Home
>
Strategic Planning
>
Innovators Role at Hard Times

Innovators Role at Hard Times

One Research Scientist at the Hewlett-Packard (HP) Imaging Systems laboratory said Carly Fiorina was a marketing person put in change of engineers who cared nothing about the art and beauty of technology. She just wanted saleable stock to bring to market. He exhorts that when she walked into the HP Labs for the first time, she said that their new company slogan was "Invent." Then, she told them that the technology industry would never again be as exciting and profitable as it was in the '90s. That they'd all need to grow up now and face that fact.

This was not the first time; a CEO had preferred cash to innovation. Carly's pitfall was taken care of, anyway. She has a point, though, while saying innovators need to have business sense. Especially when time is not that right for long-term R&D projects. Here is a list of five things innovators need to be sure that they are in place in order to make innovation worthwhile.

1. Innovation needs to reflect the company's macro and micro visions. Every company has one macro vision. Microsoft wants every computer's operating system to be running their software. Cisco says every network needs to be based on Internet Protocol and running over their products. It is not difficult to grasp that one sentence that defines why that company exists. Micro vision is a lot more difficult to get as it is a sophisticated message delivered to the market. Depending on innovator's access to the product marketing team, it may lead you to the right answer or to a dead end. No matter how organic and difficult the micro vision is; important move would be to look at the core values micro vision stands for. The question innovators need to answer is what are the trends that are unlikely to change over 5 years and build their dream over it.

2. Innovation is needed for competitive advantage, not for fun purposes. This is hard to get most times but innovation has a meaning for the company. Definitely that meaning is not fun or to show how geek of an R&D team the company has. The real meaning is; innovation puts company ahead of its competition. Innovator may not be excited with what s/he has at the end of the day because of the level of his/ her involvement with the project. However, as long as strategic value is delivered for the company, the job will be considered fully done. Innovation is to forge you ahead, not to excite its innovator where it will only be appealing to his/ her equivalents.

3. Innovation has two ends. Number 1 is innovating for the next-generation needs with an edge. Number 2 is making existing technology cheaper and/ or simpler. It is not so clever to follow sophistication over simplicity, because the winner is always the latter. Delivering sophisticated technology in a simple way is the greatest thing, an R&D team can deliver; if strategy is set as number 2. The truth is, Number 1 is enticing to an innovator but needs more time to deliver, while number 2 is boring but more effective for strategic purposes. Companies with R&D labs need to have a nice mixture of both to keep the excitement level at acceptable rates.

4. Every innovation has a time. The important thing is to flesh it out at the right time. If it is delivered early, it is called pupa. Company needs to hold onto the technology until it is the right time. 18 months early release is good enough for a pupa technology to be announced. If innovation delivered to the market is too late, it will be called a tardy so integration to the solutions without any big announcements is necessary. Innovators are supposed to read the time well.

5. Innovation's core source is evolving. For a long time, North America has been considered as the HQ of innovation. However, both Europe and Asia are striving to be more involved in the process. Understanding where the idea bulbs are is extremely important to an innovator.

Today's corporate world is asking innovators to make the connection between innovation and business on their mind. No matter how hard it is; they need to assume this new role to move their company to the next stage.

Burak Fenercioglu is a freelance writer. He is working for a computer network security company for over 4 years. His articles are about ideas, innovation, strategy and can be found at http://burakfenerci.blogspot.com

weekly home cleaning Highland Park ..

In The News:

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Concerned about Google's AI scanning your Gmail? Learn how to disable Gemini features that access your emails, Drive files and Chat messages for privacy.

Google warns Android users about dangerous fake VPN apps hiding malware that steals passwords, banking details and personal data from phones and tablets.

Apple's digital passport feature lets iPhone users breeze through TSA checkpoints this holiday season using Digital ID technology at 250+ airports.

A new phishing scam targets family photos with fake "Cloud Storage Full" alerts. Criminals steal credit card information through fake sites. Learn protection tips.

South Korean scientists create ultra-thin fabric muscles that turn clothes into robotic assistants, lifting 33 pounds while weighing under half an ounce.

Archer Aviation has acquired Hawthorne Airport for $126M to launch an LA air taxi network ahead of the 2028 Olympics, featuring AI-powered eVTOL operations and next-gen aviation tech.

Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Fake AI apps disguised as "ChatGPT" and "DALL·E" are flooding app stores with dangerous malware that steals data and monitors users without detection.

Fake buyers demand specific vehicle reports from unknown sites to steal credit card information from car sellers, but warning signs can help identify these scams before paying.

Android users can now manage apps across multiple devices more easily with Google Play Store's updated remote uninstall button in the latest update.

NASA's Perseverance rover discovers shiny metallic rock on Mars that could be a meteorite from an ancient asteroid, containing high levels of iron and nickel.

Innovators Role at Hard Times

Strategic Planning