A century of systematic innovation: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Recently I prepared a talk titled “A century of systematic innovation: From Edison to Lafley”. In the past four months I have delivered the talk in a dozen organizations in Bangalore and Hyderabad. Three of them were management institutes and nine were technology organizations (like Siemens, Texas Instruments, ADP, Intuit, Aricent etc). In this blog I am summarizing some of the questions that participants asked me during these sessions. For our definition of innovation, check out: i-squared-p (idea + implementation + profit). I am building answers to the FAQ here. It is a work in progress and your inputs are most welcome.

1. I want to innovate. Where can I start?

2. How do we get BIG ideas?

3. Is there a way of going from small ideas to big ideas?

4. What is the role luck plays in innovation?

5. We are very busy and don’t get any time other than our work. How do we innovate?

6. What kind of rewards should be given to innovators?

7. Do you have to be a visionary to be innovative?

8. If we open the idea funnel the way P&G did, how do we protect our IP?

9. What is the difference between “best practice” and “innovation”?

10. How is systematic innovation linked to organization culture?

11. How does this approach relate to TRIZ?

12. How is India doing as far as systematic innovation is concerned?

13. How do you systematically reduce risk associated with an innovation?

14. How was the decision making like in Edison’s invention factory? Was he taking all the decisions?

15. I am researcher. How do I go from research to innovation?

16. Did P&G only do incremental stuff while Edison did game-changing stuff?

17. My organization says there is no money, what do I do?

18. What is the relationship between technology and innovation?