INNOVATION BEYOND NEW INVENTIONS: A PRESENTATION BY DR JAMES BRADFIELD MOODY

Dr Moody has just enthralled a business audience with his views on ‘the next wave’ of innovation and the three ‘Innovation’ leaders discuss ‘Where to Next’.

Gerhard Vorster picks up the story asking James to elaborate on the forces that he believes will shape the future.

James says when you look at Innovation and the forces that shape it there are three keys:

1. Technologies –  which go hand in hand with innovations
2. Markets – where the demand and the finance comes from and
3. Institutions – which are often neglected but are where the innovations happen

He posits that, "Institutions or organisation, are where the confluence of change occurs and that they connect markets with technologies and make innovations happen".

Narelle Kennedy agrees saying that, “Institutions are not the linear pathway from mind to market.” And she notes that it is often ‘a chaotic path’.

The leaders agree with Narelle that The future for innovation is defined by ‘What markets need; what people are after; what problems are out there that need to be solved; and the technologies that help that happen’.

Tune in to hear more about these pathways to technological change and about the changes predicted in consumption and resources - human; natural and information management resources; about moving from resources that are plentiful and cheap, to resources that are rare and scarce; and decoupling resource consumption from the economic growth base over the next 30 years.

The discussion shares Narelle’s definition for the Knowledge based economy: “What and who you know is more important than what you own and use”; and the distinction between the biosphere and the technosphere and the importance of separating them.

If that all sounds too scientific - it isn’t really as the biosphere is everything we consume and so all about atoms, and the technosphere is everything we use so all about bits.
 
And with Gerhard’s deft management the podcast concludes with:

Narelle Kennedy’s prediction that: “Innovation is about the smart application of knowledge to solve problems more imaginatively than we have in the past.”

And James Moody’s tip: That in the next 30 years waste is opportune. If you can find waste anywhere, whether it is a waste of people’s time, or a waste of resources, therein lies a huge business opportunity. The next wave of innovation will be about eliminating waste from the system.

Related Links:

Innovation Beyond New Inventions Presentation - Dr James Bradfield Moody, General Manager, International Development, CSIRO

Innovation at Deloitte. In the business world, there is a special kind of alchemy that differentiates innovative companies from those where innovation is simply 'business as usual'.