Kore Kalibre

China, India and other Asian countries have a few key comparative advantages today - employee healthcare expenses are low, population is high and enforcement of regulation is not as stringent relative to advanced countries. This makes Asia a great place today for reproducing existing products at a low cost. However, is it primed for new and unique product conceptions for its own or global markets? Individual consumption is still relatively low in their local markets due to lower disposable income, nonetheless, they could focus on global markets. A Chinese company like Vimicro, a supplier of multimedia chips, has 400 patents. Japanese companies have built a strong base of joint ventures in China. The technology transfer is imminent and will continue to increase innovation capacity. The incentive to do so will increase further because labor arbitrage is higher on more difficult jobs leading to even more technology transfer. Thus, Asia’s ability to innovate will improve over the next decade. It would be a stretch to consider that these countries can surpass the developed nations anytime soon. Since the advanced countries have a well developed infrastructure in place, they would continue to lead by being progressive and deliberately innovating.

We are still constructing the lexicon of innovation. For those who have a systems view of innovation, define it as the process of introducing new goods and services for use in society. In this more widely accepted definition, invention is part of innovation. Invention is the unique and non-obvious essence of what makes a product, whereas innovation involves many more facets that allow an invention to be conceived and made available for adoption.

Policy makers act as a catalyst for prosperity. With more countries being tightly integrated into the global economy there is a challenge of security and redistribution of jobs. However, there is advantage of access to bigger consumer markets and labor arbitrage. Instead of focusing on protectionism, the US policy makers are leaning towards promoting innovation. More people would get trained for higher end technical jobs. Policy makers are likely to act by - stimulating training for next generation Americans in multi-disciplinary technical fields, creating recognition for innovators, and streamlining the patent process.

Innovationthinktank.org will be providing a suite of e-learning experiences in Q2 2005. There will be examples and tools that can be used to conduct innovative activities. Users can flesh out useful product ideas into complete product plans that have higher probability of success.Innovationthinktank.org will be providing a suite of e-learning experiences in Q2 2005. There will be examples and tools that can be used to conduct innovative activities. Users can flesh out useful product ideas into complete product plans that have higher probability of success.

More than 20 Million people dream of innovating new products, but only half of them act on it, and even fewer succeed. This is because innovation has been considered a black box in the past. The paradigm is now shifting to one where innovation is deliberate. Creativity is the mental ability to identify and solve new problems. However, innovation happens only when creativity is applied to new products that are useful in society. An effective and efficient approach to innovation can be learned. However, putting them into practice is no easy task. It requires the right specific knowledge and persistence. So, is innovation an art or science? This thought provoking question would be explored more in coming issues.

More than 20 Million people dream of innovating new products, but only half of them act on it, and even fewer succeed. This is because innovation has been considered a black box in the past. The paradigm is now shifting to one where innovation is deliberate. Creativity is the mental ability to identify and solve new problems. However, innovation happens only when creativity is applied to new products that are useful in society. An effective and efficient approach to innovation can be learned. However, putting them into practice is no easy task. It requires the right specific knowledge and persistence. So, is innovation an art or science? This thought provoking question would be explored more in coming issues.

The global economy and availability of many new competing products today have created the impetus to innovate more than ever. Clusters of certain work are building around the globe. China has become the hub of manufacturing, much of low-technology work and some hi-technology. For the service and manufacturing work that remains in the US and other advanced countries, competitors can adopt new ideas and techniques that are becoming widely available to out-compete another. Therefore, you have to generate newer and better ideas of useful products that will give you an edge in the market place

There are many sectors of need in society - ranging from energy and transportation to communications and health care. In the long-run, there are opportunities to innovate in all sectors. To innovate, you have to start with the needs of consumers who are driving innovation in contemporary society. Health care is increasingly becoming consumer-driven and it would become more predictive and personalized. This trend creates opportunities. Communication would continue to advance towards any information being available to consumers anywhere, at anytime. Need for clean air everywhere would drive the development of hybrid cars, fuel cells and related services. Need for more security and precise identification has already propelled use of biometrics devices. Building materials, electronics, displays, lighting, sensors, and several other areas would continue to transform so that they can support various needs in all sectors.

Increasing number of people are interested in knowing the components of an innovative foresight. In the past innovation has been considered to be simply a random insight and even a momentary "aha". There are actually many variables to innovation which may often come together intuitively for an innovator. Can these variables be identified and then systematized into a process that can be learned, taught or deliberated? We at Kore Kalibre recognize the implications of doing this. If this task could be accomplished, aspiring innovators could learn to generate ideas that would have higher probability of success. Investors could then have a methodology to assess viability and sustainability of such ideas.

Recently, increasing number of people have drawn the connection between introduction of new ideas that lead to useful products, and the prosperity of a nation - added jobs, increased wages, and higher standard of living. Any organization, emerging out of useful product ideas, that can sustain employment is beneficial to society overall. Bill Gates and Paul Allen initiated Microsoft in the mid-1970s. Microsoft now employs more than 30,000 people under the leadership of Steve Ballmer.