Entrepreneurs deal with high levels of uncertainty; probably more than any other business. The more disruptive the startup, the higher the level of uncertainty. Will the customers buy? How do we reach them? Will we be able to sell at a profit? Will our partners do their part? Who is out there that we can learn from? Are there threats that we are unaware of?
Over the past few months I have been spending time with a range of Australian companies, getting to better understand their business models and approaches to innovation. After working with US / European organizations for many years, it’s been refreshing to see the actions and impact of innovation in this market.
In the context of business management and economics, innovation has mainly been considered as a source of profit and growth. But innovation can also have a transformative role and recently more and more innovators and entrepreneurs are not only considering the financial returns of their projects, but also the societal impacts that they might bring with them.
When was the last time you seriously thought about your blue chip investments going broke? At what point will those shares be worth nothing? Although it may sound ridiculous, the question is serious because at the current rate of disruption, half of the Australian Stock Index S&P 500 will be replaced over the next 10 years (Anthony S D et al, 2016). Where does that leave your investments?
Do we have too static and rigid a view of innovation? It should be all about dynamic connections, imagination, experience and the interconnection of people and machines. In short it should be about identifying, understanding and exploiting innovation ecosystems, says Eunika Mercier-Laurent, author of The Innovation Ecosystem.
What has complexity science to do with innovation management? Quite a few things if you ask Dr. Curt Lindberg of Plexus Institute, NJ, the States. Complexity science is the scientific study of complex systems, systems with many parts that interact to produce patterns of behavior that cannot easily be explained by the behavior of the individual constituent elements. From a business perspective you can use it to better understand the importance of relationships and interactions to your innovation efforts.
