Pictures of the Future Fall 2006

We Have Ignition

Our ability to innovate will determine our destiny." Although such statements make regular appearances on talk shows and in newspaper columns, they are not trite. In point of fact, global competition has ignited. But the white heat of combustion is ever more likely to take place in the oxygen-rich atmosphere of ideas than in the bright flames and glowing metal of factories and furnaces.

This may sound new, but it’s not. Over 20 years ago, then chief of research at Siemens Karl Heinz Beckurts pointed out that strength in innovation is the key to enhanced competitiveness: "Half of all the products we will sell in five years," he said, "have yet to be developed." Today, with this percentage at an even higher level, the driving question has become: how can a company recast researchers into innovators?

Innovators think differently from traditional researchers. Their intellectual combustion processes are not limited by the narrow confines of an ingot-sized specialty. Instead, these processes take place in a wide-open, holistic, interdisciplinary, and market-oriented environment. Their focus is on solving the problem; on figuring out how to do things better—and on how to better themselves.

Companies characterized by a culture of innovation learn to think out of the box and are often skeptical of traditional methods. Competence, teamwork, and a problem-solving perspective are their ideals—the human catalyst that makes ideas burn bright. Claus Weyrich, my predecessor, liked to use the quote, "Innovation is 1 % inspiration and 99 % transpiration." In innovative companies, errors are O.K.—as long as they’re not repeated. The willingness to take risks and the courage to learn from—rather than shrink from—mistakes also fit their personality profile. In this context, the innovator is an avowed entrepreneur and the best salesman of his or her own ideas.

This issue of Pictures of the Future profiles over a dozen examples of this unique human species. From piezo technology to halogen lighting and intuitive user interfaces, innovators have revolutionized entire branches of work, introduced new production processes, opened new markets, and generated billions in sales.

Breakthrough innovations flourish, above all, where worlds come together—where the trajectories of universities, research centers, start-ups, industry, and customers intersect. In such a charged environment, all that may be needed to ignite an innovation is a quick look over the horizon or a chance suggestion. What’s needed—fully in keeping with the thinking of Sir Karl Popper, a leader in the philosophy of science—is the networked structure of an open society.

Find the best and keep them—that’s the magic formula for companies that want to compete in the major leagues of innovation. But to achieve this, companies have to offer something too: remuneration that reflects achievement, international networks, and career opportunities, be they in management or on an expert level. The innovator species is populated by sensitive creatures—people who know their value and don’t mince their words. This calls for their bosses and personnel departments to retool their thinking. Innovators, after all, don’t want to be managed. Instead, they expect to get involved constructively and be noticed.

Whether in the Internet, in automation, in bio- or medical technology—wherever fundamental change has been ignited—that’s where we detect the signature of the new innovator. Unorthodox spirits preside over established paradigms, producing new products, processes, business models and services. New technologies germinate that in turn generate new points of view. 80 % of all the scientists, and quite possibly 95 % of all the innovators who have ever lived, live on our planet today. They find a fascinating palette of things to do and fields to research. Participating in this intellectual cornucopia is fun. Those who don’t are missing an extraordinary opportunity—for themselves and for all of us.