A few months ago I attended a great event promoted as an Innovation Masterclass. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to innovate any spare time to write this article until now so I’m not sure exactly how much I gained from it! Anyway, presented by Ross Pearce and hosted by Export NZ at BNZ Partners in Tauranga, this half-day seminar was a concise examination of some of the values Ross Pearce (and assumedly Callaghan Innovation – Ross being a program Manager there) considers important for successful innovation in business.
In all fairness I actually took a lot away from this event; most if not all of Ross’s points made good business sense. I’m sure I’ve annoyed a few people here at Locus with my relentless references to Ross’s presentation. Innovation experts often end up touting similar values (which actually emphasises their relevance – this event was no exception) but there were a few key points in particular that Ross made which resonated with me.
We are currently in a technological age of disruption. Disruptive technologies are booming: materials, AI, robotics, genetics, food tech… these industries will soon be or are even now, changing our lives in a big way. Ross suggested studying these market trends and building an innovation strategy founded on them. By studying market trends we can understand their rate of growth, predict future advances or tie one trend to another to predict future convergences. These “big data” metrics provide opportunity for high-value targeted innovation.
Let’s face it, everybody knows that an aligned focus is critical to most successful business practices. Ross adds some clarity here with respect to innovation in business. Build a clear understanding of what, where and how to “win” in your industry. Don’t let “getting by” define your business strategy. Focus on winning, beating your competitors to a pulp, and developing products, services or systems that build competitive advantage though innovation.
As a budding innovation leader, and director of a high performing team of designers (by team I mean myself and one other dude), I take what responsibility I can for creating an environment that is conducive to innovation. For Locus and most other businesses however, this responsibility starts at the top. Ross listed a few things that business leaders need to do in order to promote innovation:
Last and I think most importantly, is to create experiences that build culture. More specifically, a company culture engaged in industry. A good company culture can build relationships, promotes collaboration, removes fear from the mind of free thinkers, gives the small man a voice (you never know where that big idea is hiding) and engages employees in their work. In my view, innovation is completely dependent on individuals thought patterns. One can only do so much to change these at an employee level, but fostering a good internal culture is likely one of the most effective methods.
Ross referenced a useful resource for structured innovation; Doblin Research’s Ten Types of Innovation. This resource emphasises the opportunities for innovation across a wide range of domains, not just product performance and system. Categorised into three areas; configuration, offering and experience, Doblin suggests that more focus should be placed in the configuration and experience areas to boost the successes of innovations in offerings. Ten Types of Innovation is a holistic, structured and repeatable approach to innovation, and a good starting point for developing innovation as a core business discipline.
In summary, this was a great event to attend. Export NZ are hosting a series of these and similar events across New Zealand and I would highly recommend heading along to at least one in your area of greatest interest.
Upcoming events can be found here.
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