Has innovation finally gone democratic?

Kris Gopalakrishnan

CEO & MD, Infosys Technologies Limited

Innovation resonates in every discussion at the World Economic Forum. You may argue that it is a case of old wine in a new bottle. Agreed, it was always on the radar of companies, but now there is a refreshing change in the approach to innovation.

The opening session had Dr. Rajendra Pachauri speaking on sustainability and President Hamid Karzai discussing terrorism. These are pressing issues and I am glad we are making room for them.

But what’s significant about the mood at Davos this year is there is a growing realization that we need to collaborate more closely and innovate faster to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Looking beyond the enterprise

Traditional R&D was monolithic and vertically integrated. However, the R&D lab as we once knew it is history. The Flat World has transformed innovation into an open, global and democratic process. As organizational hierarchies are flattened, we find that most of the nimbler organizations are transforming into network-based organizations. Today’s global company looks beyond the enterprise to think out-of-the-box. It encourages meritocracy and provides opportunities to tap into a global pool of talent.

The challenge from emerging economies

Consequently, emerging economies have a new role to play – that of challengers. As John Hagel, III and John Seely Brown wrote in their incisive analysis on ‘Innovation Blowback’, the fact that emerging markets are generating disruptive product and service innovations is itself a warning call to companies in the developed world to urgently reposition themselves to deal with the offshore challenge.

A dynamic innovation ecosystem

A collaboration of partners with different types of expertise instills a regulatory mechanism – a system of checks and balances – that mitigates risk and increases the potential for success. I believe a dynamic innovation ecosystem driven by meticulous planning and execution offers an alternative to corporate mergers and realizes compelling innovative value.

With this in mind, I am looking forward to the session on ‘Exploring the Implications of the Mobile Internet’ today.

Comments

[Tarek]

Good timing on innovation in a globalized world. The non-profit organization, "The Institute for Innovation & Information Productivity", released a study of consumer confidence on innovation by sampling 25,000 adults in various parts of the world. It finds that roughly half of the world population appears resistant to innovation. Link to the press release of the research is
http://www.iii-p.org/news/iiip-080122.html