Working Together Boosts Innovation

Don't believe me, read this fascinating article by Andy Lippman (All Together Now) on how cooperation spurs innovation, which our economy needs desperately to gain and sustain a global competitive advantage.

Here are a few clips to entice you to read this great article:

"All it takes is one shove to start a wave of jostling in a packed crowd. But (with apologies to Adam Smith), there’s rarely just one invisible hand that creates waves of innovation.

The amazingly rapid development of the Web, which moved like a tsunami across thousands of businesses and out into the world at large, took many hands—hands that were often unwittingly working in concert.

Now we are at risk of being stuck dead in the water. Rather than working together in ways that benefit everyone, companies are delaying innovation because of a narrow, and misguided, sense of self-interest.

The solution is, first, to understand what I call the wave theory of how major innovations occur. Then we need to form partnerships that will let us ride those waves together, in ways that help all of us."

What does this say about future strategies for economic development? You got it! We need to cooperate to innovate. Got the idea? Now, let's do it!