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Latest innovation, science and technology newsKey issues in summaryFor the latest CBI thinking on technology and innovation issues, see our business summaries.Regulation & InnovationDIUS and BERR are looking at ways in which regulators can promote innovation through their activities (or at least avoid hindering it) and have been speaking to the economic regulators (Ofcom, Ofwat etc). A consultation is planned on principles for regulators to adhere to and in framing this, they would like to complement the regulators' positions with an informal view from interested businesses.Are there examples you can cite of regulations that have promoted innovation in the sector(s) in which you operate? What sorts of innovation have resulted? What were the outcomes? And on the other side, are there examples of regulations that did the opposite? While red tape generally, tax and employment regulations may immediately spring to mind, are there other more specific regulations that you have felt have reduced incentives for innovation in your company/sector? A short description is what is being looked for and possibly a follow-up phone call. To be most useful in the current phase of their work, we would appreciate feedback from members by Friday 12 September. Please contact: chris.cassley@cbi.org.uk IST Committee meets Chief ScientistThe CBI’s Innovation, Science & Technology Committee met with Professor John Beddington, the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, on 29 July. Professor Beddington outlined his role in government and some of the priorities he is currently tackling, which included: climate change; energy, water and food security; population growth and urbanisation; and the growing threat of emerging human and animal diseases. The Committee stressed the importance of business and academia working together with government to develop solutions. Professor Beddington agreed that there will be major opportunities for businesses that have new technologies and services aimed at addressing these key global challenges. Policy contact: tim.bradshaw@cbi.org.uk.Top Ten Tips for Service InnovatorsEveryone can name a product they think is innovative, such as the iPod or Google. Yet all too often, the services and thinking behind such ideas and products is forgotten. Services now account for 75 per cent of the economy by Gross Value Added, therefore now is the time to put service innovation at the front of business thinking. With that in mind, these are our top ten tips for service innovators.1 – Build Trust The more time and effort you put into understanding what your customer wants, the more likely you are to identify their real concerns or your end customer’s unarticulated service aspirations. 2 – Create a self-sustaining innovation culture People need the time, the space and the freedom to be innovative – the best firms encourage their staff to spend time on non–client related work – playing with new ideas. Others emphasise the importance of innovation related training or making their firm the best place to work. Fundamental to creativity, risk and failure is having a positive attitude. 3 – Develop an innovation process Ideally you need a process that covers the whole innovation spectrum: from foresight to ideas generation and management, service prototyping and development stages to delivery – with metrics for each area too. People need to be freed from their normal jobs with incentives to innovate, sharing knowledge and create connections. 4 – Identify your innovation champions! A committed and enthusiastic person to drive innovation forwards is often the difference between success and failure – someone who is readily identifiable through their energy, drive, determination, openness to new ideas and crucially, openness to failure. 5 – Investing in failure The best companies invest to fail. In the process of trying out new ideas and processes, most will fail. Yet these companies use the experience as a learning process, accepting failure and learning from it – moving onto the next idea. Without risk there is no innovation. 6 – Design is critical Service design should be at the core of developments at the very start. Design is not an add-on extra. 7 – Collaboration It is rare for companies to innovate alone. Even leading innovators such as Nike, HSBC, and Arup collaborate with key partners. Such collaboration work will typically include design consultants, marketing experts, technical specialists and universities. 8 – Don’t agonise over IP Understanding and protecting your intellectual property can be challenging and sometimes impossible to protect in service innovations. The best innovators use this to their advantage – by looking to keep ahead of the competition, they create first mover advantage, being ahead again when others catch up. 9 – Opening up non-confidential data Vast amounts of data are collected by service firms – yet the potential of this is rarely ever realised. By providing university researchers access to non-confidential data, this could result in new innovations, while helping the individual build networks and find future collaboration partners. 10 – Invest in Innovation - Now With some notable exceptions, history shows over the last 200 years, serious economic downturns last on average 1-3 years. Companies should already be re-positioning themselves to grow as soon as new opportunities appear. In the current economic climate, yes investment plans can be re-evaluated, but avoid falling into a low risk comfort zone – there is no such thing – your service innovations will be surpassed. Worse, they may be commoditised or removed from the service gene pool by new entrants, new ways of working, new technology, better design or the existing competition stealing an edge with key customers. For the successful service innovator – innovation is for life – not just for the good times.... Key issues in summaryFor the latest CBI thinking on technology and innovation issues, see our business summaries.Help with PDFsIf you need free Adobe Acrobat PDF reader software or help with PDFs, go to http://access.adobe.com (opens in new window).If you need PDF documents in alternate formats, email the web editor. Click on this link to go to the Policy work page. |
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