Design = Change for the Better – Part 1 of 3

“Innovation” is a magically ambiguous word, leaving pretty much everything to your imagination in terms of what it means, and how to achieve it.

To me, innovation is all about “implementing change for the better” otherwise, why bother?

It’s time we stopped theorising about innovation, and actually started doing. Leave it to the academics to rationalise, define and debate – we’re here to make things better, and innovation is the key.

So, how do you innovate?

(Beware – design rant approaching…)

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How to tackle the Innovation Recession

We all know there’s a world-wide recession happening.

Productivity is slowing, finances are drying up, people are being laid off; family, community & society hardships are on the rise.

Investment in innovation is likely to slow too. Many organisations see Innovation as a discretionary spend at best, with little or no value placed on the potential benefits it can provide. There are already fears in Australia’s biotech industry that the government is losing interest in innovation spending, and is therefore risking significant medium and long-term industry viability and sustainability as a result.

It’s a big word, innovation. Australians have heard it bandied around as freely as “working families” and “global financial crisis” – however, above all else, innovation – or better yet, the lateral thinking and doing activities that “innovation” is comprised of will be the only real means for us to scramble out of this economic quagmire.

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Major R&D tax reforms in the pipeline

In David Gelb’s discussion about the proposed reforms to Australia’s R&D tax concessions, he raises an important point about the short-term advantages of increasing assistance to organisations involved in research, development and, more generally, innovation.

“Short-term incentives should also encourage companies to invest the money saved in employment, training, infrastructure and collaboration, benefiting the company and the economy in the long run.” David Gelb, The Age 30-3-09

It is vital that Australian businesses continue to invest in innovation, and any support that the government can provide to ensure that this nation continues to spend on continual improvement and innovation will have short and long term benefits. This type of support will be analogous to the domestic “stimulus” payments received by households in the past few months.

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