See this at: knowledgebusiness.co...| Added on 11/19/06

R&D And Corporate Performance [Date Added : 11/16/2006 ] | A select group of the world's 1,000 largest corporate R&D spenders perform significantly better than their competitors over a sustained period while spending less on R&D than their industry... See more

R&D And Corporate Performance [Date Added : 11/16/2006 ] | A select group of the world's 1,000 largest corporate R&D spenders perform significantly better than their competitors over a sustained period while spending less on R&D than their industry rivals, according to management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton's second annual global innovation study. The study found that although R&D spending of these 1,000 companies rose last year by more than US $20 billion, money simply can't buy effective innovation. However, a group of 94 "high-leverage innovators," including Toyota, Apple, Christian Dior, Google and Caterpillar, spend less than their competitors on research and development, yet consistently outperform their industry rivals across a broad set of performance measures. Booz Allen analyzed the world's top 1,000 corporate R&D spenders - the Booz Allen Global Innovation 1,000 - to assess the influence of R&D on corporate performance. The study identified the linkages between... See less

See this at: money.cnn.com| Added on 11/07/06

Some of the exhibits were just plain cool - one of the robots featured actually does the Robot dance. And while not all the products are commercially available, from the doctor's office to the airport, several of the technologies have a real-life... See more

Some of the exhibits were just plain cool - one of the robots featured actually does the Robot dance. And while not all the products are commercially available, from the doctor's office to the airport, several of the technologies have a real-life application today. 5 technologies ready for today High-tech boarding passes: These passes developed by Symbol Technologies (Charts), which was recently bought by Motorola (Charts), are designed to make flying safer and more convenient. When you check-in, a scan of your face is taken and stored in an RFID tag embedded on your boarding pass. When you go through security, a gateway scanner reads the tag and makes sure you are who you say you are. Costs include the tags themselves, which run about 50 cents each, to the gate scanners that read the chips. Now it's up to the airlines to implement the technology, said Timothy Heffernan, director of government relations and public policy at Symbol Tech. VeinViewer: Giving blood could be a less painful... See less

See this at: urenio.org| Added on 10/20/06

InnoCentive is a web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. It provides an online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives.... See more

InnoCentive is a web-based community matching top scientists to relevant R&D challenges facing leading companies from around the globe. It provides an online forum enabling major companies to reward scientific innovation through financial incentives. InnoCentive is an online, incentive-based initiative created specifically for the global R&D community. InnoCentive offers companies an opportunity to increase their R&D potential by enrolling as a “Seeker,” posting challenges to a confidential online forum, and gaining access to leading scientific minds. How InnoCentive works Leading companies contract with InnoCentive in order to become “Seekers,” which allows them to have Challenges posted to InnoCentive.com. Each Challenge includes a detailed description and requirements, a deadline, and an award amount for the best solution. Awards range from $10,000 to $100,000. Scientists worldwide are eligible to register on the web site as “Solvers”. InnoCentive has registered scientists from over... See less

See this at: dti.gov.uk| Added on 09/01/06

The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a survey conducted every 4 years by EU member states that allows the monitoring of Europe’s progress in the area of innovation. The UK Innovation Survey 2005, the fourth Europe-wide CIS, is the largest so far... See more

The Community Innovation Survey (CIS) is a survey conducted every 4 years by EU member states that allows the monitoring of Europe’s progress in the area of innovation. The UK Innovation Survey 2005, the fourth Europe-wide CIS, is the largest so far conducted, sent to 28,000 UK enterprises with 10 or more employees and achieving a 58 per cent response rate. It provides the UK data covering the three-year period from 2002 to 2004. The DTI recently organised a launch event to present key findings from the Occasional Paper No. 6: 'Innovation in the UK - Indicators and Insights'. Additionally, Professor Peter Swann and Dr Bruce Tether presented results from their research based on CIS4 data. It also included presentations by Tony McBride for the CBI and Bettina Peters for the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) who conducted the CIS for Germany. Business innovation is a vital ingredient in raising the productivity, competitiveness and growth potential of modern economies. Providing... See less

See this at: innovationclimateque...| Added on 09/01/06

The Innovation Climate Questionnaire Norms The norms for most of the ICQ dimensions are now quite reliable, and change only m... See more

The Innovation Climate Questionnaire Norms The norms for most of the ICQ dimensions are now quite reliable, and change only marginally with the addition of further data to the ICQ database. Note however, that the ‘Shared view’ ‘Pay recognition’ and ‘Work recognition’ dimensions have only recently been added to the questionnaire and the norms to date for these scales are based on data from over 1500 individuals from 11 organisations. Because of this, the comparisons involving these scales should be regarded as provisional. See less

See this at: innovationtools.com| Added on 09/01/06

By Paul Sloane Directors constantly strive to increase efficiency, implement best practice and deliver increased shareholder value. They seek to improve cash flow through efficiencies of scale and cost reductions. But there are limits to cost saving.... See more

By Paul Sloane Directors constantly strive to increase efficiency, implement best practice and deliver increased shareholder value. They seek to improve cash flow through efficiencies of scale and cost reductions. But there are limits to cost saving. In a global economy your competitors in lower-cost countries can beat you at that game. The best way to create value is to innovate your way ahead of the competition. You need to create temporary monopolies where yours is the only show in town. You can do this by harnessing the creative power of your greatest asset, your people. The goal is to turn them into opportunistic entrepreneurs who are constantly looking for new ways of doing business. A copy-machine operator at Kinko's, a major chain of outlets providing copying and document services, noticed that customer demand for copying dropped off in December. People were too pre-occupied with Christmas presents to do much copying for the office. So he came up with a creative idea. Why not... See less

See this at: hbsworkingknowledge....| Added on 09/01/06

The first step is to bring in promising ideas. Because technology brokers span multiple markets, industries, and geographic locations, they keep seeing proven technologies, products, business practices, and business models. Brokers recognize that... See more

The first step is to bring in promising ideas. Because technology brokers span multiple markets, industries, and geographic locations, they keep seeing proven technologies, products, business practices, and business models. Brokers recognize that these old ideas are their main source of raw material for new ideas, even when they are not sure how an old idea might help in the future. When brokers come across a promising idea, they don't just file it away. They play with it in their minds—and when possible with their hands—to figure out how and why it works, to learn what is good and bad about it, and to start spinning fantasies about new ways to use it. Designers at IDEO, for example, seem obsessed with learning about materials and products they have no immediate use for. At lunch one day, Professor Robert Sutton and I watched two engineers take apart the napkin container to look at the springs inside. Another time, we brought a new digital camera to a brainstorming session, and the... See less

See this at: teconline.com| Added on 09/01/06

Innovation/Creativity: A Best Practices Overview Don't have time to read the entire "TEC Best Practices: Innovation/Creativity" feature? Here are the key points in a brief executive summary. Why Creativity is Crucial Many CEOs and executives consider... See more

Innovation/Creativity: A Best Practices Overview Don't have time to read the entire "TEC Best Practices: Innovation/Creativity" feature? Here are the key points in a brief executive summary. Why Creativity is Crucial Many CEOs and executives consider a focus on creativity to be an exercise in frivolity. Others recognize that creativity is important, but they see it as unessential. The most productive leaders incorporate creativity and innovation into their companies with the same predictability as they do profit-and-loss statements. The four TEC experts interviewed for this series -- Jordan Ayan, Bryan W. Mattimore, Carl Robinson and Steven L. Snyder -- all work with Fortune 500 clients. They say that TEC-size companies often give short shrift to the creative part of themselves, of their companies and of the people who work with them. "Traditional linear thinking will solve 90 to 95 percent of your problems," says Mattimore. Innovation-enhancing techniques are for the toughest five to... See less

See this at: businessweek.com| Added on 08/31/06

INNOVATION IS INEVITABLE. To get a feel for what my students think of learning about innovation, I recently asked my class for their interpretation of the current buzz on the topic. High-tech veteran Stephanie Stern remarked that "understanding what... See more

INNOVATION IS INEVITABLE. To get a feel for what my students think of learning about innovation, I recently asked my class for their interpretation of the current buzz on the topic. High-tech veteran Stephanie Stern remarked that "understanding what innovation is prepares you to have a certain amount of flexibility -- the only thing constant is change. To be able to recognize opportunities as you see them and to train yourself to look at the world in new ways and problems in new ways is probably the key. It's not just: 'This is my product; this is my vision.' I think it's broader than that." Engineering whiz Jennifer Faraci added: "Innovation is inevitable, and we're not going to stop it. We might as well be ahead of the curve and actually ride that wave and see if we can drive it, rather than just waiting for it to happen." These quotations support the notion that MBA students are aware that competency in innovation management is fundamentally about being ready for the unanticipated... See less

See this at: businessweek.com| Added on 08/29/06

An exhibit at New York City's Skyscraper Museum showcases a new crop of environmentally sustainable towers sprouting in Manhattan. Museum director, exhibit curator, and skyscraper historian Carol Willis talks with BusinessWeek Online contributing... See more

An exhibit at New York City's Skyscraper Museum showcases a new crop of environmentally sustainable towers sprouting in Manhattan. Museum director, exhibit curator, and skyscraper historian Carol Willis talks with BusinessWeek Online contributing editor Andrew Blum about what's behind the green boom, how it fits into the history of skyscrapers, and the ways real estate developers can have the earth and save it too We strongly recommend that you use iTunes for managing and subscribing to podcasts. However, if you are using a different podcast reader, please copy the feed url to your it to subscribe. See less

See this at: businessweek.com| Added on 08/29/06

In his new book Risk Intelligence, author David Apgar proposes practical ways for companies (and individuals) to better assess and manage the hazards of new product development, brand strategies, and other adventurous business directions. He defines... See more

In his new book Risk Intelligence, author David Apgar proposes practical ways for companies (and individuals) to better assess and manage the hazards of new product development, brand strategies, and other adventurous business directions. He defines risk, analyzes typical styles of risk assessment, and presents a step-by-step process for more efficiently predicting failure—and coping with it We strongly recommend that you use iTunes for managing and subscribing to podcasts. However, if you are using a different podcast reader, please copy the feed url to your it to subscribe. See less

See this at: businessweek.com| Added on 08/29/06

Social networks may be all the rage among teens and venture capitalists today, but they're also a useful construct for innovation. BusinessWeek's Management editor Jena McGregor talks to Christopher Meyer, CEO of Monitor Networks, a venture of The... See more

Social networks may be all the rage among teens and venture capitalists today, but they're also a useful construct for innovation. BusinessWeek's Management editor Jena McGregor talks to Christopher Meyer, CEO of Monitor Networks, a venture of The Monitor Group, about the all-star networks of thinkers he develops to help companies innovate We strongly recommend that you use iTunes for managing and subscribing to podcasts. However, if you are using a different podcast reader, please copy the feed url to your it to subscribe. See less

See this at: strategy-business.co...| Added on 08/23/06

Imagine if the only penalty for shoplifting was that you would have to pay for what you took. Implausible as it sounds, that is essentially the consequence faced by those found guilty of patent infringement. Under the current system, if someone (or... See more

Imagine if the only penalty for shoplifting was that you would have to pay for what you took. Implausible as it sounds, that is essentially the consequence faced by those found guilty of patent infringement. Under the current system, if someone (or some company) appropriates a patented idea, the punishment is generally nothing more than the payment of “reasonable royalties.” In other words, patent infringers are seldom forced to pay out more than they would have if they had licensed the idea from the inventor in the first place. This slap on the wrist is not just some idle quirk in the law. It’s part of a disturbing decrease in the strength of intellectual property rules that may be stoking a growing innovation crisis in the U.S. Patents were designed to serve as a temporary protective shell around technological seedlings, letting them enter the marketplace shielded for at least a few years from deep-pocketed, established competitors. In recent years, a long-standing legal battle has... See less

Highlights: In 2003, Microsoft was ordered to pay $560 million to Eolas Technologies Inc. and the University of California for infringing their patent involving functions in Web browsers.

See this at: strategy-business.co...| Added on 08/23/06

Authors’ note: Numbers in parentheses indicate each company’s ranking in the Booz Allen Hamilton Global Innovation 1000. The number is shown the first time each company is mentioned. All analyses of the Global Innovation 1000 as a whole are based on... See more

Authors’ note: Numbers in parentheses indicate each company’s ranking in the Booz Allen Hamilton Global Innovation 1000. The number is shown the first time each company is mentioned. All analyses of the Global Innovation 1000 as a whole are based on industry sector indexed data that normalizes the widely different R&D spending habits across industries. See less

See this at: strategy-business.co...| Added on 08/23/06

Consider the two faces of the global innovation movement. Company A, having grown through acquisition, produces multiple brands for multiple markets and operates a worldwide network of research and product development centers. Each of its R&D sites... See more

Consider the two faces of the global innovation movement. Company A, having grown through acquisition, produces multiple brands for multiple markets and operates a worldwide network of research and product development centers. Each of its R&D sites was initially responsible for its own brands and local market, but with globalization these distinctions have lost their importance. Company B, on the other hand, was built largely through internal growth and has two global brands. It operates one primary R&D center supported by a handful of special-purpose sites around the world. This comparatively sparse network has helped Company B win wide admiration for the efficiency of its engineering. Because expanding the number of nodes in a network exponentially increases its complexity, it is not surprising that Company A’s R&D structure is more expensive to operate. Company A has considered closing some sites, but has resisted doing so because it fears losing capabilities and insights, and... See less