Category Archives: Leadership

Economist Intelligence Unit Research on Innovation Clusters

in entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Podcast

the success factors of innovation clusters

Why does Silicon Valley sustain innovation? What distinct behaviors drive that?

While it’s wrong to want to create ones own Silicon Valley, all innovation ecosystems share common traits.

On this episode of the Big Bang podcast I interview Adam Green, senior editor in the Thought Leadership department at the Economist Intelligence Unit, sister company to The Economist newspaper, on innovation clusters.

Adam is the lead researcher for the Economist Intelligence Unit research on innovation clusters. The report info graphics and short documentary explore innovation clusters globally, discusses their key success factors, and looks at how they change over their life cycle. We have looked at examples from Bangalore, London, Boulder, Singapore and Estonia, with interviewees from the likes of Imperial College, the London School of Economics and techUK. We’ve been particularly interested to show how innovation clusters themselves evolve, and the challenges that success can bring.

Below are some questions we discussed:

  • What is one trait that determines success of an entrepreneurial ecosystem?
  • What are the critical components of an innovation ecosystem?
  • What is the key component to start with if no other components are present?
  • What cultural characteristics are necessary for an innovation ecosystem to function?
  • What evidence, individual and/or organizational, will tell us that this culture is developing?
  • How can we adjust and improve an innovation ecosystem to increase its effectiveness?
  • How do innovation clusters change over time?

It was an insightful conversation, and hope you find it useful.

Let us know what you think on Twitter @jorgebarba and @adrianpedrin.

Watch the live recording:


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The Big Bang is a weekly podcast. Tune in every Tuesday for more discussions on what’s possible; be sure to subscribe on SoundCloud.

Intro audio is by Arturo Arriaga, outro audio is Candyland by Guy J.

Netflix’s culture is a prime example of one that isn’t afraid to reinvent itself

in Greatness, Innovation, Leadership

culture of innovation

We are in a constant state of becoming, and it’s not entirely obvious to anyone or any team that is starting out, and nobody tells you this in school, that we must reinvent ourselves.

Case in point Patty McCord, former Head of HR for Netflix and the person credited with creating their culture, believes that the ideal culture isn’t afraid to reinvent itself:…

How Do You Learn How To Learn? Learn From Learners

in Creativity, entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Uncategorized

learning how to learn

Are you learning as fast as the world is changing? A constant state of change requires a constant state of learning. Only a handful of companies, and people, cultivate learning as a skill.

Put simply:

Cultures of innovation = Cultures of learning

With that said, there is one skill that will always be relevant in the future: continuous learning.…

Different: Escaping Mediocrity

in Creativity, entrepreneurship, Greatness, Innovation, Leadership, Podcast, Strategy

be different

There comes a point in time when all business compete for the same thing: sameness.

It shouldn’t be this way, because competing to be the best at what everyone else does leads to mediocrity. On today’s episode we discuss how to escape mediocrity; not mindlessly pursue it.…

Ideas that must die Pt.1

in entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Podcast

all good ideas must die

So far, in this podcast, we’ve discussed the possibilities of ideas that if created would improve the world. On this episode we flip the script, rather than asking if a new idea is a good one, we ask whether it’d be better if some of the ideas we cling to were killed off.

All good ideas must die (so that great ideas might live). With that said, similar to how you kill stupid rules to innovate, what ideas, if eliminated, would improve our life?…

Future Proof: 4 Ways To Explore What’s Possible

in entrepreneurship, Innovation, Leadership, Strategy

The Big Bang podcastTo imagine a future is easy, to imagine one that matters is another story.

The world is changing fast. I see it everyday in the articles and stories that get shared on my self-curated Twitter feed, as well as the conversations I have with people trying to change the world. For example, articles on how a future without cows is near, another on how our future food intake will include bugs, and another on how a self-driving car was pulled over.

These are just articles related to the future of food and transportation, dig deeper and you’ll get a picture into how various industries are changing and how others are being created in front of us.

Why is this important?…