to a recent article in BrandWeek, “A post-bankruptcy Rasmussen Reports poll found 41 percent of respondents saying the quality of GM cars will get worse with the federal government as the company’s chief owner, vs. 19 percent saying it’ll get better.”  Without innovation, GM will not have the staying power.

So how does a company evolve into an innovation leader, sustain growth and avoid government takeover? Here are my suggestions:

• Understand that the global landscape is undergoing dramatic paradigm shifts.
• Relate the impact of the paradigm shifts and trends to your company and its positioning.
• Be bold in seeking new ideas and identifying the right people to lead your business model, innovation strategy and product development to accurately meet today’s demands.
• Invest in product innovation, similar to Apple’s strategy, in order to generate dramatic results in a turnaround economy.
• Like Boston Scientific, empower innovators with knowledge-enabled technology to accelerate and sustain every day innovation and deliver the right product the first time.
• Ensure the company retains trust and faith with shareholders, bondholders and others at all times.

Following the above guidelines will guarantee innovation leadership, which in turn will lead to positive monetization, without government intervention. After all, sustainable innovation and corporate integrity are keys to driving business opportunities, growth and market-share.

What do you think?

 

 

 

 

Looking up in a down economy

I have been writing about and providing tips on what companies could do to innovate in a down economy even before the market crashed.  Now that economists are predicting that the end of the recession is in sight and that the U.S. manufacturing orders are rising, it’s time to focus on what companies should do to thrive in a rebounding economy.  

Survival of the fittest
Over the last 12 months, companies and people have been put to the test. The recession has hit the manufacturing industry hard, among others. Yet, best-in-class companies have survived despite budget cuts and reduction of innovation workers.  In fact, these companies have become leaner and learned to do more with less as well as embraced smart technology to sustain the innovation process. In short, the best companies have right-sized themselves, focused their business agendas and retained their best and experienced people to keep innovation moving forward.  These are the people who have been chartered to accomplish the most innovative deliverables in half the time, and help their respective companies attain global market leadership positions – from alternative energy to life sciences.

Innovation mandate
Now that the fittest companies have survived and new leaders emerged, here are some tips on what CEOs should do as the economy stabilizes and emerges from the recession:

• CEOs must continue to drive the innovation agenda.  Reward employees for their leadership and creativity that has impacted the bottom-line.  
• CEOs should take inventory of its operating paradigm, get new perspective on what’s viable and adapt quickly to today’s changing environment.
• Capture and remember the lessons learned from this recession and continue to run lean, innovation-focused organizations.
• Empower innovators with collaboration and knowledge-enabled platforms to boost the innovation economy.

As I tell my employees, every cloud has a silver lining. Even though we have been surrounded by negative news, the recession has made us stronger, smarter and street savvy. Best-in-class companies have retained people with attitude and aptitude to drive innovation. They should be nurtured, given the right innovation platforms and environment. And together, we as a “global nation” can look up in a down economy and prepare to enter a decade of innovation excellence.