IST conference analyses how to optimise innovation
Communities of practice and connecting with the customer are two ways of ensuring innovation flourishes, according participants at the IST conference in Düsseldorf, Germany on 5 December. Four panelists from the UK, Israel and the USA, who described themselves as having a 'passion' for innovation, shared their experience and presented ways in which they believe innovation can be encouraged. 'Innovation really is the key to either living or dying,' stated Nigel Crouch, a senior industrialist from the UK's Department of trade and industry's (DTI) future and innovation unit, and a show of hands from the audience showed that nearly all those present agreed. Mr Crouch stressed that with the rapid pace of change that society is experiencing, innovation is crucial. To demonstrate this pace of change, Mr Crouch cited a survey carried out in 2000 which claimed that in one day in this year, the same amount of world trade was being carried out as in the whole of 1949, the same amount of scientific research was being conducted as in the whole of 1960, the same number of telephone calls were being made as in the whole of 1983 and the same number of e-mails were being sent as in the whole of 1990. Focusing on the UK, Mr Crouch asked the question of why companies do not innovate better. 'We believe we are very creative, we have lots of ideas [...] but we are not good at turning them into hard business ideas,' he said. To answer this question, the DTI's innovation unit looked at 50 'millennium products' and asked where the vision originally came from, how the product compares with the vision and how it became a reality. The unit looked at a number of projects from marine safety helmets, heated clothing for extreme conditions, forklift trucks and vacuum cleaners. Research showed that three elements are necessary for a company to innovate successfully: inspiration, creation and connection. A company must inspire a culture of innovation, inspire the processes that make things happen and connect with customers. The survey also showed that teams within highly innovative companies tended to be wider than the average team, including a wider range of disciplines. Also common among these successful companies was an agreement that it is essential to co-locate the team at certain stages of the project, normally for between three and six months. These teams also often have a 'Godfather' at a high level within the company who ensures that the team gets what it needs. If innovation is to flourish, management must also adopt a 'hands ready' approach, said Mr Crouch. Management must be ready to jump in when needed, but also be willing to step back and give the team freedom when they are no longer needed. Mr Crouch finished by saying that 'although money is important, sometimes innovation is much more about leadership and people.' Richard Duggan from Duggan creative innovation advisors in the UK emphasised the importance of the right environment for innovation, saying 'unless you have a receptive climate, it is almost guaranteed that an idea will be shattered because ideas are fragile...if some minor aspect of exploitation is not dynamic enough, the idea, no matter how good it is, will fail,' he added. Richard McDermott from McDermott and Associates in the USA concentrated on ways of fostering innovation, praising the benefits of communities of practice: a group that gathers around a common topic for which they share a passion. The group will get to know one another, develop a sense of trust and then a sense of responsibility for the knowledge they are developing, he said. Such a group is a 'mechanism for sharing tacit knowledge,' Dr McDermott explained. Dr McDermott highlighted the difference between a community of practice and a team. A team will have an accomplished goal, will be assigned to the task and will work on the task because of a commitment or job requirement. A community of practice on the other hand will share information and ideas, expand knowledge and solve problems. The group will consist mostly of volunteers and the glue that holds them together will be the value of what they are doing and the sense of obligation that the group members feel, explained Mr McDermott. He finished by saying that these communities should be organic and should have a sense of momentum. Keenly aware of innovation's importance, Dr Edna Pasher from Edna Pasher and Associates in Israel took part in an EU-funded project, NIMCube, 'an innovative project about innovation management' according to Dr Pasher. The project is investigating the re-use of knowledge. The consortium agreed that knowledge could be re-used to innovate in the future, to avoid the concept of 'reinventing the wheel', but wanted to know how much should be invested in this as opposed to investment in new knowledge. The team later decided to redefine their project, agreeing that the key factor was innovation and that the focus should be on what role re-use of knowledge plays versus invention. The project team involves consultancy companies, a university, a research institute, an SME, a software house and industry from four EU Member States as well as Israel. Their overall objective is to develop a holistic reference methodology for new-use and innovation management and measurement in R&D (research and development). NIMCube will provide methods and IT (information technology) solutions for measuring, managing and optimizing re-use of knowledge and innovation.