June is Innovation Month in New England. So What?

Kudos to Scott Kirsner for rallying the troops and declaring June as the innovation month in New England. And congrats to Gov. Deval Patrick for jumping on the bandwagon and officially proclaiming June as Innovation Month. Let’s also take a moment to celebrate the residents and organizations who contribute regularly to the innovation economy. It’s their passion, effort and entrepreneurship that gives us the right to claim Massachusetts, especially Boston, as The Innovation Hub.

But like many, I believe that every month is innovation month. In fact, innovation is an every day activity for me — whether I am running the company or working with my team to make sure our global customers are on the cutting-edge of technology and innovating 24X7.

But Scott’s question stopped me dead in my tracks and got me thinking. What’s so important about June? Why not declare 2010 as the start of an innovation decade? Here’s my perspective on June:

Blooming Partnerships: June, as you know, is a popular wedding month (bear with me here). After long engagements, couples look forward to tying the knot and living a happy, prosperous life. Summer is also the time when most couples evaluate their relationships and adjust accordingly, whether they are planning a family or about to become empty nesters. In the world of technology, June signifies the end of the first half and a time to reflect on our business strategy and forecast the future. It’s time to re-engage with customers on the progress of their innovation initiatives. Are the projects blooming or wilting? Are there programs they need a divorce from so they can embark on new initiatives? Granted we are always collaborating with our customers. But June is when we refocus and revisit our game plan and ensure that the relationships are strong and prosperous.

Anticipation: For sport fans, this is an exciting time. The Red Sox are finally hitting their strides. Basketball fans are holding their breath. Who will win the NBA championship? In reality, it’s always nail-biting time in New England — whether you are rooting for a team or innovation breakthroughs. We literally sit at the edge of our seats every day, not knowing what will come next – will a company deliver another game changing product, what medical discoveries will cure terminal illnesses or perhaps a young entrepreneur could save the planet from global warming. Yes, we wait in anticipation for innovations that will not just change our lives but impact the economic prosperity of the commonwealth and the world.

Inspiration:  June is optimal for awakening, from nature to ideas. The glorious weather and coastline nurturers creativity, irrespective of our expertise or interest. And, I can’t think of another city that has as many medical and research institutions as Boston. The academic world is filled with professors and advisors who influence government policies and private initiatives. They also serve as mentors to all the students who get their education here. And after years of preparation and tough internships, thousands of these brilliant minds and eager contributors join the workplace in June, adding to our innovation culture and growth. As an adjunct professor, it’s an amazing feeling to see my MBA students enter the professional world, ready to impact and influence the business community and drive next generation innovations.

The Happening Place: Massachusetts is indeed the innovation hub. Many breakthrough technologies and industries are born here, from medical and life sciences to energy and manufacturing. Just look at the number of events taking place in June and multiply that with events that happen throughout the year. It’s at these events that people collaborate, create and deliver. As an entrepreneur, I can’t imagine being anywhere else. I grew up in the area, worked in multiple companies, collaborated with VCs to build and sell companies. Currently, I run a profitable company with outstanding professionals and we are proud to be working with global corporations to drive and foster their innovation initiatives.

So thanks Scott for making me step back and reflect on things that we take for granted. June is indeed a special month in New England, and possibly around the world.

Here’s to innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and mentors. Let our passion for innovation continue to permeate through our lives, every day of every month. After all, an innovation economy is as good as the people who contribute, and execute well on brilliant ideas.

Stimulating the Innovation Economy

We have long known that the best way to spur the economy is via job retention, job creation and executing on a strong innovation agenda. In most cases it’s up to the CEOs, not politicians, to design the agenda and drive the innovation economy.

Lately we’ve been hearing some positive news that show the economy may be mildly stabilizing. Several companies have reported strong earnings results and America’s GDP rose by 5.7 percent at the end of 2009, the best economic growth in six years. Yet, many people are still losing their jobs and struggling to pay their mortgage.

Granted, turning a global economy around is a Herculean task. I am glad the president is talking about job creation and the economy. But as some of the CEOs advising the government have said, we need policies and programs to sustain economic growth, not just short term stimulus projects.

As politicians and advisors tackle the issue on a macro level, let’s look at what companies can do to stimulate the innovation economy:

Focus: As I have said before, 2010 is the start of an innovation decade. We are on the cusp of major breakthroughs and America could once again top the list of most innovative countries (U.S. is currently #8). But in order to succeed, CEOs must continue to drive the innovation agenda and stay focused on the end game, i.e. profitability and growth. CEOs must encourage teams to create an innovation process that’s sustainable, adopt technology that empowers engineers to deliver the right products the first time and mitigate risks associated with product innovation. No company can afford 12 product failures for every one success, which is the case today.

Practical innovations: CEOs are the catalyst for delivering innovative products and services that impact our world today, from life saving medical technologies to planet saving green products. I often hear about interesting new ideas that claim to be breakthrough innovations. However, if a majority of users won’t adopt the product or can’t purchase it because of high price points, the product is not a useful innovation. And, the company is simply wasting resources and money. Successful innovation should address both functional and economic criteria.

Expand to retain: To succeed in a global economy, companies need long term planning that will mobilize teams and sustain cutting-edge product delivery. If you have happy customers, look for opportunities to expand product usage within your customer base. If you have a successful product line, identify adjacent market opportunities to bring in additional revenue. With sustained profitability and growth, a company can expand its employee base, and an innovative company will find it easier to attract and retain best talents.

Personalization: It’s all about relationships and knowing what your customers really want. This help companies design products or programs that closely match consumer needs. For example, for a B2B business like ours, we have to understand what ‘innovation success’ looks like to our enterprise customers. In most cases, they want to show innovation milestones within 90 days. So we created a “90 Days to Innovation” customizable program that allows Invention Machine Goldfire users to demonstrate success and ROI within 90 days.

Running a company isn’t rocket science and these concepts are not new. I strongly believe that it is our responsibility as CEOs to deliver the results we promise to our employees, customers and shareholders. So, I am sharing the philosophies I use to run my company, philosophies that have made Invention Machine a successful and growing company.

Now that you know my views, I’d love to know yours. What else can companies do to stimulate the innovation economy?

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.

Collaboration Fuels Innovation

This week we are hosting our annual worldwide user conference, Invention Machine Power to Innovate, in Boston. I am looking forward to catching up on our customers’ successes, hearing about their challenges and collaborating on their innovation initiatives. 

I am also looking forward to discussing our technology roadmap with our advisory council members from AkzoNobel, Applied Materials, Boston Scientific, Leggett & Platt, Northrop Grumman and StatoilHydro. Their input is invaluable in designing our future products.   

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘collaborate to innovate’. Therefore, over the next few days attendees will hear a lot about collaboration and the role of knowledge in sustaining the innovation process. As innovators, you know that collaboration is key to fueling innovation and that the right innovation intelligence can boost efficiency and product delivery. I also think it’s time we step up collaboration between companies, government and academia.       

At Power to Innovate, we’ll provide an overview of the Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem™ and how it leads to increased revenue and competitive edge as well as ways to successfully deploy the initiative across an enterprise. Attendees will also hear from a company that significantly increased productivity by designing a process to capture, share and reuse knowledge.  

In addition, the agenda is packed with in-depth innovation sessions and best practices from some of the brightest minds in innovation. We hope participants will find the sessions informative and that the networking will open doors for worldwide collaboration between peers. If you are not attending, but would like to get event highlights, please follow Invention Machine on Twitter or #P2I09.

In the meantime, I’d like to get your opinion on collaboration. Do you think it’s essential to driving and sustaining innovation?

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.