posts tagged ‘business of innovation’

From creation myth to the reality of innovation today

13 May 2011 | Editor

On the surface, Malcolm Gladwell’s latest article for The New Yorker, "Creation Myth: Xerox PARC, Apple, and the truth about innovation", is a story about the mouse and how inventions travel – and evolve – across time and place. But examined more deeply, the article is really about the factors that determine whether you end up with an invention or an innovation. The story of PARC – and for that matter, any other innovative company – is indeed a mix of hopeful inventions, world-changing innovations, and missed opportunities, as Gladwell observes. But there's more – in contrast to his thesis that there’s a clean split between invention and innovation, and that companies are structurally limited in their innovation opportunities – we believe that there is now a framework that allows companies to innovate beyond their comfort zones and existing infrastructures. It's called open innovation.

We want to invent the next killer app

13 May 2011 | Tamara St. Claire

[contributed post to Front End of Innovation] I can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard this or its equivalent (just insert your industry’s killer app in instead of “iPhone”). Because most companies have incremental and next-generation innovation down – it’s the disruptive, non-core, “next big thing” innovation that eludes many and presents the most challenges. Yet this type of innovation is a necessity for any business that wants to access new markets, create a new line of revenue, or re-invent themselves in anticipation of future directions. So here’s my question: what happens AFTER you conceive the next iPhone (or killer app for your industry)??