in Innovation
First of all, I’m not even sure what we want out of innovation. If we take what we see out there as a signal, then we sure aren’t innovating anything.
It’s gotten to that point where the word innovation is anything but meaningful. Were in the ‘over-innovation’ economy. Yes, over-innovation. As in, we’re over innovation. And this is because we are over-innovating? Or are we?
Alexis Madrigal makes a great point that we are indeed over-innovating:
Innovators innovate innovations, no? That word is everywhere these days. It’s a stand-in for: THAT THING THAT WILL SAVE THE ECONOMY FROM EVERLASTING DOOM. It’s seen as an unmitigated good.
At the same time, when you’re walking down a grocery store aisle staring at 40 brands of tortilla chips, you want to say, “Actually, maybe there’s been enough innovation in the corn chip industry. Time to move on guys. Barring the ability to innovate to the apotheosis of the tortilla chip, we have reached the pinnacle for this salty snack.” It’s times like that when you realize, there is such a thing as over-innovation.
Similarly, Just-Drinks columnist Richard Woodward makes a hilarious case for over-innovation in the spirits industry.
I call that insignificant innovation. Under-innovation.…
in Innovation
Yesterday I was having lunch with a buddy of mine who is looking to create a startup incubator in Tijuana. I told him that it seems to me that everyone wants to start an incubator nowadays as a good excuse for stimulating the economy.
But more importantly, what nobody is asking themselves is: How do you establish a culture of innovation?
There’s a reason why places like Silicon Valley and New York are breeding grounds for startups. They have a unique mixture of people that come there to create new things. To innovate.
Because of this diversity, the quality of ideas is very high. …
in Innovation
I asked last week if technology clusters drive innovation, there isn’t any evidence that says it does. What is evident is that there are institutions (not clusters in the traditional sense) who are driving innovation.
With that said, I found this cool infographic from MIT Media Labs on how they turn lab work into real-life applications.…
in Innovation
Early next year there will be a brand new technology center across the border in Tijuana that aims, among other things, to provide office space to companies in the region. It’s the BIT Center, or Baja’s Innovation and Technology Center.
It’s intent (translated from Spanish):…