Stimulating the Innovation Economy

February 4, 2010

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?

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Posted by Mark Atkins, Invention Machine

Boost Revenue with the Innovation Intelligence Ecosystem

September 17, 2009

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 EcosystemTM – 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 costsInnovation Intelligence Ecosystem
  • 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?

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Posted by Mark Atkins, Invention Machine

Government Intervention or Innovation?

July 29, 2009

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?

 

 

 

 

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Posted by Mark Atkins, Invention Machine

Looking up in a down economy

June 2, 2009

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.

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Posted by Mark Atkins, Invention Machine