‘Tech, Innovation & Ecosystems’

Dr. Phil Budden, Senior Lecturer

Tech Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategy (TIES) Group

MIT Management School

Perspective of global leaders in 2005…

…but the world has remained stubbornly

‘spiky’ and especially for innovation

Innovation?

Important to realise ‘innovation’ is…

…more than just Technology, though new digital technologies (from

cutting-edge ‘Innovation’) do enable more ‘innovative behaviours’;

…more than just a ‘buzzword’, though there are plenty of those around

(eg agile, lean, intrapreneurs, sprint, scrum, platform, hackathon, etc);

…and in need of managing and leadership (not least as it can support

change in uncertain times, allow for greater diversity/inclusion, and also

empower ‘end users’ to experiment with frontline changes).

Leadership of innovation really matters.

Without more ‘innovative behaviour’, an organisation will not

get a return on its investment in technology, achieve its full

potential during uncertainty, or retain/engage the best staff.

Innovation

MIT (through MIT’s Innovation Initiative (MITii)) defines ‘innovation’ as the ‘process of taking ideas from inception to impact’

By emphasizing the process (& not products/services/tech), we focus on the entire journey

We emphasize the insight that an ‘idea’ is the match (as close as possible) between a problem and a solution, with the intention of achieving impact

And we encompass the engagement of all the relevant organizations -large corporations, universities, start-ups, government, & risk capital.

Problem-driven vs.

Solution-driven approaches

Problem-driven vs.

Solution-driven approaches

Where in the innovation landscape

is the problem/solution ‘match’?

PR

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SOLUTION

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Degree of novelty

innovation?

Business As

Usual (BAU)

Distinguish ‘Innovation’ & ‘innovative’

MIT collaboratively researches and teaches about innovation, both:

- ‘Innovation’ (with a capital “I”, like S&I), meaning formal processes

of taking science, research and such ideas through to impact; and;

- ‘innovative’ behaviour’ (with a little “i”), signifying a more widely

applicable behaviour/culture, in both the public & private sectors.

Many of the insights about ‘innovative behaviour’ are informed by

research into the practices at the frontier of world-class ‘Innovation’,

so the two are mutually supportive…

…with insights for innovation in all organizations.

It’s crucial to know which vector

of innovation is being attempted…

PR

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SOLUTION

BAU

De

gre

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Degree of novelty

ii

i

Horizon?

Innovation

Frontier?

Traditional ‘closed’ organization of

innovation…

Today, many more organizations are involved,

leading to a more ‘open innovation’ approach.

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CORPORATE LABS

CORPORATE DIVISIONS

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0

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?

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UNIVERSITY CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT

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PRODUCTION/

DISTRIBUTIONSTARTUPS/ RISK CAPITAL

PRODUCTION/

DISTRIBUTION

Early approaches to ‘open innovation’

emphasized global engagement…

…today’s organization of innovation

is more geographically focused on

specific ‘innovation ecosystems’.

Fortunate that Greater Boston is such an

‘innovation ecosystem’ - due to dense &

inter-connected resources & stakeholders.

http://www.betaboston.com/news/2015/02/05/what-makes-a-successful-

startup-sloan-researchers-examine-dna-of-boston-bay-area-firms/

Emphasis on ‘place’ requires firms

to have an ecosystem strategy

In the BBJ’s story on his press release, GE’s then-Chairman/CEO Jeff Immelt said:

“GE is a $130 billion high-tech global industrial company, one that is leading the digital transformation of industry. We want to be at the center of an ecosystem that shares our aspirations. Greater Boston…”

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2016/01/13/ge-ceo-on-new-boston-hq-its-all-about-the.html

MIT studied regions round the world…

reap.mit.edu

…and its research highlights five key

Stakeholders in innovation ecosystems

Entrepreneur

Risk Capital

CorporateGovernment

University

Entrepreneur

Corporate

Risk Capital

Government

University

InnovationEcosystem

Stakeholder

Model

Boston’s “Rt.128” lost out in the 1970s to

the new competitor of ‘Silicon Valley’…

…but then Boston emerged as a leading

biotech ecosystem, before branching out.

Source: Romanelli and Feldman, 2006

As Massachusetts’ Institute of Technology,

MIT tries to help its local ecosystem…

http://www.betaboston.com/news/2015/02/05/what-makes-a-successful-

startup-sloan-researchers-examine-dna-of-boston-bay-area-firms/

…teaching execs about Innovator’s DNA

and leaders about Innovation Ecosystems

eg 9-10 & 11-12 April 2019

Also available as ‘custom’ (1- and 2-day) courses from MIT ExecEd

…& now focusing on ‘Corporate Innovation’

(available online from January 2019).

https://executive.mit.edu/openenrollment/program/corporate-innovation-

strategies-for-leveraging-ecosystems-self-paced-online/#.W898By_MwQ9

…because of the growing competition

over ‘innovation’ around the world.

reap.mit.edu