Innovation Management:

Systemic Innovation

Technology Innovation

Bringing Technological Ideas and Research Results to Life

"If I have a thousand ideas and only one turns out to be good, I'm satisfied."  

– Alfred Nobel 

Focus Areas

Technology innovation covers innovation derived from research and technology developments that are independent of product and service initiatives. "The best companies maintain roadmaps that define the next technologies they will pursue and the requisite timing of each. These technology roadmaps are matched to their product roadmaps to ensure that the two are synchronized."³ As core technology developments take longer than shorter product and service initiatives, by separating research and invention from product and service development, companies can achieve stretch without incurring too much risk.

Steve Jobs' 12 Rules of Success

7. Strive to become a market leader. Own and control the primary technology in everything you do. If there's a better technology available, use it no matter if anyone else is not using it. Be the first, and make it an industry standard.... More

Three Categories of Technology Innovation

Source: Centre for Innovation Studies, Canada

Think of these three categories as small, medium and large.

Incremental Innovations are the small  (perhaps 1-2% a year) improvements.  These are described by the Learning curve, and by terms such as "learning by doing”.  One example is the development of “creep capacity “ in the chemical industry. Another is Moore’s Law.  (Graphic) Improvements here are continuous, and these represent one of the few areas in innovation where future improvements can be predicted with any confidence. They cause relatively little disruption.

Radical Innovations are the situations where a totally new technology comes along and displaces the incumbent technology. Examples are transistor replacing the vacuum tube, compact disc replacing long playing records. These changes are discontinuous, not continuous, and frequently cause significant disruption involving changes in industry leadership.

General Purpose Technologies is the name that has been coined to describe the really big innovations such as the waterwheel, steam power, electricity, the internal combustion engine, railways, the internet, etc. These innovations are share four characteristics:

1. Wide scope for improvement and elaboration

2. Wide range of uses

3. Potential use in a wide range of products and processes

4. Strongly complementary with other technologies.

 Case in Point  Silicon Valley Companies: Deciding If Your Innovation Portfolio Has Enough Stretch

Adapted from Relentless Growth, Christopher Meyer

1. Balance between revolutionary and evolutionary initiatives. First, Silicon Valley companies assess the overall balance between revolutionary and evolutionary projects. The ultimate arbitrator of portfolio stretch if the innovation leaders’ judgment, experience, intuition, and luck... More

The Art of Innovation: 9 Truths

By: Guy Kawasaki

1. Jump to the next curve. Too many companies duke it out on the same curve. If they were daisy wheel printer companies, they think innovation means adding Helvetica in 24 points. Instead, they should invent laser printing. True innovation happens when a company jumps to the next curve – or better still, invents the next curve, so set your goals high... More

New Systemic Approach to Innovation

Until recently innovation has been seen principally as the means to turn research results into commercially successful products, but not all research leads to innovation and not all innovation is research-based. Innovation is systemic. It arises from complex interactions between many individuals, organizations and their operating environment. Firms which are successful in realizing the full returns from their technologies and innovations are able to match their technological developments with complementary expertise in other areas of their business, such as manufacturing, distribution, human resources, marketing, and customer service... More