Missing the point of innovation
The point of innovation is to challenge the status quo and push on to a better condition.
The point of business is to make money today and tomorrow.
The equation and the system are balanced in favour of not changing.
The following insights are just a very few of the things we heard this week. They underline the need to look up and look long.
- Peak oil production has probably already occurred. From here it’s all downhill.
- For every calorie of food that is produced, 10 calories of fossil fuel energy are put into the system to grow that food.
- Peak water has been and gone. According to, well, lots of people, useable water availability from sustainable sources will put 30% of the world’s population into water scarcity by 2025 and the rest of us will face water stress.
- Artificial intelligence is influencing our behaviours now and augmenting our potential to function efficiently, creatively and effectively.
- Robotic process automation is reducing the amount of repetitive work but also replacing the need for people numbers in the workplace. It is predicted that 3 million jobs will be replaced by RPA in the UK by 2020 and this is affecting the decisions students are making at GCSE Options selection in schools now.
From conversations we’ve had this week with three open innovation managers and VPs, from different companies, consolidated and only slightly paraphrased:
- We only want to see insight and concepts that can affect our 12-month business performance. Anything beyond that is not going to attract budget.
Innovation justified.
Drop us a line at helpme@room44.co.uk and let’s see how we can help each other.