Front End of Innovation

Where Does the Knowledge Go After Turnover?

2009-07-10T11:19:00.003-04:00

We are going through the largest generational turnover businesses have ever experienced. Senior executives and employees are leaving companies and taking valuable knowledge with them. So what are companies doing to combat this? I came across this poll on the Innovating to Win Blog which closes today. It's entitled, What initiatives are your organization using to manage the outflow of corporate

The Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009 Approved

2009-07-09T09:26:00.003-04:00

The Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act of 2009 was approved on a vote of 386-41.The bill reauthorizes the Small Business Innovation Research program and the Small Business Technology Transfer program. Those programs deliver nearly $2.3 billion to the country’s small businesses.Joseph Morton of the Omaha World Herald reports, Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., wrote the

Finding the Open Water

2009-07-07T11:48:00.002-04:00

C. EngdahlThe Big E of Big E Toys“You can observe a lot just by watching.” - Yogi BerraThe morning lake was calm and disserted. This past weekend at our cabin a little less than an hour north of Minneapolis my family was enjoying a morning boat ride. The transitory July 4th crowd had not yet arrived. The only ripples in the water were formed by the wake of our craft. As I captained our boat

Seeking Common Ground in Conversations Can Stifle Innovation and Reward the Wrong People

2009-07-06T11:49:00.001-04:00

SmartBrief Insights writes, "Given the choice between discussing mediocre ideas from a well-known colleague and a brilliant new approach by an unknown, most people would prefer to discuss the ideas from the familiar figure, new research shows. Charismatic thought leaders can stifle innovation, say Stanford Graduate School of Business researchers, because they crowd out better ideas from less

The Two Pathways to Innovation by Dr. Phil Samuel

2009-07-02T09:09:00.009-04:00

Innovation is the act of generating more value for the customer and business by fulfilling a Job To Be Done better than anyone else. A Job To Be Done (a problem to be solved) is the purpose for which customers buy or use products and solutions.There are two pathways to pursue innovation. The first pathway is about finding new solutions for a Job To Be Done for which no good solutions exist or

Venture Capital: Innovation, or Big Business in Disguise?

2009-07-01T15:02:00.002-04:00

Tim Berry, President and Founder of Palo Alto Software wonders: Is venture capital new, innovative small business, or just big business disguised? Berry is responding to an article by Steve King at Small Biz Labs about venture capital and government-funded Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants and we thought we'd bring the debate to you.Berry writes, Last year 3,600 smaller companies

Innovative vs. Stupid (audio)

2009-06-30T00:32:00.008-04:00

C. EngdahlThe Big E of Big E ToysIf a picture's worth a thousand words, a video's worth a million. But what's an audio file worth?I've had a bunch of requests to hear the discussion with Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot of Sound Opinions that was used as the basis for my posts "The Difference Between Innovative & Stupid" and "Innovation is in the Eye of the Beholder". Below is the audio of the question

Should innovation be restricted to products?

2009-06-29T15:07:00.005-04:00

In an article I was reading at at the Deccan Herald, they focused on innovation and where thoughts came from. Azim Premji