Post on 21-Apr-2020
transcript
‘Tech, Innovation & Ecosystems’
Dr. Phil Budden, Senior Lecturer
Tech Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategy (TIES) Group
MIT Management School
Perspective of global leaders in 2005…
…but the world has remained stubbornly
‘spiky’ and especially for innovation
Innovation?
Important to realise ‘innovation’ is…
…more than just Technology, though new digital technologies (from
cutting-edge ‘Innovation’) do enable more ‘innovative behaviours’;
…more than just a ‘buzzword’, though there are plenty of those around
(eg agile, lean, intrapreneurs, sprint, scrum, platform, hackathon, etc);
…and in need of managing and leadership (not least as it can support
change in uncertain times, allow for greater diversity/inclusion, and also
empower ‘end users’ to experiment with frontline changes).
Leadership of innovation really matters.
Without more ‘innovative behaviour’, an organisation will not
get a return on its investment in technology, achieve its full
potential during uncertainty, or retain/engage the best staff.
Innovation
MIT (through MIT’s Innovation Initiative (MITii)) defines ‘innovation’ as the ‘process of taking ideas from inception to impact’
By emphasizing the process (& not products/services/tech), we focus on the entire journey
We emphasize the insight that an ‘idea’ is the match (as close as possible) between a problem and a solution, with the intention of achieving impact
And we encompass the engagement of all the relevant organizations -large corporations, universities, start-ups, government, & risk capital.
Problem-driven vs.
Solution-driven approaches
Problem-driven vs.
Solution-driven approaches
Where in the innovation landscape
is the problem/solution ‘match’?
PR
OB
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M
SOLUTION
De
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Degree of novelty
innovation?
Business As
Usual (BAU)
Distinguish ‘Innovation’ & ‘innovative’
MIT collaboratively researches and teaches about innovation, both:
- ‘Innovation’ (with a capital “I”, like S&I), meaning formal processes
of taking science, research and such ideas through to impact; and;
- ‘innovative’ behaviour’ (with a little “i”), signifying a more widely
applicable behaviour/culture, in both the public & private sectors.
Many of the insights about ‘innovative behaviour’ are informed by
research into the practices at the frontier of world-class ‘Innovation’,
so the two are mutually supportive…
…with insights for innovation in all organizations.
It’s crucial to know which vector
of innovation is being attempted…
PR
OB
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M
SOLUTION
BAU
De
gre
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f n
ovelt
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Degree of novelty
ii
i
Horizon?
Innovation
Frontier?
Traditional ‘closed’ organization of
innovation…
Today, many more organizations are involved,
leading to a more ‘open innovation’ approach.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
CORPORATE LABS
CORPORATE DIVISIONS
1
0
1
0
1
0
?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
UNIVERSITY CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
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PRODUCTION/
DISTRIBUTIONSTARTUPS/ RISK CAPITAL
PRODUCTION/
DISTRIBUTION
Early approaches to ‘open innovation’
emphasized global engagement…
…today’s organization of innovation
is more geographically focused on
specific ‘innovation ecosystems’.
Fortunate that Greater Boston is such an
‘innovation ecosystem’ - due to dense &
inter-connected resources & stakeholders.
http://www.betaboston.com/news/2015/02/05/what-makes-a-successful-
startup-sloan-researchers-examine-dna-of-boston-bay-area-firms/
Emphasis on ‘place’ requires firms
to have an ecosystem strategy
In the BBJ’s story on his press release, GE’s then-Chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt said:
“GE is a $130 billion high-tech global industrial company, one that is leading the digital transformation of industry. We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations. Greater Boston…”
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2016/01/13/ge-ceo-on-new-boston-hq-its-all-about-the.html
MIT studied regions round the world…
reap.mit.edu
…and its research highlights five key
Stakeholders in innovation ecosystems
Entrepreneur
Risk Capital
CorporateGovernment
University
Entrepreneur
Corporate
Risk Capital
Government
University
InnovationEcosystem
Stakeholder
Model
Boston’s “Rt.128” lost out in the 1970s to
the new competitor of ‘Silicon Valley’…
…but then Boston emerged as a leading
biotech ecosystem, before branching out.
Source: Romanelli and Feldman, 2006
As Massachusetts’ Institute of Technology,
MIT tries to help its local ecosystem…
http://www.betaboston.com/news/2015/02/05/what-makes-a-successful-
startup-sloan-researchers-examine-dna-of-boston-bay-area-firms/
…teaching execs about Innovator’s DNA
and leaders about Innovation Ecosystems
eg 9-10 & 11-12 April 2019
Also available as ‘custom’ (1- and 2-day) courses from MIT ExecEd
…& now focusing on ‘Corporate Innovation’
(available online from January 2019).
https://executive.mit.edu/openenrollment/program/corporate-innovation-
strategies-for-leveraging-ecosystems-self-paced-online/#.W898By_MwQ9
…because of the growing competition
over ‘innovation’ around the world.
reap.mit.edu