TII Innovation Journal

Chinese Universities Receive US$1.1 Billion Software Gift

Chinese Universities Receive US$1.1 Billion Software Gift: "

"

(Via ChinaTechNews.com.)

Globalisation and new collaborative working environments...

Globalisation and new collaborative working environments...: "Globalisation and new collaborative working environments"

(Via CORDIS News.)

The Business Leadership Forum: A Variety of Innovation Styles

Irving Wladawsky-Berger of IBM reports from the IBM Rome Business Leadership Forum in April 2006

The Business Leadership Forum: A Variety of Innovation Styles: "

Earlier in April I participated in IBM's 2006 Business Leadership Forum (BLF).  The forum included several hundred leaders of industry, government and academia from over 50 countries who gathered in Rome for two days of discussions about the challenges and opportunities facing business in the 21st century.  This is the fourth such forum we have held and the first global one.  In 2003, our first BLF in San Francisco began a dialogue on the proper business strategies to pursue in the wake of the dot-com implosion.  In 2004 and 2005, we held regional forums in Paris and Shanghai respectively.  Having learned from these earlier forums that business issues in each region are not dramatically different, we decided that for 2006 the BLF would include participants from around the world. 

I found the presentations and panels over the two days of the Rome BLF fascinating.  It was not just the content; it was also the different leadership styles and approaches to innovation represented by the speakers.  Let me talk about a few of them.

Sam Palmisano

IBM Chairman and CEO Sam Palmisano opened the forum by observing that innovation is an imperative for anyone wanting to differentiate their companies and avoid competing solely on costs in a crowded, commoditized marketplace.  He talked about some of the powerful forces driving innovation in business.  First, he told the audience that one unavoidable fact of which all should be aware is that globalization is inevitable and that the world as a result is becoming more integrated.  He then linked globalization to economic expansion and, in particular, to the growing percentage of worldwide GDP coming from emerging markets -- especially China and India where a young, vibrant, talented set of professionals is eagerly entering the global economy. 

Sam then talked about the unpredictable environment we have been living in for the past few years, and the difficulty in planning due to the rate and pace of change inspired by geopolitical and security issues,  economic fluctuations, market bubbles and what have you.  As a result, business models are being furiously challenged by world events beyond their control and occurring anywhere, which in today's integrated environment will have a rippling effect across the globe. 

In such an environment, Sam went on to say, a business has only a couple of choices.  It can hunker down and try to ride out the changes, hoping things will return to the more stable world of the past; or it can create a strategy and a set of business models that allow the business to thrive and be successful in the face of the realities of this emerging world -- in other words, embrace innovation across the business. 

John Browne

BP Group Chief Executive John Browne spoke next.  (By the way, for the last few years I have been a member of BP's Technology Advisory Council.)  Lord Browne said that innovation was all about organizing the business in ways that allow people to explore possibilities and take risks confidently.  Innovation, in his opinion, is part of the process of anticipating and responding to changing needs and, since human needs are constantly evolving, innovation is the key to the long-term competitive success of any business.  He went on to talk about innovation in the energy business, summarizing its key challenges as enhancing energy security by finding reliable supplies of energy, and addressing climate change concerns by reducing the environmental impact of energy production and use.

Lord Browne then talked about some of BP's efforts in these areas.  For example, the amount of oil typically recovered from a field is a bit over 50 percent, up from around 25 - 30 percent when he first joined the industry forty years ago.  He believes oil recovery can be driven beyond sixty percent through advanced simulations that convey a better idea of where the oil is, and advanced technologies like horizontal drilling to get at it.  He talked about some very exciting pilot projects BP has under way in Scotland and California to produce clean, carbon-free electricity through a technology called carbon sequestration which extracts carbon from hydrocarbons and buries it in an existing oil or gas field.  Finally, he briefly mentioned some of the newer, riskier projects in search of greener and renewable energy sources, such as crops that produce plentiful, clean energy.

Lord Browne made several comments about the issues surrounding climate change that I found particularly compelling.  He acknowledged that there are multiple points of view in this area:  ‘The science of climate change is still provisional.  But then, all science is provisional,’ and then added ‘What seems clear is that we can't ignore the mounting evidence.  And no business whose purpose is to supply energy sustainably can turn away from the challenge or pretend it's someone else's problem.’  Later on in his talk he said ‘. . . innovation can help provide answers and help us to escape from the sense of fatalism which starts from a belief that climate change is such a huge global problem that there's nothing that can be done about it.  That is wrong.  There are lots of things that can be done.’

Sunil Mittal

BP and IBM are very good examples of well established, multi-national companies looking to transform themselves through innovation.  A very different innovation story is that of Bharti Enterprises, India's leading telecom conglomerate.  Sunil Mittal, Bharti's Chairman and Group Managing Director talked about the major challenges Bharti has faced over the last few years as India navigates some turbulent waters.  He explained that, with India's annual per capita income only a bit over $600, cellular phone service has to be provided for the Indian market at a very low price, around 2 cents a minute or less.  The only way to provide telecom services so inexpensively and run a profitable business is to take advantage of India’s large population and economic growth, scaling up the business rapidly by adding many new customers every month.   

To do this, Sunil Mittal had to develop a radically innovative business model:  focus only on the customers and outsource just about everything else.  In other words, put all the energy of the business into attracting, supporting and retaining customers and accept the fact that pretty much everything else has been commoditized and should be outsourced, including managing all the IT equipment and the network.  He said there was a lot of resistance to this strategy.  People were calling him from around the world saying that IT and the network were the heart of a telecom company.  ‘You cannot give your heart away and then run a business’, they said to him. 

Mittal begged to differ, saying the customer, not the technology, was at the heart of his business and then proceeded to implement the strategy.  He further confounded everyone by not picking Indian companies as his outsourcing partners, choosing instead IBM to run IT and Nokia and Ericsson to run the network, because he wanted highly experienced, international companies that could keep up with the torrid pace of Bharti’s growth. Today, Bharti is one of the top five companies in India, and Mittal’s vision for it is to be India’s most admired brand by 2010.   

Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds represents a totally different innovation leadership style.  At the BLF I introduced him by reminding the audience that a community of the best and brightest programmers around the world is developing Linux, and that in my opinion the Linux community works so well and has been so productive because of Linus' creativity certainly, but also his leadership qualities. 

Linus told the audience that he was primarily an engineer, not at all a visionary leader, and that he spent all his energies focusing on the problems right in front of him.  He talked about how Linux is organized and explained that it has no central authority at all - a phenomenon he attributed to his inability to be a great leader.  Instead, Linux has a distributed decision-making process in which different people decide which ideas they will accept from contributors all around the world.  He answered a question as to how the different people who make decisions in the Linux community are picked, and replied that it was all based on trust and connections.  There is a built-in mechanism that allows good people automatically to strengthen their own connections to everyone else through a combination of good technical and communication skills. 

Linus also explained why people would spend so much of their time on a volunteer project like Linux with no immediate financial gain.  As an engineer, he said, there is no better feeling than solving a problem that has bedeviled you for days.  Suddenly a light goes on, and you get the rush of having finally solved it.  In the end, he said, a lot of technical people find solving such technical problems very satisfying, and that is why they do it.

I stand by the words I used to introduce Linus Torvalds – he is indeed a very good and innovative leader, with his own unique style that has proved tremendously effective in leading one of the most powerful forces in IT today. 

Tom Friedman

Let me close with an observation made by Tom Friedman, best-selling author of ‘The World is Flat’.  He addressed the Rome Business Leadership Forum on tape and succinctly captured the necessity of everyone’s paying close attention to innovation.

'When the world is flat, whatever can be done will be done.  Pay attention to that.  Whatever the technology empowers and enables, whatever can be done will be done.

There's only one question left: will it be done by you or to you?  And that is really the challenge for every company.  You've got to understand and identify what the tools out there will enable you or your competitors to do, and you've got to do it before your competitors.

And that takes an innovative flare.'

So, what did I learn from the various talks and panels at the Business Leadership Forum.  One lesson is that no one approach to innovation and innovation leadership is best; rather, different approaches will work best in different situations and for different individuals. 

Another is that the era of competing to be the best is no longer enough; we are entering an era where we are competing to be unique.  And while in principle being the best is a zero sum game, different people and companies can each be unique in their own innovation style.   

"

(Via Irving Wladawsky-Berger.)

Innovation is the "yin" to globalization's "yang"

YET ANOTHER INPUT FOR THE TII ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2006, NEXT WEEK

Innovation is the "yin" to globalization's "yang": "

Frank Gens of IDC has written a great summary of the debate over innovation that recently took place at IBM's Business Leadership Forum in Rome. In his blog post, Frank addresses two 'nagging' questions about innovation, including one that was on the mind of nearly every business executive at the IBM event:  'Is innovation really as big a deal as IBM (and many other IT vendors) are making of it, or is it just the latest empty buzzword, destined to fade away in 18-24 months?'

The answer, not surprisingly, is that innovation really is a big deal, thanks primarily to the forces of globalization. Frank explains why:

'Why is the subject of innovation so important to business leaders?   The most obvious and powerful reason is globalization.  There is a direct linkage between the pressures of globalization and the urgent need for innovation, and this was right on display throughout the IBM event: from author Tom Friedman’s comments about the 'flattening world', right through to former EC Commissioner Mario Monti’s comments about the urgent need for structural reform in the Eurozone’s three largest countries...

Our research and others’ (including IBM’s recent CEO survey) show that innovation is seen by CEOs as a critical countermeasure to the growing pressures of globalization.  At IDC, we think of innovation as the 'yin' to the 'yang' of globalization: they have a strong positive-feedback relationship, with globalization fueling the need to innovate, and innovative companies being able to create value by leveraging globalization.  As I said at IDC Directions: 'Innovation is moving up the CEO’s agenda, and it will stay there as long as globalization is an issue - which will be for quite a while to come.'

Tags: innovation  globalization  yinyang

[Image: The Yin Yang Building]

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(Via Business Innovation 2005.)

Creativity & Innovation in Science & Technology

Posted by Tim Janis:

Cloutier speaks of the need for change and adapting to current environment.  The following example is how Microsoft is changing.

Excerpted from Technology Review 
March 2005 - Microsoft: Getting from 'R' to 'D'
“The software giant's Beijing lab is spearheading a new way to turn research into products.”

By Robert Buderi, in Beijing

Executives from Microsoft’s Beijing research lab brainstormed a promising solution to a fundamental problem facing Microsoft and many other high-tech companies: how to move m ore innovations more swiftly and effectively from research to development to market. Their idea: a new type of organization designed to bridge the gap between "R" and "D" and in the process overcome many of the product development bottlenecks and geographic and cultural differences that impede today’s global corporations.

Given that it typically takes several years for research projects to yield anything that can be commercialized, moving innovations to development was hardly a top priority when the Beijing lab was formed in 1998. Early on, though, a group was set up to help researchers build demos for showing concept technologies to their Redmond research colleagues and to the business divisions—with two engineers or programmers assigned to each of about a dozen projects.

Dennis Adler, general manager of business development for ATC. Based in Redmond, he is the liaison between the center and Microsoft’s product groups, helping the business divisions understand what advances are emerging from Beijing and the ATC members understand development schedules and constraints. Many times, he says, product groups would have loved to incorporate some cool feature or technology created in one of Microsoft’s research labs but just didn’t have the staff to devote to it. “There are tech transfers that haven’t happened because of it,” he says. “So ATC was set up as a way to help close that gap. It’s all about lowering the impedance.”

Microsoft officials say they know of nothing else like the Advanced Tech­nology Center either inside their company or outside it. “We just invented it,” says Adler. At least in Beijing, an organization like the center wasn’t even thinkable until a few years ago, and its creation shows the benefits of constantly adapting operations as conditions change.

Can individuals, especially scientists and engineers be more creative.  According to the following it is possible. 

Creativity & Innovation in Science & Technology

How can I be creative and innovative in the field of science & technology?

At first it may seem tricky for some people to mix the rigorous, structure world of some scientific disciplines, and the creative world. However, with an open mind it is relatively easy to start looking and thinking in a more creative way, which when put into the scientific world can provide exceptional results.

When you look at the growth in most areas of science and technology, you will find the main advances have been associated with creative thinking followed by innovation to turn those ideas into reality. The precise concepts of creativity and innovation we can support you with.

Discussion Items Re Globalization

Posted by Tim Janis:

CREATIVITY EXAMPLES
BASIC POSITION

• How can a corporation evolve to a humanistic, creative organization and survive in today’s global market?
• What if it doesn’t evolve?
• Can all workers become more creative?  With what incentives?

ALTERNATIVE THOUGHTS

• What about technology as the primary driver of future corporations? Workers?

o    See for example “Globalization of Technology: International Perspectives” - Proceedings of the Sixth Convocation of The Council of Academies of Engineering and Technological Sciences; Janet H. Muroyama and H. Guyford, Editors – National Academy Press Web site here

o    According  to Ross, (Ross, David P. (1993). Family Security in Insecure Times. National Forum on Family Security, Canadian Council on Social Development) - Technology and globalization go hand-in-hand. Globalization unleashes technology, which in turn drives firms to plan production and sales on a global basis. Technology changes the work we do and in nearly all cases, the jobs created by it demand more education and training. It also changes the way business operates by transforming relationships between suppliers, producers, retailers and customers.  This opens the discussion of a unit entitled “Innovations in Technology and Globalization: Introduction to the Information Era in the on-line report  “Technology and Making Career Sense of Labour Market Information. “ By Elaine O'Reilly, Algonquin College and Diane Alfred, Human Resources Development Canada Web site here

• What about knowledge?  Is knowledge the real capital of the future?  If so will the creative corporation be able to manage it in a global environment?

• o    Paul Grogan, CEO of the Boston Foundation, summed it up succinctly by saying that the United States needs to develop and nurture its human capital ''to succeed in a competitive global environment that values knowledge and ideas above everything else."  Taken from The globalization of knowledge - By Zorica Pantic  April 5, 2006, The Boston Globe. 

Creativity Against Adverse Effects of Globalisation

Guy Cloutier has made his Position Paper for the Globalisation Debate at TII's Annual Conference (Topic introduced elsehwere on this blog earlier):

The emerging world economy is bringing with it new challenges like low-wage economies and staying ahead in this ever changing environment means being able to anticipate as well as incorporate innovation and creativity.

To conquer these challenges, both the human and the organization will have to recognize, understand, then deal with the dependencies that are presently hindering their growth and preventing them from realizing their aspirations.  Survival will require that they develop an innovative and evolutionary approach that focuses on prevention rather than reaction.  This “evolution” will give rise to a new awareness which recognizes the Human and the Organization as a sum far greater than its parts.

To this end, entrepreneur and speaker Guy Cloutier sees those challenges as a time when human beings will finally regain the power to decide what is best for them by realizing that they hold the essential elements for their personal autonomy.  As it now stands, we are victims of various control systems which tend to denature us, numbing any sense of our true reason for being.  The evolutionary organization of the future will realize this as counter-productive, leading it to place humans first…ahead of finance and technology as the need for personal self-fulfilment must be satisfied if a collective well-being is to be achieved.

Many organizations view the competition or “the low-wage economies” as a threat and have unwittingly placed all their hope on the cutting edge of technology to avoid being outpaced in their market.  Unfortunately, the supposed solution means a massive acquisition of technology at enormous costs or off-shore subcontracting in the hopes of reducing production costs and keeping the industry alive. What are the real costs and impacts of these decisions?  The organization must deal with an ever-increasing financial burden.  The employees and managers are in a quandary; their job security is in question, they are reluctant to change and have lost motivation.  Are there other solutions?  One possibility would be for upper management to acknowledge its most creative individuals who have certainly been waiting for this moment to put their latent potential to use.  They will now be in a perfect position to bring technical, scientific and human improvements to the company’s development.

The following chart is a comparative table illustrating the advantages of creativity over high technology or off-shore subcontracting.

View this photo

A dynamic and humane business will attract members by valuing their creativity instead of ignoring it for the sake of short-term gain.  This acknowledgement of human creativity can only strengthen long-term goals and develop the organization’s autonomy and freedom.

Human creativity is the heart of the evolutionary organization

 

The innovative Chinese automaker

Another notch in the belt of the BRIC! This is a good example of how Globalization links with Technology (Transfer) and Regional Foresight! A lesson to both here and there..(Comment by Max)

The innovative Chinese automaker: "

This has to be a source of consternation for any American company sharing its innovation & design expertise with business partners in China: the Wall Street Journal (link via Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) reports that Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., a long-time partner of GM and Volkswagen in China, plans to go it alone and produce a luxury four-door sedan - all by itself - for the Chinese market. The new sedan will compete head-to-head with rival offerings from GM in China and there are even plans in the works to start exporting the Chinese-made and Chinese-designed car to Europe sometime in 2007:

'For years, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., a government-owned behemoth, has worked side by side with General Motors Corp. and Volkswagen AG on world-class assembly lines to build cars for the Chinese market. Now, the giant auto maker is getting ready to use the technical expertise and experience it has gained from these partnerships -- which turn out hundreds of thousands of Buicks and Chevys as well as VW Santanas and Passats a year -- to make its own high-end sedan.

Shanghai Automotive's shift from an ally of its foreign partners to a potentially dangerous rival is a sign of sweeping changes ahead for auto makers in the fast-growing China market, which has become an increasingly important source of sales and profits for U.S. and European auto companies. Prodded by Chinese economic planners, large state-run companies that have joint ventures with other foreign manufacturers, from Ford Motor Co. of the U.S. to Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp. and South Korea's Kia Motors Corp., are also moving to develop and sell more vehicles under their own brand names. The push comes amid a broader questioning of the role that foreign companies and brands should play in China's economy.'

A consultant for the automobile industry rings the alarm bell: 'This is a watershed in the development of the auto industry in China. The Chinese formed joint ventures for one purpose: to learn how to do it themselves one day. That day is here.'

So that's what happens - a big American company sends jobs and R&D know-how overseas in the hopes of expanding global market share, and it winds up with an ungrateful partner willing to bolt at the first opportunity? For GM, already beset by gargantuan financial woes, this has to sting. If nothing else, the decision by Shanghai Automotive means that the GM board won't be able to use the 'our cars don't sell in America, but we're doing real well in China' excuse anymore. In a prepared statement, GM tried to put a positive spin on the development, but we all know the company is smiling through gritted teeth: 'GM understands Shanghai Automotive's desire for further growth and is confident SAIC recognizes that the success of both companies in the China market is closely linked to the success of our joint ventures.'

More details about the decision by Shanghai Automotive to head off on its own can be found at CNN/Money. Details about Shanghai Automotive (not exactly a household word here in America) are also up at Wikipedia.

Tags: China  auto  GM  ShanghaiAutomotive  innovation  design

[image: AutoBlog]

"

(Via Business Innovation 2005.)

Foresight at TII Annual Conference

Foresight Theme
Workshop Topic 5 :   Customising products for future markets

Speaker: Frank Ruff, Daimler Chrysler Title: The crisis of the enhancement logic
Facilitator: Bruno Woeran, Danube Reporter:    To be decided 

This workshop will discuss the forces which are likely to influence future markets and economic conditions and how this will influence customer demand for products and services.  The speaker works within the foresight research division of Daimler Chysler, based in Berlin and responsible for the “Smart Car” and other innovations in the automotive industry.

1. Current situation mass production of standard products 2. What we want successful, long term strategies 3. How we achieve it researching future markets, scenario planning, producing goods with more cultural and symbolic appeal  etc

Workshop Topic  6 :  Foresight and Regional Development
Speaker: Christian Svanfeldt, European Commission Title: Regional Blueprints for development

Facilitator: Guido Giebens, Viisiteam Reporter:    Herman Deroost, TimetoMarket 

This workshop will discuss how regions can use foresight techniques to create more robust long term strategies. Understanding the global drivers affecting key areas in the regional economy is essential in order to prioritise public sector intervention and private sector action. Foresight is a high priority for the EU and the speaker has played a major part in defining strategies for different types of region eg, industrial transition, agricultural decline, trans-border etc.   

1. Current situation conventional planning processes 2. What we want wealth creation and EU social integration 3. How we achieve it better informed policy making, flexible skills, forward looking businesses & services

Globalisation debate at TII 2006 Annual Conference

More details at tii.org
Globalisation Theme
Workshop 3:  Technology for International Development Speaker: Tony Marjoram, UNESCO Title: Eight goals for reducing global inequality
Facilitator: Max Nielsen, MaxInno Reporter:    To be decided
This workshop will consider how innovation and technology can help solve worldwide problems such as poverty reduction, sustainability, fair trade, labour mobility and technology transfer. The speaker is an expert on international development and a member of the UN Task Force that produced the recent report on Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015.
1. Current  situation:    poverty, insecurity, degredation etc
2. What we want:    fairer, more effective global economy
3. How we achieve it:    methods, partnerships and resources.

Workshop 4 :  Innovation and Global Competitiveness
Speaker: Guy Cloutier, Hicom International Title: Creativity – the Power of the Future
Facilitator: Tim Janis
Reporter:     To be decided 
This workshop will consider how innovation and creativity can be used as a strategy to offset the challenge of low-wage economies by gaining competitive edge from unique products and services. The speaker is well known for his publications, ‘Power of Future’ and ‘The Golden Rules’ and was the founder of an international trading house exporting inventions around the world.
1. Current situation:    losing out to low wage economies
2. What we want:    to lead the world in new ideas   
3. How we achieve it:    by stimulating innovation/creativity, developing unique products etc. 

The Global Innovation Outlook: What is Going On Out There?

Irving Wladawsky-Berger of IBM gives a good impression of how IBM and other corporate businesses support the Global Innovation Outlook as both a Foresight exercise AND a strategy to implement global development.

The Global Innovation Outlook: What is Going On Out There?: "

IBM, as you would expect from a company of our size, has long conducted in-house forecasting to determine the emerging trends in technology and business that should shape our strategies.  In 2004, as the focus on innovation started to take shape, we realized that our approach to forecasting and strategy itself had to change.  Increasingly, innovation was occurring at the intersection of technology, business and society, so one had to step back and take a more holistic approach to discern emerging trends in these three dimensions instead of just looking at them individually.   

Thus was born the Global Innovation Outlook (GIO).  We made the decision to sit together with thought leaders from businesses of all sizes, academia, government, public interest groups, the venture capital community and other key constituencies to collectively peer into the future and identify major trends, insights and opportunities.  In order to focus the discussions, we picked three broad societal themes for discussion.  In addition, we tried to surface insights that applied to all three focus areas and spanned various disciplines and industries.

GIO 1.0 took place during 2004 with ten 'deep dive' sessions held in New York, Shanghai, Washington and Zurich, involving 200+ participants from 24 different countries, more than half of them IBM ecosystem partners from 96 different organizations.  The focus areas for GIO 1.0 were healthcare, government and its citizens, and the business of work and life.  The detailed findings in each focus area are described in the GIO 1.0 report, but let me just briefly mention the three broad themes that ran across them. 

First was the need for standard ways of exchanging information within and across organizations, which was viewed by GIO participants on a par with speaking the same language.  Standards were identified as requisite to unlocking new capabilities, and many cited a lack of standards as 'a major reason for systemic inefficiencies, escalating costs and general industry incoherence and confusion.'  Next was the need for more open collaboration among ecosystem members, including parties not used to working with each other because they compete or come from different disciplines or industries.  The final broad area identified in GIO 1.0 was the primacy of the individual as a focal point for innovation.  The report said: 'Where much innovation in the last century grew out of the adoption of mass production, innovation in the 21st century will primarily be built on the infrastructure of the individual.'

The 15 'deep dives' of GIO 2.0 took place in 2005 and 2006 and its findings were released at an event in New York last week.  GIO 2.0 gathered 248 thought leaders from 33 countries representing 178 organizations, meeting in Beijing, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, Zurich and San Francisco. Discussions focused on three topics:  the future of the enterprise, energy and the environment, and transportation and mobility.  A brief summary of the findings in each area can be found here and the full findings are presented in the GIO 2.0 report. 

As in the first GIO, we found some very interesting broad patterns.  Let me talk about one in particular.  While GIO 1.0 focused on the role of individuals in driving innovation, this time the discussions revealed that those individuals are not acting in isolation.  'Their power comes largely from their ability to tap into and sometimes transform a larger network of people and ideas.'  This is something I have personally discovered in the last year with the rise of social networks, enabled by the Internet and related tools and platforms which are making it possible for people to connect and work together in unprecedented ways within and outside the boundaries of organizations and countries.  GIO participants observed that increasingly the organizing principle for work is no longer the enterprise but the endeavor and that it may soon be time to redefine what we mean by enterprise, employer and employee, as looser aggregations of collaborators form and disband opportunity by opportunity.  In GIO discussions people kept coming back to the idea that in such a socially networked, collaborative world, reputation capital and trust are critical to the proper working of businesses and communities, something with which I wholeheartedly concur. 

A highlight of the New York event last week was a panel on the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century enterprise.  A major topic of discussion was the kinds of leadership qualities that will thrive in the highly distributed, virtual work environments we are already seeing in business – environments that everyone agrees will increasingly be the norm as our world becomes more open, global and collaborative and the underlying communications technologies, platforms and tools keep getting better. There was a consensus that the classic hierarchical organizations of the Industrial Age will just not work in this new environment, and that universities need to adjust their curricula to better prepare students for the 21st century workplace.  Really  fascinating was a discussion of the world of multi-player, online games and the clues it provides to the kinds of skills and training tools one will need in dynamic virtual work environments, as well as the kinds of approaches that are working so effectively in self-organizing, open communities such as those collecting around open source software development and Wikipedia.

We live in an increasingly fast-changing, unpredictable world – a world in which forecasting and planning as practiced in the past will no longer work for businesses or nations.  To understand what might be going on out there, you need to be constantly gathering and analyzing information.  But even more important, you need more than ever to engage with people, so that from their collective wisdom you can begin to discern insights as to what might be going on and what you should do about it.  That is what makes the GIO conversations and findings so compelling.      

"

(Via Irving Wladawsky-Berger.)

Product Development in Global Collaborative Environment

This article clearly demonstrates how Global companies use global collaboration as a core strategy.

Product Development in Global Collaborative Environment: "

In current global business environment, most of the enterprises are searching for places that can produce and develop each component or deliverable cost effectively and most efficiently.

The Integrated product development in a global collaborative environment is a challenge that is faced by most of the enterprises that are situated around different places in the world. Each unit has to succeed the most of its capabilities.

The presentation by Dassault Systemes although it is focused on specific industry example provides an understanding how the Integrated product development in a global collaborative environment is working.

Related Web Resouces

Watch the demonstration fot the Industry Solutions for Electrical and Electronics.

Dassault Systemes

"

(Via URENIO Portal: Innovation, Environments of Innovation, Intelligent Cities and Regions.)

Innovation: "Made in China"

This article highlights Innovation Made in China from a "western" oberserver. The source is the businessinsider.

Innovation: "Made in China": "

We've been sounding the alarm bells on this one for awhile: China is really stepping up its emphasis on innovation, unveiling further details of its plans to boost spending on science and technology by 20% this year. Without a doubt, the Chinese government is making it a top priority to enhance the country's innovation capability, seeking in the process to overcome the stigma of the 'Made in China' label. Innovation is more than just a slogan - it's a path to economic prosperity and growth for Chinese manufacturers: 'A Chinese DVD player exporter can make only 1 dollar from each machine priced at 32 dollars, while 20 dollars goes to the foreign patent owners. That's 60 percent of the total value. And according to the Minister of Commerce, Bo Xilai, China must export 100 million shoes or 800 million shirts in exchange for the value of one Boeing aircraft.'

At a recent seminar in Beijing, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz expained the significance of China's new innovation strategy:

'The 11th Five Year plan makes an important step forward. It's a major change, that is, it seeks to establish a basis of what it calls independent innovation. In the past, China has been basically borrowing ideas, trying to close the gap. What it recognizes that enormous amount of the rents that exist in the world associate with knowledge rents, the returns to the control of knowledge. So if China's income is going to be raised, it has to create a basis of independent innovation.'

Tags: China  innovation  JosephStiglitz

[image: 'Man Overboard' by hornbuckle]

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(Via Business Innovation 2005.)

Business clusters boost regional innovation

In preparation of the TII Annual Conference 2006, one topic is The role of regions. Here is a recent European observation from the European Commission. On the final day of the European Business Summit (EBS), the Commission's DG for Enterprise and Industry organised a speaking lunch entitled, 'European innovation clusters: turning local strengths into global achievements', designed to explore how business clusters have been a positive force for regional innovation. The speakers included Jozef Cornu, member of the Aho group which published the recent report into European innovation, Christian Ketels, an expert on clusters from Harvard business school, Carmen Becerril, director of Acciona Energía, responsible for stimulating a business cluster in northern Spain, and Hannes Leo from Sectoral Innovation Watch.

Business clusters boost regional innovation: ""

(Via CORDIS News.)

Eight Goals for reducing global inequality

Posted by: Ernst Max Nielsen
The TII 2006 Annual Conference (follow the Category link elsewhere on this site) hosts a workshop with Tony Marjoram, UNESCO, as keynote speaker and myself as facilitator. The topic:   Eight goals for reducing global inequality

This workshop will consider how innovation and technology can help solve worldwide problems such as poverty reduction, sustainability, fair trade, labour mobility and technology transfer. The speaker is an expert on international development and a member of the UN Task Force that produced the recent report on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be achieved by 2015.

The presentation is intended as the initial input to the workshop which will extend much further. The task of the facilitator will be to set the wider scope and manage the discussion over a 3.5 hour period. Ideally the workshops will be divided into three distinct sessions each with its own clear outputs.

1.    Where are we now?        - current global situation
2.    Where do we want to be?     - targets, objectives and timescales
3.    How do we get there?        - methods and resources required

If you have  any inputs to this topic, don't hesitate to comment.

NIB Syndrome ?? (Not Invented in BRIC)

This post is written by Ernst Max Nielsen:

The TII 2006 Conference invitation (Tech Transfer in the 21st century ) reads as follows for one of the themes: Production to low-wage economies is a positive influence and should be encouraged. True, false or what can be done?

It's a funny question! Outsourcing to BRIC countries is a fact and in the free economies of the exporting countries, it's unthinkable to intervene in any efficient way. So I'll re-phrase the question from a tech transfer perspective.

For some time now, we have seen (at least in Europe) a view that says: "Fine to send labour-intensive production to BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia,India and China). So much more important is it that we (in the West) build up a competitive edge in the knowledge economy, design matters and other value added contributions to products and services".

The assumption in such views is that BRIC countries are not competitive when it comes to knowledge production, innovation,- as sources of innovation. It's a false view!

If you'll follow the links to articles about BRIC in the Category List on this site, you will see good examples of how and why the NIB thesis is wrong (NIB="Not Invented in BRIC" ;-) It's a fact that BRIC countries are innovators and not just copy-cats.

So the re-phrased questions is: Exporting Production AND Knowledge Production to BRIC is a positive influence. True, false or what can be done?

Let us analyse the question from the "what can be done" perspective! In an European context, we tend to analyze what the impact might be for regions, the SMEs (Small Medium-sized Enterprises), corporations, civil society etc.

From my dealing with business, I see it this way: globalization means that the most competitive actor, wherever located, will win. But it's wrong to focus on Technology only: the key to success is NOT the Technology isolated, but much more the ability to bring customized products and services to given markets. The bottom line is that globalization means a more equitable exchange.

The big question for innovation service providers (including businesses themselves) and policy makers is whether their regions nourish the conditions for such competitive advantages. And if they don't, how then to establish them. Such thinking has led to a whole school of "Cluster thinkers": to promote "Regional Clusters" drawing on some of the original thinking and analyis of Michael Porter.

For the SMEs, this means that they belong (or don't) to such clusters - and they had better start now if they don't. For regional policy makers, they'd better start monitoring their region's competitiveness. And do something if they fall behind.

For consumers and civil society: reduced competitiveness means reduced living standards measured by monetary means.

I shall continue the analysis later in prepartion of the TII 2006 Annual Conference.

China is turning into an R&D powerhouse

This article clearly supports the argument that the BRIC countries are turning into Sources of Innovation, not just cheap labour copy-cats. The article is posted from the following blog: Business Innovation Insider

China is turning into an R&D powerhouse: "

Well, it looks like the 'China is to India as Wal-Mart is to Target' argument is under pressure from the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday, the print version of the paper published a front page article ('Low Costs, Plentiful Talent Make China a Global Magnet for R&D') that strongly suggested that China is passing India in the innovation/creativity sphere. In fact, it looks like China is rapidly turning itself into a global R&D hub that will soon rival anything found in North America or Western Europe.

According to a recent report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the three most frequently cited destinations for R&D expansion are China (#1), the U.S. (#2), and India (#3). What's more, important FORTUNE 500 companies ranging from P&G to IBM to Motorola are expanding their Chinese R&D operations at a rapid clip at the same time that the Chinese government is re-doubling its efforts to encourage home-grown R&D. The Chinese central government has pledged to increase spending on science and technology by nearly 20% this year and is working on a number of tax breaks to encourage private sector R&D.

Currently, China spends about 1.5% of its GDP on R&D, compared to 2.7% for the U.S. However, the near-term goal for the Chinese is to boost that percentage to 2% of GDP by 2010 and 2.5% by 2020. I couldn't find a hyperlink for the story on the WSJ site, but if there's a copy of the newspaper sitting around the office, it's worth a quick read. It looks the Chinese are moving aggressively into areas like nanotech, biotech and genetically modified crops - in addition to more traditional areas (i.e. new grease-fighting laundry detergents, anyone?).

NOTE: If anyone can translate the text of this accompanying chart, I'd be most grateful. It looks like a chart mapping R&D expenditures as a percentage of GDP. I found it via Baidu.com, the 'Chinese Google.'

Tags: China  India  R&D  innovation

[image: Baidu.com]

"

(Via Business Innovation 2005.)

Innovation in the 21st Century

2006 TII Annual Conference “Innovation in the 21st Century” will put the spotlight on three major issues on today’s innovation agenda, namely foresight, technology and globalisation .
These recurring themes will be featured in plenary session presentations by senior policy makers, top industrialists and leading-edge researchers, and will form the basis for in-depth reflection and discussion in the parallel working group sessions.
A point-and-counterpoint debate will likewise focus on the same three themes. Through this two-day programme of researched inputs, discussion and exchange, delegates will receive some rich and varied insights into the innovation challenges of the 21st century.
Members, participants, others are invited to write articles about and/comment on other articles concerned with the topics of the Conference. For instance, you could comment upon the items listed below.
Exemplar topics: View 1: Universities and academic research are now at the heart of regional economic success. True, false or what can be done?
View 2: Exporting production to low-wage economies is a positive influence and should be encouraged. True, false or what can be done?
View 3: Foresight has proved itself as a highly practical technique for increasing competitiveness. True, false or what can be done?

China to launch 100 state engineering labs by 2010

China to launch 100 state engineering labs by 2010: "China plans to set up 100 state- level engineering laboratories in five years in an effort to push forward innovation of enterprises that used to import advanced technologies, a senior official announced Friday in Beijing."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China makes first move in patent wars and sues a US company

China makes first move in patent wars and sues a US company: "found 2006-03-11 20:10:22"

(Via IP Newsflash.)

China hikes sci-tech input by 19.2%

China hikes sci-tech input by 19.2%: "Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday in Beijing that the central government will allocate 71.6 billion yuan this year for investment in science and technology, representing an increase of 19.2 percent year-on-year."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China: Protection Of Intellectual Property In China - Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

China: Protection Of Intellectual Property In China - Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP: "John Orange and Sean Zhang visited China recently to assess the IP landscape. In this article, they provide a brief update of what is happening in China and how our clients may take advantage of the recent changes in China in formulating their global IP strategies."

(Via Mondaq.Com - Intellectual Property.)

IBM opens new innovation center in Beijing

IBM opens new innovation center in Beijing: "IBM Greater China CEO Zhou Weikun yesterday attended the opening ceremony of IBM's new innovation center in Beijing."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

India Biotech Disappointed

India Biotech Disappointed: "Biotech sector says there aren’t enough tax incentives in India’s finance budget for the sector to compete globally."

(Via Red Herring.)

China bumps up research and development spending

China bumps up research and development spending: "China spent 236.7 billion yuan (about 29.19 billion US dollars) on research and development (R&D) in 2005, a report released by the National Bureau of Statistics shows."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China sets favored taxation policies for knowledge-based

THE CHINESE ARE STILL COMING

China sets favored taxation policies for knowledge-based enterprises: "The Chinese government announced here Sunday that it has set favored taxation policies for the nation's knowledge-based enterprises."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China issues incentive policies for innovation

The CHINES ARE COMING. WATCH OUT.

China issues incentive policies for innovation: "China's State Council issued Sunday incentive policies encouraging scientific and technological innovation."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

279 Chinese High-Tech Companies Exported Over US$100 million

279 Chinese High-Tech Companies Exported Over US$100 million: "According to statistics from China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), in 2005 there were 279 enterprises whose export of high-tech products exceeded US$100 million, and the total high-tech export of these enterprises amounted to US$172.82 billion, accounting for 79.2% of national total."

(Via ChinaTechNews.com.)

Chinese scientists use plants to clean large area of polluted soil

Chinese scientists use plants to clean large area of polluted soil: "Chinese scientists are improving the technology to 'suck up' poisonous elements, mostly heavy metals like arsenic, copper and zinc, from polluted soil to repair contaminated lands."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

India boasts huge inflow of foreign R&D investment

India boasts huge inflow of foreign R&D investment: ""

(Via CORDIS News.)

People's Daily Online -- What are China's new "four great inventions"?

People's Daily Online -- What are China's new "four great inventions"?: "     The four great inventions - papermaking, printing, gunpowder and compass - were achievements in ancient China. Are there new 'four great inventions' in contemporary China? Experts have recently put forward their 'four new great inventions', wishing genuine"
Wu's Method, a computerized method for geometrical theorem proving
Yuan's hybrid rice
Synthesized crystalline bovine insulin
The land facies oil-forming theor

(Via .)

China to combine military, civilian research organizations

China to combine military, civilian research organizations: "China will reform the current scientific and technological management system and combine and coordinate the military and civilian research organizations in order to promote its scientific development."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China issues guidelines further boosting innovation capability

China issues guidelines further boosting innovation capability: "The Chinese government made public a document Thursday on reaffirming its resolution to build up an innovation-oriented country in the next 15 years."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

Establishing R&D centers in China a trend for multinationals

Establishing R&D centers in China a trend for multinationals: "More than 750 foreign-funded research and development centers are operating in China, which are mainly distributed in the places of foreign investment concentration, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing, according to the incomplete statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce, reports People's Daily on Thursday."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China sets goal for developing science, technology in 15 years

China sets goal for developing science, technology in 15 years: "China plans to become a innovative nation in the next 15 years and a world power in science and technology field by the middle of the 21st century, says the national guideline on medium- and long-term program for science and technology development (2006-2020), which was published by the State Council Thursday."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

Chinese Patent applications rocketed last year

So what happens when they really start shooting?
Patent applications rocketed last year: "China was listed among the top 10 countries for patent applications for the first time in 2005, it was revealed on Friday."

(Via China-Sci-Edu.)

Foreign investors eager to move R&D into China

Foreign investors eager to move R&D into China: "Global business mammoths, which previously loathed binding requirements of technological transfer for direct investment in China, are now eager to move their research and development facilities to the world's biggest and most energetic market."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

Yearender: China to strengthen IPR protection to encourage

Yearender: China to strengthen IPR protection to encourage innovation: "The Chinese government has shown strong determination to enforce the protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the next few years, as IPR protection has been repeatedly underscored by top leaders this year."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

Chinese I/P Protections

I/P Updates: USTR Reports on Chinese I/P Protections - News and Information for Intellectual Property Practitioners: " BlogThis! I/P Updates http://www.ip-updates.com           Courtesy of William F. Heinze             News and Information for Intellectual Property Practitioners USTR Reports on Chinese I/P Protections   ---   Click Here for More Updates     ---  #1 on Blawg     Imprint     Search this Site     Bookmark this Site     Subscriptions     Top 10 in MIP Archived updates for Friday, December 16, 2005 USTR Reports on Chinese I/P Protections On December 11, 2005, the United States Trade Representative released its '2005 Report to Congress on China's Compliance' with the following conclusions about China's intellectual property system: Overall, China’s efforts to bring its framework of laws, regulations and implementing rules into compliance with the TRIPS Agreement have been largely satisfactory, although some improvements, particularly in rapidly emerging areas such as Internet copyright protection, are still needed. Enforcement of these measures, however, remained largely ineffective in 2"

(Via .)

China's sci-tech R&D lags behind world's advanced level by 5 years

China's sci-tech R&D lags behind world's advanced level by 5 years: "The People's Daily has learned from the National Research Centre for Science and Technology for Development (NRCSTD) that relevant departments are working on the investigation and analysis over the capability of China's sci-tech development."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

Chinese, US jurists help Chinese companies deal with US IPR charges

Chinese, US jurists help Chinese companies deal with US IPR charges: "Jurists from China and the United States Wednesday gathered in Hangzhou, east China, at a forum on the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) '337' Investigations in a bid to help Chinese enterprises respond to charges of intellectual property rights (IPR) infringement."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China urges more efforts on innovation in science work

China urges more efforts on innovation in science work: "China is transforming its scientific development system by focusing more on innovation in a bid to make breakthroughs in developing advanced technologies and science."

(Via People's Daily Online.)

China: innovation plan 2020

Deng Nan, vice-chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST), said on Thursday in Beijing that China needs to further upgrade its ability in self-innovation and becomes more creative in scientific research and development. Addressing the country's first forum on building a well-off society, Deng said about 50 percent of technologies used in China are imported from abroad. Besides, 60 percent of key equipment were imported from abroad. The key to building a well-off society lies in the training of talent. "We have to change our concept from concentrating on the development of natural resources to the development of human resources," Deng said. As China is incapable of developing core technologies, 20 percent of the retail price of China-made cell phone, and 30 percent of the price of a computer, have to be paid to foreign patent holders. In a state mid-term and long-term scientific and technological development program due to be published by CAST soon, Deng said, China aims to embark on the road of promoting economic development and social progress via development of advanced science and technology by the year 2020. Source:http://english.people.com.cn/200512/09/eng20051209_226787.html 

Still Not Sure Of Your IP Strategy for China? A Wait-and-See Approach May Still be In Order

Still Not Sure Of Your IP Strategy for China? A Wait-and-See Approach May Still be In Order: "

If you are like me, you are still coming to grips with how you will counsel your clients on protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in China.  Many bloggers and writers have expressed that China is making progress with regard to the enforcement of intellectual property in China.  However, there is little evidence to date to suggest that foreign companies looking to do business in China can protect their technology from the rampant copying that occurs in the world’s fastest growing economy.  Deciding on how to approach intellectual property protection in China remains a dilemma that will not subside until a decision can actually be reached.  Without a clear signal from China that it is ready to protect and enforce intellectual property rights, a wait and see approach may still be in order.

Lindsay Esler and Annie Tsoi of Deacons discuss some interesting factoids regarding intellectual property in China in Developing an Intellectual Property Protection Strategy for Today’s China.  Here is some food for thought that may help you decide to enter China or continue a wait-and-see approach.

-Current Economic Environment in China: Demand for consumer products will remain low as the vast majority of Chinese people are involved in agriculture and do not have the extra savings to purchase non-essential goods.  Most foreign companies that do well in China focus mainly on low cost manufacturing and export rather than domestic sales.  Moreover, as China continues to develop as a growing economy it must address the education, house and health and retirement needs of its growing work force.  Therefore, it remains to be seen what priority China will give intellectual property in view of the overall economic environment of today’s China.

-Chinese Government’s Strategy on Intellectual Property:  The perceived deficiencies in China’s current intellectual property protection and enforcement strategy has more to do with enforcement rather than the establishment of new intellectual property laws.  The fundamental issues that exist today are whether the Chinese Government will recognize that strong intellectual property protection and enforcement is integral to sustained economic growth and the extent to which the Government is prepared to commit resources to intellectual property protection at the expense of other needed reforms.

-WTO:  One positive factor is that by joining the WTO, China has agreed to be subject to an international dispute resolution body. However, it remains to be seen whether China’s international obligations under WTO will eventually lead to a decrease in the overall level of intellectual property infringement in China.

-Research and Development:  As part of China’s development into a leading economy, it must shift from being mainly a manufacturing company to a leader in research and development.  As more and more companies become intellectually property-driven technological innovators, China will place more emphasis on stifling counterfeiters.  As domestic China companies develop their own intellectual property, we may see a more consistent strategy to protect and enforce China’s existing intellectual property laws.  Currently, China’s spending on research and development is increasing in the double digits and this increase in research and development spending in China may help to improve intellectual property protection in China.

Although there are some positive signs coming out of China, as outlined above, there are policy decisions that remain to be decided by the Chinese Government. Without a more positive shift in intellectual property protection policies as well as action to enforce those policies, it remains difficult to judge whether the cost to enter Chinese markets outweighs any perceived benefits at this time. Perhaps a wait-and-see approach is still in order to evaluate on a continual basis whether to join China in the future.

"

(Via IP Counsel Blog.)

Venture Capital in China

Pieter Bottelier from Stanford summarized his findings about venture capital in China this way in Oct 2004:

China has been highly successful in absorbing and adapting imported technologies, but VC investment and innovation have been lagging 

Increased domestic innovation is critical to sustain high growth potential

Western-style VC financing for early-stage new technology/new product ventures is very recent, but rapidly growing

End 2003 China had more than 270 registered local, 41 foreign and 18 JV VC firms. Actual numbers are probably higher

Foreign VC funds accounted for some 80% of VC investments of between $1 – 2 billion in 2003;  Between 1 – 2% of incoming FDI is VC. Local governments and SOEs account for the lion share of domestic VC

There is sharp  legal/regulatory framework for VC investment in China needs work

Follow this link to see Bottelier's Powerpoint presentation : http://scid.stanford.edu/events/China2004/Presentations/Bottelier.ppt.

China overtakes U.S. as high-technology supplier - David Lague

China overtakes U.S. as high-technology supplier - David Lague: "From the International Herald Tribune: After almost a decade of explosive growth in its electronics industry, China has overtaken the United States as the world's biggest supplier of information technology goods, according to a report from the Organization for..."

(Via China Digital Times.)

Hu Jintao stresses key role of science, technology in economic development

Hu Jintao stresses key role of science, technology in economic development: "President Hu Jintao said Saturday full play should be given to the key role of science and technology in pushing forward China's economic and social development."

(Via People's Daily Online.)