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Innovation

These essays on innovation cover a wide range of topics, from the basics of innovation to detailed case studies and examples. Each essay is designed to give readers an understanding of the principles that drive innovation while providing practical advice on creating successful innovations. Through these essays, I aim to help readers better understand the process of innovation and use it more effectively in their own lives.

CIO’s Role In Innovation – Stirring Up Creativity At The Core (Video)

Many believe that the CIO’s role is to keep the IT “lights” on. Given the I’m a former CIO, I understand and appreciate the challenges of the CIO job. Below is the link to a video of some of my thoughts on how IT and the CIO can play a key role in driving the innovation agenda within their organizat

Forbes video

Sundance and 3D (Updated with video)

With all of the excitement around 3D (Avatar, UP, Monsters Versus Aliens, etc) , the key driver for the future success of the media is in expanding the development of good 3D content. Because of the newness of the media, there is the need to share the lessons learned, techniques and technologies to

Sundance and 3D (Updated with video)

What is the role of government to encourage small business innovation?

Since the beginning of time, it’s been entrepreneurs that drive the creation of innovation.  True breakthroughs have been the result of an individual or small team who had an idea and the determination to see it through to fruition.  In many cases, ignoring the advice of friends and the lack of what

small business innovation and the role of government

US vs China Parents – What skills do children need to be innovative?

During a recent meeting I attended with educators and government officials, I shared my frustration with the “output” of the current educational system. In my opinion, we optimized the system to produce graduates with deep technical skills and the ability to take tests. One competency that I see mis

US vs China Parents – What skills do children need to be innovative?

Slides From The Keynote At The Open Innovation Summit

Below are the slides I used during my keynote this morning at the Open Innovation Summit in Orlando.  The topic was “How to Win In The Creative Economy” and touched on: The transtion we are experiencing from the knowledge economy to the creative economy The challenges of innovation (corporate anti-b

Slides From The Keynote At The Open Innovation Summit

What are the unshakable beliefs in my industry about what customers want? What if the opposite where true?

Its easy when we are being successful to stick our heads in the sand and believe our own PR. We can easily brush off minor threats with the argument that the customer wouldn’t go for whatever was being offered. We hold on to the belief that we know best what trade-offs they are not willing to make.

What are the unshakable beliefs in my industry about what customers want?  What if the opposite where true?

What drives that fear that kills innovation?

Innovations are rejected for how they make make people feel long before they are reviewed on their merits.  Why is it?  Any new idea solicits a reaction from the people who are in decision path to approve and fund the development.  The most common of emotions is fear. Fear is an interesting emotion.

What drives that fear that kills innovation?

Here Is The Metric That Can Predict Future Innovation Value

How do you measure the productivity of your innovation investment?  The goal of any R&D organization is to conceive, develop and deliver product and/or services that customers will highly value and therefore be willing to pay a margin premium. The challenge is that the standard metric for innovation

economic downturn innovation value

Transformational Innovations

The ultimate objective of any innovation is to transform business and transform lives.  How do you know if your innovation is of that transformational kind?  Here are my definitions that I use for the different stages/types of business: If you charge for undifferentiated stuff, then you are in the c

Transformational Innovations

Setting The Right Innovation Focus

If you are a regular reader of the blog and/or listener of the podcast, your familiar with the basic foundation of the Killer Innovations approach is to define the area of focus for an innovation and then ask the “right question” (If you are not, go have a listen). I’ve covered the topic of […]

Setting The Right Innovation Focus