This is a theme I have heard a few times in the last few weeks,
at a technology forum recently, in a BBC article and on a tech forum. So have
we become so comfortable with our technology these days, that we are no longer
pushing ourselves to innovate? Have we reached the peak of our technological
achievements? Is the supposed tech bubble finally going to burst? Well it sure
got me thinking, especially when I have set up this blog to understand the
impact of people and technology on each other, I mean if it really is the end
of tech I might need to close my blog … (dramatic silence). Shock! Horror!
Seriously though, it did get me thinking about what is
driving this growing theme of technology stagnation? In the amazing world we
live in, why would people feel we have reached a period of innovation
stagnation? I learned from a development coach recently that there is 10% truth
in anything someone says (yes you know who you are!) and hence felt that this
was a good place to start. We have had some amazing technology developments
over the decades; The Mobile Phone, Putting a Probe on Mars, The Internet – and
I am sure many more I could mention, but are these really representing the end
of our recent technology improvements? I mean if people are saying it, some
aspect of it has to be true, because as we have also learned in our
increasingly connected world, perception can quickly become reality.
I have seen some amazing developments recently, but it is
not so much the developments themselves. Rather, I find something amazing has
happened in the realization of these developments; they are no longer referred
to as ’technology innovations’ but more simply as ’industry innovations’. The
ability for doctors to operate using a virtual operating room, using robotic
hands and cameras as if they were really there. Or for Manufacturers to now use
3D printers for manufacturing, or my personal favourite to have driverless cars
on our roads – despite some of the recent incidents. Now these are all quite
recent innovations – in my view anyway – but there are two things happening in
our society that we need to be aware of.
1. Technology has now reached a point where it is infused in
every industry, whether traditional or new, to the point that new jobs exist
within these industries that are no longer ONLY about the core discipline (whether
that be Medicine, Manufacturing or Engineering), but about how technology is
being embedded into that industry. I love for example that IT managers in a hospital
are not there to make sure the network remains connected, but to ensure the
systems directly supporting Health Care services are running at peak
performance. Or the Programmer working on self-driving vehicles, who needs to
ensure the code used to speak to the ‘road aware devices’ are running properly.
I believe this development has moved forward so much that the jobs of the
future, for those seeking roles in the technology space, will rapidly evolve
into multiple specialisations across industries. For example, you could become
a Medical Engineer or a Manufacturing Programmer. I have previously talked
about the concept of the changing profiles of roles, but that was merely from
within an IT perspective. Where we are headed with cross disciplines - with
technology and innovation playing a lead role, is even more exciting!
2. The lifecycle of innovation is actually now moving so
fast that we are no longer seeing the leaps that we have in the past, in fact
in many areas the life cycle of innovation is now occurring in months and no
longer years, which could have led to the perception that innovation has simply
stagnated. Technologists now have access to platforms and tools which help to
rapidly reduce the cycle of innovation from the drawings on the back of a beer
coaster, to a working model - whether software or even these days hardware.
Many innovations failed to see the light of day, because our ability to promote
those innovations was limited to what we can see - and the era of social media means
that our world has never been smaller. What I mean by that is Innovations are
no longer successful based merely on who has physical visibility of them in the
real world, but now they are successful based on who can view them in our
digital world. Platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo are creating the
funding enablers for people, anywhere in the world, who share a common interest
or a belief, to connect. Kickstarter alone has supported over 100,000 creative
projects raising over two billion US dollars to date a figure which I am sure would have some VC's envious! This to me, raises the
view that innovation is being realised faster, broader and with a greater
chance of success, because these crowdfunding platforms are not only bringing
in funding, but also evidence that there is interest in that creative idea,
whether it be technology based or Fashion or even food! I share this with you
as I believe this growing crowdsourcing trend is accelerating our innovation
journey - and businesses are starting to catch on that crowdsourcing is not
only a great source of ideas, but when an idea is supported it can immediately
translate into customer demand, as Lays found out when developing a new chip
(Hmm Cheesy Garlic Bread)!
These two factors of technology now being embedded in
everything we do, along with the speed with which new ideas can be realised are
in my view, key drivers for this perception of innovation stagnation. In fact I
think it is the speed with which we now see innovation occur, that gives us
this perception that it has become stagnant, much like looking at a wheel that
is spinning so quickly that it appears to be standing still., Technology
innovation is occurring so often that we are now forced to filter out what is
relevant to us. I spent an evening looking through some forums and came across
some exciting products such as Evadrop, Seatylock and Phree (I should note
these are ones I picked out at random, but there are many more). These are exciting
innovations, which on the surface can seem small and without the impact that
the arrival of the mobile phone did, however if these innovations realise their
ambitions, they could change the world we live in and hopefully encourage
others to open their minds to the possible.
So to answer the question ‘is Innovation dead’, well in my
view… no, but I can understand why people would see that it is. The era of huge
technology leaps has past and the era of constant innovation has arrived - an
era where technology is embedded in every industry and where the speed with
which concepts and ideas can be realised, is faster than ever. So fast in fact,
that it can seem we are viewing simple development steps. Yet it is the development
platforms now available, that are creating the opportunity for innovations to
be developed quickly and either realise their potential or fail fast and avoid
the risks of high cost failure.
Ultimately we have entered an age where we are embracing a greater appetite
for risk - in trying out new ways of working or other concepts, knowing that if it
doesn’t work the first time we can try, try and try again, as we continue to
refine our innovations in an iterative process across days or weeks instead of
years. I look forward to the next era where innovation merely becomes a class
you take in school and where you learn to create new concepts and new ideas
with the platforms that start-ups and other businesses are using today, so that
Innovation doesn’t die, far from it, it simply becomes a way of life.
