Customer Reviews:
 How to establish and then sustain a healthy innovation ecosystem September 8, 2008
If I fully understand Judy Estrin's key points (and I may not), there are at least two "gaps" that need to be reduced, if not closed: between where innovation in the US once was and where it is now as well as between where innovation in the US is now and where it could (and should) be. One of the important - and most useful -- terms on her book is "innovation ecosystem." In an Introduction that really should be read 2-3 times before embarking on the first of eight chapters, Estrin observes that "Biological ecosystems that sustain life are models for the organizations, people, and forces that enable innovation. Life flourishes because of a dynamic interaction between communities of living organisms and their environment...In Innovation Ecosystems, the collaborative organisms include scientists, product developers, businesspeople, service providers, and customers, all of whom participate in one or more of three communities: research, development, and application. Ongoing- sustainable innovation results from interactions between [and among] these communities at an organizational, national, and global level."
Contrary to appearances that suggest that the American Ecosystem is stable and secure, Estrin asserts, "we are rapidly losing our advantage." Who are "we"? America, of course, but the
"we" could also refer to the reader and her or his associates in the same organization or to everyone on Earth. So it can be argued that, in fact, there are three (rather than two) "gaps" to be reduced, if not closed, and the third exists on a global basis. That is, there is an innovation gap between what is now being achieved worldwide, and, what could be achieved if communication, cooperation, and (most important of all) collaboration between and among nations were more effective and productive.
Others have their own reasons for holding this book in such high regard. Here are three of mine. First, Estrin makes it crystal clear early on and frequently thereafter that she does not have all the right answers. One of her objectives, rather, is to raise many of what she considers to be the right questions about innovation initiatives in research, development, and application, then to provide her own answer to each. Questions such as these:
1. What is a healthy Innovation Ecosystem?
2. How to establish one? How to sustain it?
3. Meanwhile, how to accommodate immediate and short-term needs?
4. What is "green-thumb leadership" and why is it essential to sustainable innovation?
5. What will an "enormous global transformation require"?
As indicated earlier, Estrin provides her own responses to these and other questions, supplemented by real-world examples of noteworthy initiatives at companies such as Pixar, FedEx, Cisco Systems, Genomic Health, eBay, Apple Computer, Google, Intel, and Procter & Gamble.
I also appreciate the fact that Estrin conducted in-depth interviews of more than 100 of the most important authorities in the field of innovation, then included hundreds of observations and opinions from those interviewed. Here's one of several that caught my eye:
"We have no formal procedure. No one has ever had to write a proposal. Anyone can propose a new project or project area at any time. First, we're in brainstorming mode, when all you have to do is build the idea. Then we get critical and evaluate the idea along several dimensions, like risk-reward ratios and how much technology headroom there is. If we do it, will anybody care? If something looks like it's in the sweet spot, and resource requirements are reasonable, we say `Yeh, go do it.'" Peter Hart, Ricoh Innovation Group; group senior vice president, Ricoh Company (Page 121)
These specifics are important to serving Estrin's purposes. Although she offers or cites numerous theories and hypotheses, she is a tireless empiricist as she focuses on what is and isn't happening as well as a relentless pragmatist who is determined to know what does and doesn't work...and to understand why.
Here's the third of several reasons that I hold this review in such high regard. In the eighth and final chapter, she shifts her attention to "Next-Generation Innovators" and the importance, now, of improving the development of young minds. She poses four questions, offers brief comments on the issues each raises, and then suggests that the to find the best answers to these questions, "we will need to try a variety of approaches, ensuring that we collect the right data to assess and adapt while not stifling learning by applying metrics of questionable value. Agreeing with the ancient African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child," Estrin notes that education does not begin and end in the classroom. "Young people's attitudes are profoundly influenced by the culture at large, and there, too, forces working against the development of future generations of innovators are in play." Quite true.
Perhaps if we view Earth as a "village" rather than as a planet, and perhaps if we can somehow tackle various challenges together, global collaboration can achieve and then sustain an Innovation Ecosystem within which there will continue to be necessary changes "at both disruptive and incremental levels" and meanwhile remember that "failure can be just another step toward success" and that if everyone involved is determined "to honestly self-assess and learn from every experience." Judy Estrin offers a bold vision in this book, to be sure, but also offers a wealth of information and insights to make that reality for us, perhaps, but certainly for generations to come.
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