ElemenceAdvisors

Adaptive Innovation

3. Innovation, invention and a new class of enterprise

 

An innovator’s job is to deliver ideas that can make money, that is, ideas that can realize real value if a product reflecting the idea is developed. The innovator must develop a solid, commercially grounded story of why and how the idea will work at delivering value, not simply state an idea. The idea is not likely even a product, but rather it is likely a feature. A collection of features is reflected as a product that delivers a probably single, overt benefit. A business model must be developed at inception or the idea is simply of no practical value. The innovator is essentially responsible for developing a good commercial story about an idea that reveals, without even a prototype necessarily, the what must be true’s for the idea to succeed. These what must be true’s are essentially feature and/or product specifications that then guide the invention activities. The objective is to reveal those ideas that have a good story where their likely inventive realization is based upon existing commercial features versus requiring fundamental scientific discoveries.

 

The invention activities center upon translating the innovative idea and it’s specifications to practical, commercial reality as a product feature. What inventions are already commercially available and have an existing supply chain? From which industries may they be derived? What features will require an actual invention? Can the inventive requirement be reduced into basic enough elements to reveal existing, practical inventions that on combination solve the need? Is a longer inventive process required? Is a basic scientific discovery required to allow the idea to become a reality? Finally, once assembled, do we have a product that meets all the requirements, including the commercial one of creating value?

 

While seemingly simple, putting all of these activities together can be complex and difficult to manage. The more inventions required, especially when from multiple disciplines, the more and more complex the management. The more different from conventional approaches, the more complex the development of a simple, positive consumer experience. In any case, these activities can be conducted in any number of ways with many different tools and processes. The contention of adaptive innovation is that many different approaches are plausible and that the best innovators will simply be those who can best manage the vast tool set and simultaneously be able to effectively know when to use what when and how. In fact, it is our view that the number and types of processes and tools are so vast and the situations that emerge are so varied, that no single companycanlikelyreinventitselftohandlethemallalone. Adaptive innovation accordingly reflects this by acknowledging that rather than have companies expend vast resources trying to reinvent themselves, companies should instead seek to reallocate resources in such a way as to allow for their adaptive interaction with many different resources, capabilities, processes, tools, groups and individuals. The bottom line is that companies need to find ways to innovate without having to disrupt the very competencies that have made them and continue to make them successful.

 

To this end, Adaptive Innovation sees new companies are capably managing these complex activities on various levels. Companies such as Nine Sigma, Yet2.com and Innocentive reflect the more transactional seeking of specific features that are already or are very close to commercial application. On the other hand, traditional design and branding companies, such as Ideo, capably serve the development of customer experiences utilizing generally known commercial technologies.

 

We also see another class of firm emerging, like our own Elemence Advisors, whose job it will be to facilitate the development of breakthrough technologies where a complex combination of innovations and inventions are required to transform an industry. These types of breakthroughs are difficult to achieve alone and often require an approach that for most firms is so different from their current activities as to be distracting and thus difficult to effectively implement. Accordingly, Elelemnce sees a strong need to be able to pull together a vast array of expertise, information, resources and capabilities on a constantly changing basis. Especially important to speed, efficiency and effectiveness will be the requirement that one have access to the best minds and capabilities on a just in time basis. Most firms cannot afford to have such expertise on staff on the chance that they might need them one day or even one hour a year.

 

A company that can facilitate not only the management of these resources, but create access to them as well as the management of the insight, innovation and invention processes for complex breakthroughs will be a key to innovating in the 21st century. The key we see to Adaptive Innovation will be the management of all of these activities on a global basis and we at Elemence as striving to be one of the first to effectively implement it. We even see a new scientific discipline emerging to train practitioners called by it’s originators at Georgia Tech “Strategic Engineering”. Strategic Engineering’s focus is the management of a the wide range of disciplines required to develop the complex solution mandated by today’s innovation ideas, from engineering to design to economics to business management.

 

Adaptive Innovation is therefore a holistic approach to innovation where one seeks to have access in real time to a vast set of resources, capabilities, processes, tools, groups and individuals to facilitate the consistent, effective, efficient development of insights to develop innovate ideas that are ultimately translated into commercial inventions that create value. The more complex the breakthrough, the more critical the management of multiple, highly varied disciplines. For simpler, well defined needs, many companies and process already exist and all of them are capable, proven and can serve one well. For the more complex, it is likely that a new class of firm and science will emerge that will manage the multiple disciplinary tasks required.