Burning Questions 2007

GE brings in "Professor in Residence"

GE, long noted for their ability to innovate, is brining in some outside expertise. Vijay (VG) Govindarajan, professor at Tuck and co-author of Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators, will be their first "Professor in Residence." VG and GE's Dan Henson will be presenting a session on building start ups from within at next week's Burning Questions conference in London.

Here's is more on the story from BusinessWeek:

"The quest to turn efficiency-minded managers into growth-generating creatives has yielded everything from innovation gyms to innovation officers. In 2008, General Electric (GE ) will add an academic wrinkle. Vijay Govindarajan, co-author of Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators, will take a year's leave from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business to become GE's first "professor in residence" and chief innovation consultant.

Govindarajan will teach at GE's Crotonville (N.Y.) campus and other global sites, consult on "imagination breakthrough" projects, and make himself available to managers. While he hasn't set office hours, he plans to host coffee hours with "learning officers" throughout GE. Will he grade GE's notoriously performance-driven managers? No, he says, laughing. "GE is already very much in the grading mode."

Innovation in Recruitment

Among the quesions we asked the speakers who will be part of Burning Questions is what innovations they have seen and been impressed by. Here is what Albert Ellis, CEO of search firm Harvey Nash, had to say about social networks and recruitment:

"Recruitment has always been about relationships. An effective recruiter will have a strong network of trusted candidates and will enjoy long term relationships with his or her regular clients. In recent years we have seen some fascinating technology led innovation in the recruitment industry, from the introduction of internet based job boards - where hundreds of thousands of jobs can be listed in one place - to the technological revolution in the processing of candidate information.

The most exciting technology led innovation around at the moment, which is still only in its infancy, is that of social networking. The growth of websites like facebook, myspace and Bebo is now well reported in the media. Millions of people are signing up to these sites to connect with others who share interests but not geographic borders.

Within the social network itself there is a significant commercial opportunity, however, as an industry that depends on personal relationships and networks, recruiters potentially have a lot to gain from tapping into these online groups. LinkedIn is an early innovator in this field where they have built a network of 7m senior businesspeople who can connect with suppliers, recruiters and each other. In only a few years’ online social networks have grown into communities with millions of members; as the technology behind them advances we can expect their importance to grow across a range of industries."

How are you using social networks?

Changing the World

We recently asked several of our Burning Questions speakers to suggest two organizations to combine that could transform an industry, a market segment, or even the world (note to financial regulators: this is not meant to imply any actual merger or acquisition intentions -- this is all just to stimulate discussion around innovation). Here are some of their replies:

From David Kester, CEO, Design Council -- "If the United Nations and Facebook combined, international diplomacy would become a popularity contest with every country competing to have the most friends."

From Erich Joachimsthaler, CEO, Vivaldi Partners -- "I would bring together Apple with our current healthcare system and then I would finally have real hope that our quality of life has a chance of significant improvement, especially for those times when we are not well and need the help of a health care provider."

From Eric McNulty of Harvard Business School Publishing Conferences, "If FedEx and Starbucks would come together, my morning packages would arrive with a hot latte!"

Social Networking and Innovation

In preparation for Burning Questions, we have asked our speakers about recent developments in innovation that they have found particularly important in their worlds. Here are the thoughts of Albert Ellis, CEO of Harvey Nash, the largest executive search firm in the UK:

"Recruitment has always been about relationships. An effective recruiter will have a strong network of trusted candidates and will enjoy long term relationships with his or her regular clients. In recent years we have seen some fascinating technology led innovation in the recruitment industry, from the introduction of internet based job boards - where hundreds of thousands of jobs can be listed in one place - to the technological revolution in the processing of candidate information.

The most exciting technology led innovation around at the moment, which is still only in its infancy, is that of social networking. The growth of websites like facebook, myspace and Bebo is now well reported in the media. Millions of people are signing up to these sites to connect with others who share interests but not geographic borders.

Within the social network itself there is a significant commercial opportunity, however, as an industry that depends on personal relationships and networks, recruiters potentially have a lot to gain from tapping into these online groups. LinkedIn is an early innovator in this field where they have built a network of 7m senior businesspeople who can connect with suppliers, recruiters and each other. In only a few years’ online social networks have grown into communities with millions of members; as the technology behind them advances we can expect their importance to grow across a range of industries."

What innovations are having the greatest impact for you?

Tax Policy to Push Green Innovation in UK?

David Cameron, leader of the opposition conservative Torys in the UK is putting forth a plan to offer significant tax credits to homeowners who buy green properties or who upgrade their homes to be more energy efficient or have a lower environmental impact. This "carrot vs. sticks" approach looks to give people sufficient economic incentive to shrink their carbon footprints. It would also spur companies to develop the products and services for this market.

This government-driven effort to push a green agenda is something seen much less often in the States (although perhaps more so after the 2008 election). Cameron is in the opposition so there is no guarantee that this proposal will go anywhere. Current Liberal Prime Minister Gordon Brown has advanced a proposal for "eco towns" and the Cameron proposal is designed to "out green" the party in power.

I was in London over the weekend and am currently in Copenhagen. It is interesting to see what a higher profile eco-sensitivity has in advertising both in the UK and Denmark. Europe seems to be well ahead of the U.S. in embracing the green agenda at a national level.

The impact of the environmental movement on the innovation agenda is one topic we'll tackle at Burning Questions 2007: Leading for Innovation in London in October.

Jumpstarting Innovation

Interest at the highest levels in innovation is confirmed by an IBM study in 2006 that asked more than 750 CEOs of the world's largest and most respected firms, "What's the extent of change that you need to make in the next 2 years?"

The answer surprised them. They knew that innovation was important, but 65 percent of the CEOs said they were planning significant change over the next 2 years, and another 22 percent said they planned to implement moderate change. More importantly, when the CEOs were asked "What's your past level of success in managing significant change?" only 15 percent said they had been "very successful." Another 15 percent said they had had "little or no success." 

Read more at HBS Working Knowledge.

Keys to Spurring Innovation

Boston knows innovation. As Michael Best, a professor at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the co-director of the Center for Industrial Competitiveness, put it, "Massachusetts has lost more industries than any region in the world, but has also created more industries than any other region."

"Boston started the auto industry and lost it to Detroit," say Bob Krim, executive director of the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative, and Janey Bishoff, a member of the group's board in The Boston Globe. "After 30 years headquartered here, AT&T moved to New York. The personal computer industry was lost to Silicon Valley. Yet in these and other cases, the original innovation which occurred here produced a critical mass of talent and technological capability that seeded other innovations.

In research funded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and John Adams Innovation Institute, the Boston History and Innovation Collaborative identified "key factors that have helped spawn innovation and regenerate the economy: a driving entrepreneur or team of leaders; a diverse mix of people, businesses, and educational institutions, which foster networking; local funding; local demand, which pushes entrepreneurs to define ideas and perfect products; and national or global demand for those same ideas and products."

Innovation Center to Open in New Orlean's Upper 9th Ward

New Orlean's Upper 9th Ward was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina two years ago and rebuilding has been slow. Hoping to spur the area's renaissance, The Idea Village, New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (NOAHH) and Regions Bank along with support from Mercy Corps and Tulane University have announced the creation of The Idea Village @ N. Galvez Business Innovation Center.

The center is expected to open early 2008 and will provide access to retail space, technology, technical assistance, financial services, and other essential resources necessary to economic recovery and development. It is hoped the center will be "a catalyst for a robust commercial corridor that will fuel private investment throughout the neighborhood, giving residents a sense of confidence, ownership, and participation in their community."

Another Study Links Business Success to Innovation

In an article on the Scotsman.com, Michael Lewrick, a PhD student at Napier Univeristy in Edinburgh, said: "The most important factors for innovation and success shows that the essential elements required to achieve this are an active knowledge of the business, a distinctive network between companies, universities and research facilities as well as the ability to obtain resources at short notice."

While the findings are not revolutionary, they do reinforce basic prinicples and underscores the need for businesses to become part of an innovation ecosystem that extends beyond its four walls. It also highlights the challenge that traditional resource allocation systems in large organizations can present to innovation. The process is too often lengthy and cumbersome making it difficult to seize an opportunity quickly.

Surveying Innovation in Wales

"The Sustainable Innovation in Wales Survey is designed to explore in-depth what innovative activity is going on within companies, the attitude of business people towards this activity and the factors that influence it.

Organised by the Wales Quality Centre and DNA Wales, the study, which aims to sample around 200 companies, covers three broad areas: innovation activity, barriers to innovation and innovation culture."

These are some of the same areas to be covered at Burning Questions 2007: Leading for Innovation to be held in nearby London on October 24 - 26, 2007.

If you are a business in Wales, you can complete the survey at www.walesqualitycentre.org.uk or www.dnawales.co.uk. We'll encourage the surveyers to share the results here as soon as they are available.