Reach for the moon, land among the stars

Saturday, 13 February 2010 | Filed under Innovation

An ecosystem is a complete cycle that supports the regeneration of life. It is a system that evolves life to advanced states of existence. Those that do not evolve will cease to exist. They become extinct, like the Dodo. Such is the law of nature, brutal as it may seem.

Human existence is no different. We must evolve as individuals, as societies, as nations and, ultimately, as a planet.

The concept of an ecosystem when applied to innovation has to be just as complete and just as dynamic.

Passion of individuals engaged in innovation progress the world

Innovation is pervasive. It touches every human being through every action. Innovation takes place whether it is actively encouraged or not.

It has been the passion of individuals creatively engaged in exploration and experimentation resulting in innovation that has changed the way we live, work and play. It has migrated us from the dark ages to where we are now.

The question is where will we be in the future? Where will we be as an individual, as a community and as a nation?

Do we have vision? Do we think about where we would like to be one year, five years, 10 years down the line? And do we plan the actions that will get us there?

I have always liked the phrase -  Reach for the moon because even if you miss you will land among the stars.

The phrase is, essentially, about having Vision and Mission because the efforts invested will take us somewhere better than where we are now.

World’s best organisations engage in innovation to stay competitive

I know most CEOs engage in that kind of thinking because they are responsible for the well-being of their organisations. They have to know the competition. They have to study the trends. They have to understand the market. They have to respond to needs. And by actively pursuing this they safeguard the future of the organization. Those who excel in this take their organisations to top positions in their sectors. And they can only excel if they have been innovative in their responses. The organisations that occupy the top positions in the world market practice this religiously.

Malaysians must embrace creativity and innovation

Now that the Prime Minister YAB Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak has declared 2010 as the Year of Creativity and Innovation the nation is pointed in the right direction to expedite its transformation.

But we desperately need to put in the ecosystem for innovation to take place. Such a system would be interdependent and interactive, no different from an ecological system except that it is not natural. The processes have to be put in place to allow for specific outcomes. The mapping has to be extensive and expansive, touching the lives of every Malaysian from cradle to career.

Innovation is the end result of a process that begins with creativity

Innovation is tied to the creative process. You have to be creative before you can be innovative. You can be creative and not be innovative but you can never be innovative without being creative.

Therefore to establish an ecosystem for innovation one has to start with the process to produce creative thinkers. And it doesn’t matter whether the person is trained to be a mathematician, engineer, lawyer, architect, designer, scientist or doctor. If the person is going to be involved in some form of research an additional layer to train them to be creative thinkers must be put in place. 

Innovation cannot be simply for the sake of innovation

There must be value attached, otherwise it will be a waste of time, effort, talent and money. The processes put in place for innovation to take place must be clear about the outcomes sought. 

This brings to my mind an interesting observation made by a scientist who talked about migrating values. He explained that what people perceive they want to spend their money on in the 21st century is entirely different from what they spent their money on in the 20th century.

Think about it.

To give an idea about what he means regarding migrating value he talked about the value ecosystem created by innovation.

Using the automobile as an example he said that while it was a great invention what was its value? The value was not in the invention itself but in the way it revolutionized people’s lives.

The value was in the changes that came about half a century later – in the urbanization that was triggered, the refrigerated trucks, the distribution network, the hotel industry. 

The value migrated from the invention itself to the way the invention was used to create other things of value to people.

What is the value in declaring 2010 as the Year of Creativity and Innovation?

With this year being declared the Year of Creativity and Innovation I am sure it will serve to motivate every Malaysian. There is now a national focus on generating value through creativity and innovation. 

The Prime Minister, himself, has talked about transforming the country through a comprehensive innovation process. He sees innovation in public and private sector governance, societal innovation, urban innovation, rural innovation, corporate innovation, industrial innovation, education innovation, healthcare innovation, transport innovation, social safety net innovation and branding innovation. 

As I see it, we are on the right track. I would like to see how value will migrate as a result of these measures. Perhaps by the year 2020 we will have achieved what we set out to achieve. It all depends on how sincerely people embrace the aspirations of the Prime Minister.

Whatever the scenario may turn out to be I can only say that when we aim for the moon it doesn’t matter if we miss because we will surely land among the stars!