A new time and a new strategy

As a Science and Technology manager Level III for the Department of Defense, I've experienced the frustration that others have with the slowness of the process and the hesitancy of managers to attempt transition of new technologies. So with enough time to move to a higher level, I've chosen to go full time as a consultant and advanced technology developer to help my many contacts move their technology to the marketplace. This may seem to be a risky move to some from a well paying government job with a certain paycheck to the life of an entrepreneur with risks at every turn and success never guaranteed. But as we get older and hopefully wiser we see life differently. I'd like to look back and see what we've accomplished as a team, rather than what we've guarded as an achievement of times past. As a submarine captain I always found it much easier to maintain depth control in rough seas with headway on the ship. In the rough seas of this economy, let's get the ship moving in the right direction and use that steerage way to change the course to a more favorable heading.

The Sparrow or the June Bug

Many leaders in industry view innovation like a sparrow. They are enamoured with the flight of the sparrow and bring it into their organization. When they get it there, they wrap it in layers of control and required reports and program managers. These are just like squeezing the sparrow in your hands. After a short while they look again at the sparrow and it's lifeless and won't fly again. They should treat it like I used to treat june bugs as a boy. I'd catch a June bug and tie some of my mom's fine thread around one leg. Then I'd fly him around the yard like a kite. He had enough freedom to fly but not enough to escape. If you hold your innovative people too tightly, you only succeed in squeezing the life out of them.

Open Innovation and Innoventure

This week I attended the Innoventure conference in Greenville, SC. It was a very impressive collection of venture capitalist and a number of leading edge entrepreneurs. I was impressed by the entire conference. The Swamp Fox group that put it own should be commended.

Two of the speakers were especially good. The Proctor and Gamble speaker mentioned the open innovation site connect direct.

https://www.pgconnectdevelop.com/pg-connection-portal/ctx/noauth/PortalHome.do

This site has some interesting possibilities.

The other impressive speaker was from General Electric. The part of his presentation that was interesting was the information that 25% of the wind turbines come from Greenville, SC. They are now making the 1.5MW generator and will be making the 2.5MW unit there as well.

Aggressive Technology Engagement

I've been researching lately the ability of industry partners and of DoD to insert new technology in the new business environment and I've concluded that nothing short of outright aggressive insertion will keep many businesses afloat. DoD will fall far behind our adversaries in the next ten years unless we ally closely with industry leaders in a number or new technology areas.

DoD especially is moving technically toward commercial network architectures and most of the research funding is coming from the commercial sector not from DARPA and DoD sources. That could mean a talent drain on DoD engineering resources in personnel as the rift between industry and DoD pay scales diverges.

The answer to both business and DoD technology insertion is smart, pro-active technology search and rapid technology insertion and development. It's not a case of maybe, it's a case of survival for both.

Is innovation dead in this economic down market?

A number of leading consultants have disagreed on the proper course of action in this economy. Do we cancel our innovative programs and get back to our "core businesses" or do we stretch and try to take market share in this down time at a reduced price?

This week I got a very good article from Robert Tucker, the president of Innovation Resources. You can reach them at http://www.innovationresources.com. After looking at innovation over the last 15 years my opinion would have to fall with the aggressive approach to always be ready to take opportunities when they pass by. Even though resources may be much tighter, we're still in business to serve our customers. If we have products that do that and keep our finances in order, we can still make progress in this market.

Use your good ideas and think of what your customer needs more now than in the booming markets of the last 10 years. Provide it and you will succeed.
Steve

Factors affecting the Adoption of Innovation

Everett Rogers defined five attributes of innovations: (1) relative advantage, (2) compatibility, (3) complexity, (4) trialability, and (5) observability (Rogers, 1995). The five criteria that influence the adoption of innovations were further defined by Moore and Benbasat as: (1) Relative Advantage-the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being better than its precursor; (2) Compatibility-the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being consistent with the existing values, needs and past experiences of potential adopters; (3) Complexity-the degree to which an innovation is perceived as being difficult to use; (4) Observability-the degree to which the results of an innovation are observable to others and; (5) Trialability-the degree to which an innovation may be experimented with before adoption (Moore and Benbasat, 1989).

We frequently don't assess these factors when we put out an innovation and pay the consequences in push back from the users.

Is the number of proposals important

In much of my research we have seen that innovative companies tend to let the juices flow and generate many more proposals. It would be my recommendation to any company attempting to be more innovative to open up the faucet. Set open submission areas for important technology areas. This is consistent with the "Innovate Like Edison" book by Gelbe. The innovative organization presents "all" potential solutions to challenges before they start throwing out selections. The traditional organization picks a few potential solutions early in the process and only looks for ones that fit their preconceived notions of what the solution ought to be.

An innovative consultant can help you find all of the potential technical options for a challenge in your business. We look at small businesses, other industry partners and university R&D sources for potential options. We can help you invigorate your organization with new ideas.

Please Vote, our country needs YOUR leadership.

Steve