More on Economic Development Innovation

This article is a continuation of the series on economic development innovation. Here are some additional insights about how to bring about innovation:

1. Test the extremes: Nick deWolf, cofounder of Teradyne, had many informal rules for doing good engineering. One such rule was: "To select a component, size a product, architect a system or plan a new company, first test the extremes and then have the courage to resist what is popular and the wisdom to choose what is best". Similar important benefits occur in the sciences: Einstein developed the Theory of Relativity by thinking what happened at extreme speeds, when matter traveled near the speed of light. Other physicists performed thought experiments about what would happen at the limits of very small sizes and energies and discovered the laws of quantum mechanics.

2. Take a tip from nature: Philo Farnsworth had the inspiration which led to television while sitting on a hillside in Idaho. The neat rows in a nearby farm gave him the idea of creating picture on a cathode ray tube out of rows of light and dark dots. He was 14 at the time, the next year he presented the concept at a high-school science project, and demonstrated the first working model of a television set when he was 21. As the primary metaphor for our economy shifts back to the biological organism, looking to nature for ideas is likely to become more common.

3. Plan on serendipity: William Shockley described the process of inventing the transistor at Bell Labs as "creative failure methodology". A multi-discipline Bell Labs team was formed to invent the MOS transistor and ended up instead with the junction transistor and the new science of semiconductor physics. These developments eventually led to the MOS transistor and then to the integrated circuit and to new breakthroughs in electronics and computers. Richard Feynman, also a Nobel Laureate physicist, believed in getting his hands dirty and doing lots of experiments, saying "To develop working ideas efficiently, I try to fail as fast as I can".

4. Keep your eyes open: An extreme example of people keeping their eyes closed (literally and figuratively) was the simple experiment that led to the invention of the telescope and microscope. It took more than 300 years after eyeglasses were in common use before Hans Uppershey, in 1608, observed the joint magnifying action of two lenses, built a simple telescope and then took action to publish his findings! Shortly afterwards Galileo applied the telescope to the study of the planets and quickly discovered that the "facts" of classical philosophy were wrong. When he invited the scholars of the day to look through his telescope and see for themselves they refused!

Many people have literally described creativity and innovation as seeing what other see but thinking what no one else has thought and doing what no one else has dared. That is exactly what we need to do to reinvent economic development for the future.

I will close with a couple interesting quotes that should encourage you to start your own search for innovations related to your own career, organization and area.

This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value too us. Western Union internal memo 1876

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. Anonymous

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle

How many of you do your best thinking and get your most creative ideas at work? When we ask people in our groups this question, no one ever raises their hand. From Sacred Cows Make the Best Burgers. Robert Kriegel and David Brandt

Leap and the net will appear. Julia Cameron