FROM PROMOTIONAL VIDEO

The INNOVATION ZONE

 - Thomas M. Koulopoulos

                                    2008 


 

So you want to innovate?

Innovation is not invention

Innovation creates more VALUE

Invention creates more STUFF

 

Unfortunately we try to measure
“innovation” by how quickly we
can move product from the shelf
to the landfill.

 

In 2007, 1.2 Billion Cell Phones
were sold worldwide.
60% were replacements.

Guess where the 750,000,000 phones
they replaced ended up?

 

Education and experience both
conspire against us when it comes
to predicting the future potential
of a new idea.

 

Every test you’ve ever taken
has measured how well you
understood the past not how
well you could create the future.

 

Innovation is not a solo flight.

 

Between 1900-1950, 39 Nobels
were awarded to individuals as
opposed to 4 for teams.

Between 1951 and 2000, 33 were
awarded to individuals as opposed
to 36 for teams.

 

See a trend?

 

Innovation is about building for
the unknown.

 

Don’t be so sure in your ability
to predict that you refuse to take
a detour into reality when you
run into it.

 

Great innovation has to be liberated
from the shackles of our experience.

 

“I saw the angel in the marble and
  carved until I set him free.”

-         Michelangelo

 

“In the beginner’s mind there are many
  possibilities but in the expert’s mind
  there are few.”

-         Shunryn Suzuki

 

Innovation is about abandoning the past.

 

Never be bound by the limits of the past
in testing the limits of the future.

 

“Hell, there are no limits here – we’re
  trying to accomplish something!”

-         Thomas Edison

 

“Everything that can be invented has
  been invented.”

-          Charles H. Duell
   
Commissioner of
    US Patent Office
                      1899
                   * note

 

Get out of the Dark.

 

Get into the Innovation Zone.