BQF Innovation

We know that innovation involves taking risks.  Yet it often seems that the safe option is to turn down the risk.  However, turning down a risk is also a risk - the risk of losing an opportunity.  Just to remind us of how big that risk is we have here a list of some of the worst decisions in business history.

They include Decca Records turning down the Beatles, Western Union rejecting the telephone, Mars confectionery missing out on ET, Henry Ford refusing to change the Model T and Digital Research missing the opportunity to provide the operating system for the IBM PC.  It is very easy for us with hindsight to scoff at the business leaders who made these decisions but  I am sure that the choices seemed rational at the time. 

Of course most bands are not the Beatles and many have to be rejected.  But it is easy to become too critical too soon.  How many of the ideas and proposals that we have rejected were missed opportunities?  When we look at the costs of a risky venture we need to factor in the cost of missing the opportunity too. 

Paul Sloane

The UK Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) has recently issued a White Paper on how the government plans to help the UK ‘excel at all types of innovation.’

You can download the press release, the executive summary or the full report (all 98 pages).  The role of the Department is ‘to champion innovation across the board, working with partners across and outside government.’  The Secretary of State, John Denham, has made a number of commitments and proposals in the White Paper.  These include:

• Supporting businesses in tapping into the demands of new markets in the UK by bringing forward five new ‘innovation platforms’ to co-ordinate Government support and funding.
• A new initiative to provide at least 1,000 ‘innovation vouchers’ every year by 2011, helping support and fund small and medium-sized businesses to work with a university, further education college or research organisation of their choice to develop a new product or service;
• Doubling the number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships between businesses, universities and colleges.
• Piloting of a new Specialisation and Innovation Fund to boost the capacity of further education colleges to unlock workforce talent and to support businesses in raising innovation potential;
• Expanding the network of National Skills Academies with one academy for every major sector of the economy.
• Piloting a new Innovation Index in 2009 to measure UK innovation managed by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA).
• Sponsoring new Partnerships for Innovation bringing together venture capital with universities, business and other local partners to jointly develop innovative solutions.
• Establishing an Innovation Research Centre in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), NESTA and the TSB.
• Boosting the ability of small firms to exploit their intellectual property by training Business Link advisors in IP management by the summer of 2009.
• A new Annual Innovation Review to provide a comprehensive annual assessment of promoting innovation in the public and private sectors. The first of these will be published this autumn.

I met a member of the DIUS who told me that they are looking for feedback on these ideas so please take a look at them in detail and add your comments here or directly to the Department.  I will comment on some of the plans in due course.

Paul Sloane