About this Author
Gwen Smith Ishmael, Sr. Vice President of Insights and Innovation at Decision Analyst in Arlington, TX, has led marketing and new product development activities in the CPG and technology industries since 1986. She also conceived and developed ground-breaking Web-based promotional vehicles, two of which are patent pending. Gwen holds an MBA in Marketing and is a featured speaker on insights and innovation around the world. Her writings have been featured in international text books, most recently in Managing 4 Ps of Marketing FMCG Sector, and Product Innovation: A Strategic Tool for Growth, by ICFAI Publications, 2006 and 2007, respectively.
Founding Author
Renee Hopkins Callahan started IdeaFlow and serves as chief blog-wrangler. She is Director of Innovation Services at Decision Analyst in Arlington, Texas, is a former journalist who worked as an editor and reporter for The Dallas Morning News and the Nashville Tennessean, and was managing editor of D, the Dallas city magazine. She has a master's degree in rhetoric and has also taught college-level English and informal logic.
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Monthly Archives
December 31, 2004
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Innovation Ethics
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Blink About 'Blink'
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Fast Comnpany's Creativity Issue
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Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
The webcast of the National Innovation Initiative Summit, held Dec. 15, 2004, has finally been archived. View it here. I've had a chance now to read the full report (download .PDF here), and it's much, much better than I expected. It's thoughtful and well-written, in a way that I would not have expected from a committee, especially not a government-sponsored one!
The news coverage on this has been paltry so far, mostly focused on the report's recommendations about increasing federal funding of high-risk R&D projects and overhauling the K-12 education system to encourage innovation.
Yet there is much more here. Start with the NII's working definition of innovation: "The intersection of invention and insight, leading to the creation of social and economic value." If all that was to come out of this project was a recommendation for greater R&D tech spending, there wouldn't be any need to begin with as broad a definition as this.
As the definition suggests, this report explores how America has practiced innovation in the past, suggests that innovation has been the driver for the rise of the American economy, explores the recent major shifts in "where, how and why" innovation occurs, and offers recommendations for how we can "focus as a society on what we do best [innovate]. "
It's probably not surprising that I would find this idea -- that innovation has been what drives America -- fascinating, considering my interest in what drives innovation itself. I'll spend part of January discussing this report in more detail.
Meanwhile, Happy New Year to everyone!
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| Category: Innovation, General
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Top 10 Corporate Innovators
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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December 30, 2004
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Innovation Lessons 2004
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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2004 Innovation Wrap-Up
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December 15, 2004
Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
You may have noticed the "True Voice" ad off to the upper right.....if you click through you will find that True Voice is a daylong seminar on the business of blogging that Corante is putting on in several cities next year.
Stowe Boyd over at the Get Real blog is one of the organizers of True Voice, and he's just started a blog where bloggers and blog readers can go to post comments on what he and his fellow True Voice organizers have identified as 20 questions that are at the core of blogging.
I mention this all because you, too, can read the questions and make comments. Those of you -- and I know you are out there! -- who consider blogging at its core to be a form of collaborative creativity might be particularly interested in weighing in on the questions.
In order to participate, first go the post on Get Real and then click through to the 20 questions blog.
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| Category: Blogging & Innovation/Creativity
Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
The presentation of the National Innovation Agenda will be the main focus of the National Innovation Initiative Summit today in Washington, D.C. The event is to be webcast live from approximately 8:30 am to 2 pm ET at www.compete.org. Presumably (hopefully!) the webcast will be archived as well.
I didn't even realize there was such a thing as the National Innovation Initivative until I read Business Week's Oct. 11 "Innovation Economy" special issue. Apparently this has been a year-long effort headed by IBM's Sam Palmisano and G. Wayne Clough, president of Georgia Tech, the goal of which was to come up with a National Innovation Agenda. The presentation of that agenda is the focus of today's meeting.
In case you want to tune in but can't devote your whole day to this, I've included the agenda below. I'll be following up here in IdeaFlow over the next few days.
Agenda
December 15, 2004
The Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Amphitheater
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW – Washington, DC 20004
All times ET
7:15 – 8:00 am:
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:15 am:
Welcome -- Deborah L. Wince-Smith, President, Council on Competitiveness
Introduction of National Innovation Initiative Leadership -- F. Duane Ackerman, Chairman, Council on Competitiveness, Chairman and CEO, BellSouth Corporation
8:30 am:
Presentation of National Innovation Agenda -- G. Wayne Clough, President, Georgia Institute of Technology and Co-chair, National Innovation Initiative, and Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman and CEO, IBM Corporation, and Co-chair, National Innovation Initiative
9:00 am:
Discussion -- Thriving in a World of Challenge and Change
Discussion Leader: Susan Dentzer, The NewsHour; participants, Molly Corbett Broad, President, University of North Carolina; Michael J. Burns, Chairman, President and CEO, Dana Corporation; Sheryl Handler, CEO, Ab Initio; The Honorable Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Vikram Pandit, President and COO, Institutional Securities and Investment Banking Group, Morgan Stanley; The Honorable Mark Warner, Governor, Virginia
10:15 am:
Break and Refreshments
10:45 am:
Discussion -- Imagining America’s Future
Discussion Leader: Charles M. Vest, President Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; participants, F. Duane Ackerman, Chairman and CEO, BellSouth Corporation; Mary Sue Coleman, President, University of Michigan; Denis A. Cortese, President and CEO, Mayo Clinic; W.J. Sanders III, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.; G. Richard Wagoner, Jr., Chairman and CEO, General Motors Corporation
12:00 pm:
Discussion -- Mobilizing for Success in the 21st Century
Discussion Leader: Deborah L. Wince Smith; participants, The Honorable Norman R. Augustine, Retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation, and Co-chair, National Innovation Initiative Advisory Committee; William R. Brody, President, Johns Hopkins University, and Co-chair, National Innovation Initiative Advisory Committee; The Honorable John Engler, President, National Association of Manufacturers; The Honorable Don Manzullo, U.S. House of Representatives; The Honorable C. Paul Robinson, President, Sandia National Laboratories; The Honorable Mitt Romney, Governor, Massachusetts
1:00 pm:
Next Steps: Implementing the Innovation Agenda -- F. Duane Ackerman, Deborah L. Wince Smith, G. Wayne Clough, Samuel J. Palmisano
1:15 pm:
Adjourn
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| Category: Innovation, General
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US Has Innovation Edge Over EU
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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December 8, 2004
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Grad Student Restrictions Will Hurt Innovation
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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Innovation Spending To Increase in 2005
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Innovation Arms Race
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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Test New Hires For Imagination
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Six Myths ABout Creativity
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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Prototype-As-Design
In PDMA's Visions magazine: NASA still uses "prototype-as-design," which according to Michael Schrage is "a medium of co-development with the client."
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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Kurzweil On Merger Of Biology And Technology
Ray Kurzweil says in CIO.com that the merger of technology and biology will change our lives, our work and our bodies over the next couple of decades.
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Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
This past Monday the Pew Center for the Internet and American Life released the study Artists, Musicians and the Internet. This study received significant coverage in the media, specifically from the Washington Post and Wired, coverage that was focused primarily on one finding: Most artists don't view unauthorized swapping of music and movies as a threat to their livelihood, even if many think it should be illegal.
The Pew folks should be lauded for making the first-ever effort at what obviously needed to be done to further the discussion about copyrights and file-sharing – ask actual creatives what they thought about these issues. Yet there is much, much more in the study results. If you’re interested in finding out how creative Americans practice their creativity, it would be worth your while to download the entire 50-page .PDF (it’s free).
Some highlights:
Most fascinating to me, especially in light of the stuff I posted recently on copying and innovation, was the finding that artists and musicians have by and large embraced the Internet as a tool that helps them create, as well as helps them promote and sell what they’ve created.
And, “artists and musicians are more likely to say that the Internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their art than they are to say it has made it harder to protect their work from piracy or unlawful use.”
According to the Pew report, 57% of Americans – 114 million – study, practice, or do some type of artistic activity, such as play musical instruments, sing, do creative writing, draw, paint, dance, act, make films, etc. A smaller group of 32 million Americans consider themselves artists, and about 10 million of them get some kind of compensation for their creations and performances. This is a huge number of people out there creating.
And more than 50% of the artists surveyed said they get ideas and inspiration for their work form searching online. Two-thirds of the musicians said that the Internet is very important in helping them create their music. Most of the artists and musicians also said they used the Internet for creative collaboration and for participating in the creative community.
Half of the artists and musicians said that copyright regulations benefit purveyors of creative work more than they benefit the original creators. Many of the musicians said decisions over peer-to-peer file-sharing and digital distribution should be made by the artist, not the label.
I found it surprising that the artists who responded to the study were split over what constitutes “fair use” of digital material. I would guess they probably have a better handle on what fair use is in situations when it’s their work in question. Yet if even the creatives don’t understand fair use….it’s definitely time to rethink the notion of copyright altogether.
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| Category: Creativity
December 6, 2004
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Innovation A 'New Competency in IT'
'The New Competencies in IT' -- As the mission of IT shops changes from technology mechanic to innovation leader, CIOs must hire a new kind of employee. An excerpt from the book, The New CIO Leader. (from HBS Working Knowledge)
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Innovation and Disruption Still Going Hand In Hand
'Innovation and Disruption Still Going Hand in Hand,' says NYT: "Technology-driven dislocation ... is spreading throughout the economy, many economists say, as more businesses discover how to harness new technological tools and fuel a surge in productivity growth."
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December 2, 2004
Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
Wanted to get this comment out of the comments section and over here where we could all see it and act on it....
Don The Idea Guy says,
Glad to see word spreading of Hugh's work.
Doesn't he simply kick ass?
By the way -- he's up for "Fast 50" status at Fast Company magazine. Why not go add a vote and comment to his page?
http://www.fastcompany.com/fast50_05/profile/?macleod403
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| Category: Creativity
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Innovation/job creation gap
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
The Global Innovation Study Team (GIST) has emerged from months of QuickPlace collaboration with a 6-minute PowerPoint presentation titled “Why Innovation?”
The presentation includes summaries from several recent studies on innovation, as well as an assortment of quotes and reasons why innovation is critical.
Why "Why Innovation?" It's easy to gather articles on the importance of innovation -- they are multiplying like mushrooms after a thunderstorm. What's perhaps harder to find is examples within your own company of management support for innovation. There is more innovation “talk” than “walk.” Hopefully "Why Innovation?" wlll be a useful tool to help you garner support for innovation within your organization.
Please feel free to use "Why Innovation?" within your organizations or community groups. And share it. The Global Innovation Study Team only asks that you share the presentation within your network and not place it on the web for public download. So, if you'd like a copy, email Gwen Ishmael, gishmae -at- decisionanalyst.com.
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| Category: Innovation, General
December 1, 2004
Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
IdeaFlow now has a new feature: Blinks!
Blinks are 'brief links' that simply link to items of interest to IdeaFlow readers without much, if any, added commentary.
You can see two Blinks posted below.
I probably won't email the Blink posts out -- otherwise they'd fill your inbox! You'll be able to see them on the IdeaFlow site if you check regularly (and for those of you who read the blog through RSS, they'll be in the feed).
Hopefully you will find the Blinks of value. Your comments are welcome (either by return email or by way of IdeaFlow's comment feature).
Thanks for reading!!
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| Category: IdeaFlow
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P&G
posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan |
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The Future of Innovation in the US
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Posted by Renee Hopkins Callahan
Now that I've found Hugh McLeod....I found this post on his blog:
"In any organisation, when a new technological implementation is put in (SAP, Peoplesoft etc), it affects the culture.
When a new piece of culture is implemented (new company vision, ad campaign, whatever), the technology is affected.
Cultural alignment with the technology. Technological alignment with the culture. That is the ideal goal, but it's rarely achieved, especially in times of great change.
Anyway, I have an idea which will make new technology implementations less culturally disruptive to companies. And allow cultures to make better use of their technology."
I don't know what Hugh's idea is -- I didn't see anything further on this posted. Cultural-technological alignment sounds vaguely chiropractic, but I still like the idea. Makes sense. I'm adding it to the list of innovation drivers that I am working on.
At base level as part of the conditions of possibility for innovation, it doesn't really matter whether the cultural-technological alignment works well or doesn't work well. What matters is to find out what it's reality is and understand how that reality affects innovation at a company, for better or worse.
I can certainly think of some instances where a warped cultural-technological alignment stifled innovation. It's probably also true that the other innovation drivers -- whatever drivers exist in a given situation -- need to be aligned.
Wouldn't it be great if you could call an innovation chiropractor to adjust these drivers so that *all* of the conditions of possibility for innovation could be aligned correctly!?
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| Category: Innovation Drivers
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