The agenda of inclusive growth is being driven harder than before. In the current age when inequalities and disparities are widening, innovation holds key for mitigating these impoverishing trends and trends of despair in economy. Creating 'affordable access' for high quality products requires radical redesign and creative reinventing. Innovation is indispensable for organizations to remain competitive and is indeed a major driver of progress of any nation. It is also an imperative for addressing the grand challenges in the realms of health, education, energy, environment that face us.
Innovation has been defined by various forums of Indian government like National Knowledge Commission and National Innovation Council as.............. "(i) introducing new or improved goods or services and or (ii) implementing new or improved operational processes and or (iii) implementing new or improved organizational/managerial processes: in order to improve market share, competitiveness and quality, while reducing costs." In short, innovation which is based on creativity is aimed at solving problems by addressing unmet user needs with some kind of business model or welfare goal associated with it. Mainly when we describe innovation we can associate that term with products & services, processes, position (context of introduction of products and services), paradigm (changing underlying mental models and technology framing organizational activities).
Historically linear model of innovation (basic research-> applied research-> innovation) has come under series of question marks. Now people are busy talking about Innovation Ecosystem where different systems integrate on the basis of extensive networking and diffusion of knowledge. Many people debate vitrues of incremental Vs radical innovation. Some scholars compare biological ecosystem with innovation ecosystem. A biological ecosystem is a complex set of relationships among the living resources, habitats and residents of an aream whose functional goal is to maintain an equilibrium sustaining state. Similarly an innovation ecosystem models the economic rather than the energy dynamics of the complex relationships that are formed between actors or entities whose functional goal is to enable technology development and innovation. (Deborah Jackson, NSF)
Broadly innovation ecosystem may comprise following elements;
a) Educational systems nurturing creativity and innovative mindset
b) Universities and related skill development institutions providing advanced knowledge, environment and skills
c) R&D that can support technology development, basic and applied research
d) Industry supporting creativity and interacting with academia to contribute towards development of novel ideas
e) Bridging institutions like technology centers, incubation centers with financial and venture capital institutions capable of providing funding options.
Creativity is a starting point for innovation. a) Innovations that are not socially important because they do not transcend the innovator`s personal experience. b) Innovations which are important which have an influence beyond innovator and c) Innovations which are extremely important having socio-economic impact. The creative and innovative mindset is enhanced through following behavioral simulations:
a) Changing one`s perspectives
b) Taking risks
c) Finding ones passion
d) Challenging assumptions and embracing ambiguity
When these and other behavioral traits start working then they translate into innovative actions which are a) Associating "making connections", b) Questioning- Desire to fill gaps in understanding, c) Observing- Non-obvious, d) Networking with goal oriented diverse public and e) Experimenting. Some of the key insights to build foundation for innovative mindset are:
1) Failure is an essential and intrinsic part of innovation;
2) Using multi-functional teams with dedicated team members
3) Financial incentives for stimulating an entrepreneurial environment to motivate workforce by strong incentives.
4) Commitment from top management allowing mistakes and long term projects
5) Identifying innovation values and new product team norms (benchmarks)
[ SUPPORT CREATIVITY--->ENGAGE IDEAS--->TAKE RISKS ]
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