INNOVATION |
|||
not only have access to technicians , technologists , scientists , labs and scale-up facilities but to markets too . The innovation part in a job title should be about markets , customers , consumers , consumer experience , market acceptance and pricing . |
|||
|
Lessons from other sectors
One of the best examples how to differentiate between an invention and an innovation may be the lessons from mobile phones when the market started to mature . At this time Siemens was the unquestioned technology leader in the segment . Siemens phones were best-in-class by technology .
Unfortunately , a customer would need an engineering training to feel comfortable in using such device . There were up to nine sub-menus in the software , and the phone came with a 200-page user manual in language that was more than challenging for some of the older customers .
Nokia at the same time had rather average technology . However , the Finns had developed a software that everybody could use by intuition . Only a few sub-menus , alongside an intrinsic understanding und intuitional use made them in short time the global market leader in cellphones . Later , of course , the company failed to develop of the next nice toy and Apple took over . The history of Nokia is telling about errors in management but also about the difference between an invention and an innovation .
There are several lessons to be learned out of such exercises . The first is that organisations that want to innovate differ from those who want to invent . The skills of people in the sales organisation must , and the incentive systems must fit the purpose . Innovation is a different animal to pure sales and the overall set-up of an organisation must differ .
Often organisations say that it is difficult to have ideas for innovation . That is hard to believe . Whatever number may be correct , we all have up to 2,000 ideas and approximately 60,000 thoughts per day . Imagine an organisation of only 500 people
|
having one million ideas and 30 million thoughts per day . In other words , ideas and thoughts are commodities .
The question is less how to generate ideas , more about proper execution . Our industry today is full of ideas and projects that could be better executed . This is why in most projects I was allowed to work in with my clients , we have been working on killing projects effectively and working on project plans .
In addition , it is about how to interact with customers and markets , not only to understand potential acceptance – there will always be a potential acceptance . The real levers will often differ from how organisations operate today .
Speed only matters if you are on the right road . Let ’ s get started . ●
|
J j |
Dr Lukas von Hippel
VON CON lukas @ von-con . com www . von-con . com
|