On the Principles of Knowledge, Innovation and Wellbeing
In our knowledge driven and digitalised economy, organisations have to adapt to new and emerging markets and increase their flexibility to continuously re-invent themselves. They need to adopt new practices to re-shape the market in which they are operating and systematically set new trends based on existing consumer behaviour.
Intertwining innovation and growth is key for large and multinational organisations and in particular for globally operating SMEs. What nurtures Innovation Driven Change (IDC) in a company is changing how people think and how they actually innovate. In many ways changing an organisation and it’s practices means changing it’s entire culture. Hence, know-how is become increasingly important. People and the technology they invent will shape the future of our globe. To make globalisation work for rather than against us we need to be aware of our cultural differences. Diversity is most often a pre-requisite for making innovation and change (to the better) happen. Thus, innovation is a powerful vehicle to achieve change, as well as a common understanding among people.
Globalisation is a process that affects everyone of us and it is difficult to vote “for” or “against” it. We simply will have to face it’s consequences and make the best out of it. In a globalised economy everybody is our neighbour and (in theory) only six degrees separate us from any other human being. I strongly believe that, almost everyone is in position to have an impact on enhancing quality of life and wellbeing of our planet. A healthy, well-maintained and integrated environment is a precondition for sustainable welfare and for quality of life and technology and innovation can be seen as the vehicle to achieve that. When using powerful tools to invent and re-shape our environment, we carry responsibility for our peers, friends, neighbours, families and all future generations.
On a small scale, instruments like the Intellectual Capital Statement (ICS) as developed by InCaS EU enable SME´s to identify how they can prepare to innovate to participate in today´s knowledge economy. And when helping organizations to develop new and interesting products and business models, I actually believe you can make the world a bit better for each and everyone.
Clearly, an organisation will create competitive advantages through innovation. However, it will also change itself and the environment. Change is actually a learning process that stimulates community building and development. And, when working together in order to innovate, we realise a “good product” is one that generates not only benefits for your company. In fact, it creates added value for it’s customers and their life situation (as well as the communities they belong to). This is why innovation to be the key principle in changing our society to the better. And the good news is, innovation shows us diversity of cultures (rather than uniformity as often proclaimed) is what creates most benefits.
Organisations like the New Club of Paris are therefore endorsing a healthy, respected and high quality world of intellectual and cultural living in order to make the transforming of our society and economy beneficial for as many people as possible. Institutions like The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) are international knowledge hubs, where ideas are developed, analysed, evaluated and disseminated around the globe and they are among the most influential centres concerning the political debate of our time. Innovation facilitators such as Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT) translate cultures and practices into globally available innovations that help to save energy, reduce cost and enhance our quality of life.
With The London Research & Consulting Group we further bridge the gap btw. academia and the "real world". We facilitate knowledge and best practice transfer across science, policy and business. This includes close cooperation and networking with experts from various fields. In a knowledge and innovation driven economy, there are no traditional structures and hierarchies. We need to support discourses enabling everyone qualified to make a contribution to help us solve problems and to develop novel solutions. From know-how to value.
If you are one of them, don’t hesitate to contact me :-)).
