Innovation & Technology

I still remember the day it was sometime in early 2006, as new joiner, I was meeting Director of DRDL (Defence Research and Development Laboratory). We had a cup of coffee, discussion on my interests, why DRDO etc., at the end of it I asked him what he expects and he responded “You need to understand that in DRDO, R is small while D is capital”. It took me time to comprehend, but that also brought clarity on difference between Research and Development. To make matters simple I will say Research is more oriented towards Innovation, while Development is more oriented towards Technology. While innovation lies in the territory of Unknown, technology is in the territory of Known.

The first example which come to mind is invention of Wheel, while invention of wheel was an innovation, its first use as per archaeologists was limited to toy dogs used by Olmec children in southern Mexico 3000 years ago. Uses of wheels for transportation was a technological advancement which made life of our ancestors easier and help them in growing faster.

One can argue that innovation is the first step of technology or vice-versa unless you carry out a technological advancement an innovation is not its worth. Let us not go in to that, what should be of our interest is what role innovation and technology plays in growth and improved competitiveness of an Organization.

Many of us think that innovation and technology is responsibility of R&D function in the organization but in the new economy, innovation and technological advancement is not limited to only products, but it is similarly applicable to processes, methods, organization developments, information management etc. Just to take an example of product development (which is a mix of innovation and technology), it is not a standalone activity which can be carried by R&D department, but it is linked to market, identification of customer needs (stated and unstated), availability of communication channels, manufacturability of the product and so on. To stress upon the applicability of innovation and technology in different areas in organization we can take an example from Automotive industry. For a successful organisation like Ford which was based on Product Innovation there also exists a Toyota which emphasized and worked on Process Innovation.

The point I am trying to come here is that, most of the companies which have success and have registered the quickest growth are those that use, in their daily activity, innovation and technology advancement, and it is particularly for this reason that a significant percentage of their income is generated by new or quality/functionally improved products and services.

21^st century is the century of information in globalized & connected world. This puts pressure on maintaining uniqueness in any innovation and technological advancement, which means to stay relevant and competitive, organization need to have more frequent and more rapid innovations and technological advancements.

As innovation and technology is important for the continued success of any organization, it is imperative to discuss what can be done to promote innovative thinking and development and adaption of new technologies in our teams and organization. Some of the steps which I think can contribute are

• Provide your team a reason to connect:  When people feel connected they create their own incentive to be innovative. Make sure the team members are in the loop on strategies and challenges. Invite their inputs and involve them early on in processes and plans, this will motivate them to actively participate and will bring more ideas.
•  Stress the importance of Innovation and Technology: Make sure that all your team members are aware that their ideas are welcome. Unless they understand how better ideas and processes can keep our organization competitive, our efforts at encouraging their participation will not be successful.
• Training and time for brainstorming: Arrange training for structured problem solving techniques, schedule time for discussion on new ideas. One method can be to set aside time for brainstorming, conduct regular group workshops and have team days out. Most of the times a team brainstorming session is more effective than the sum of its parts.
• Encourage change and challenge the established way: Broadening our experiences can be a great way to bring new ideas. Short-term role swaps can bring a fresh perspective to job roles. Encourage team members to look at how other businesses carry out things, even those in other industries and sectors. Ask them how we can adapt or improve. Encourage people to keep looking anew at the way they approach their work. Ask whether they have considered alternative ways of working and what might be achieved by doing things differently.
• Be supportive and tolerate/reward failures: We all must have heard how at TATA an award category called “Dare to Try” was created, which recognises sincere and audacious attempts to create a major innovation that failed to get the desired results. This promoted the culture of risk taking and propelled the individuals and teams to try and innovate.
• Act on ideas: Innovation is special if it results in action. Put aside time and resources to develop and implement the ideas worth acting upon. Failing to do so not only means we fail to benefit from better ideas, but flow of ideas might also dry if people start feeling that the process is pointless.

To end with, successful organization are a combination of continuous innovation and technology, and to create one such place is my next goal.