Meeting the Challenges of Global Competition

1. Meeting the Challenges of Global Competition

2. ..... through Innovation • The Innovation Imperative • Innovation Management • Innovation Collaboration • Innovation Articulation

3. The Innovation Imperative • Innovate or Die • Sounds strong but in todays ultra competitive environment others will do your job for less money. • Innovate to Thrive • You have to do something either better or different to provide value. • Good news: innovation is what we do best! • Now it is time to become conscious of how and why.

4. Competition • The global value chain - for the first time the entire world is now competing. • The World is Flat by Thomas Freedman describes what this means and is doing to us. • Where does the US fit? • Where do engineers fit? • Part of the answer is new business models.

5. Innovation Types • There are many types of innovation. • But the two main themes appear to be business and technological. • More wealth has been generated in the last decade because of innovation in business models. • Innovation does not necessarily have anything to do with technology.

6. Premise: There is no shortage of problems or of innovators. • There is a shortage of innovation managers. • Managers manage better with conscious models. • Innovation advocates promote and practice innovation as a powerful way to solve problems. They need help. • SVII, a 501 C3 was founded to support innovation advocates by promulgating better innovation practices.

7. Innovators and Innovation Managers • Innovators and Innovation Managers are not the same. • It is not even clear if the word management applies. • But conscious models are needed.

8. Management Mechanisms • Air Cover • Skunk Works • Degrees of Freedom • Innovation Indicators vs. Metrics

9. Every organization has higher priorities than innovation. These always seem to come first. Every organization needs more and better innovation. There is a clear direct path. Improve innovation management of high priority initiatives to create innovation culture.

10. Innovation Critical Initiatives Direct paths to improving innovation All organizations have ... high priority initiatives. Some critically depend ... upon innovation. These are ... Innovation Critical Initiatives. A sure path to morer innovation ... better innovation management of high priority initiatives.

11. Common Innovation Critical Initiatives Change is required; it is the common denominator! Adapt!

12. Innovation Society Connecting the bottom up ... ... with the top down. Innovation Culture

13. Innovation Dashboard There has to be a way for everyone to see what you mean by innovation! Indicators of Innovation Shared Perspective Indicator Observers

14. Innovation Culture The better way to ensure a sustainable innovation environment is through conscious innovation culture.

15. Collaboration across Boundaries • Departments • Company • Industry • Regional • International • Innovation Alliances • Collaborative Innovation Alliances can solve any problem

16. Collaborative Innovation • Most innovation is now a group thing. • There are still lone rangers but fewer. • Collaboration now spans departments, organizations, companies and nations. • “Not invented here” no longer rules. • Collaboration and integration are now the norm.

17. Innovation ArticulationClearStories = Stakeholders • Communicate Differentiation • Communicate Innovation • Communicate Context

18. Same ≠ Better • Differentiation is key to success • Harder to engage with an old story • No Story = No Stakeholders!!! • customers • collaborators • investors

19. Communicate Innovation • Prototypes show feasibility • Demonstrations show potentials • Story Telling is still needed to engage • Simpler stories work better (ask Tivo) • Look at Yahoo vs. Google’s web sites - and then look at their market caps

20. Communicate Context • Differentiation not the same as Innovation • Innovation requires more context • Innovation implies progress • Information needs context to have value • Stories provide both information and context • Innovators have to be good story tellers

21. Increasing Context Increases Halflife Knowledge is the sweet spot

22. Knowledge = Information + Context + Experience • Story = longest lasting form of wisdom • Story = most effective way to combine information, context and experience • Story = best way to convey knowledge • Knowledge has the optimal half life ROI

23. Accessible Stories are Best • The most accessible stories are on the web • Artists and graphic designers to not know how to tell technical or business stories. • Technical leaders often do not have the time to create the story. Can take months

24. Web Sites balance many things,digital story telling is not trivial innovation articulation ≠ innovation ≠ innovation management SVII had to add digital innovation articulation to our services

25. Meet the Challenges of Global Competition Innovate Like Mad Consciously Create Contexts for Sustainable Innovation The US is already the best in the world at it and engineers are the most practiced at it

26. Education = Communicating Knowledge 2 PM Innovation in Engineering Education in Rising Above the Gathering Storm track