In the U.S., we rely on market mechanisms to drive innovation. In the UK, they are taking a more directed approach as I learned over lunch with David Kester, Chief Executive of the Design Council.
He told me that in the UK where most schools are publicly funded, a decision has been made to create six “innovation centres” that will bring together academic institutions in design, engineering, and business. Many interesting things happen at the seams, or intersections, of disciplines and this program is an interesting way to create those intersections where they might not otherwise occur.
One of these “innovation triangles” is being created by the Royal College of Art and Imperial College. Imperial brings engineering and technology expertise through its Faculty of Engineering as well as business knowledge through its Tanaka School of Business. The £5.8 million dollar investment is designed “to create world-beating products and services.”
Academia in the U.S. has pursued increasing specialization with interdisciplinary programs being more the exception than the norm. Achieving tenure still depends on publishing in highly focused academic journals that reward research more than practice. A recent review of articles in the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology revealed articles entitled “A New Hybrid Algorithm for Multi Objective Permutation Flowshop Scheduling Problem” and “Pedagogy for Determining Alternate Solutions to Integer Resource Allocation Problems.” There is certainly value in this research but one wonders how often it leads to world-beating products and services.
The “bump and connect” model of innovation – creating environments where people can have semi-random but productive encounters – has become popular among urban planners. This experiment in the UK is a more deliberate attempt to foster these interactions in campus settings.
Innovation is increasingly seen as the key to global competitiveness. China and India both push out more technical and engineering graduates than the U.S. or other developed nations. The Innovation Centres, the result of the government-funded Cox Review of Creativity in Business, are themselves an interesting innovation that may enable a relatively small nation to outpace larger rivals.
Do you agree that these multi-disciplinary programs will spur innovation? Can public policy do what market mechanisms cannot?
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To answer the editors question - yes I believe that multi-displinary working or as we call it collaborative innovation will give an innovation advantage - for one simple reason - 'no product; service, process or proposition ever came to market without the expertise of several core parties'.
Through education an understanding and respect for other disciplines will emerge. Meanwhile in the existing market place barriers are being broken down between orginators; academia, industry and dealmakers and the traditional supply chains are being unshackled to support collaborative innovation. It's all about 'thinking and linking'. The creativity, quality and logic in that thinking and linking will be the differentiating factor between individuals, businesses and nations.
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