Chips off a Potato

Last night we launched the Big Potatoes Innovation Manifesto (main site here, summary of manifesto here).

For those who are not familiar with it, essentially we believe that "Innovation" today has often been watered down to not a lot more that "continuous improvement that won't rock the boats", and we need to do a lot better than that - and the view we can use today's technologies - to solve the problems today

from our point of view, the main thing is to create a debate, so we tend to the moer definite thought 0 ans ome of our views are counter intuitive and others are just plain provocative. Here are some of the interesting points that people made last night in response:

Additions

- The unmentioned "elephant in the room" in the manifesto is Organisational Behaviour - the reason Innovation is in trouble is due to the structure of modern institutions (cf The Corporation)

- Ethics: we are too light on ethics, in that not all innovation is "good" and we need to do more about that

Criticisms

- We are too rude about the Precautionary principle, tere is a place for it when the risks are very material

- Ditto the agreed level of Global warming science (our view is that its hubris to believe that the science is now settled and there is no space for further innovation, as the one thing history has proven is that the minute one believes the science is a done deal, along comes something that proves it isn't)

- We are also too rude about regulation. Our view is that it seems to always be either prone to creating the effect it was trying to avoid, or (and?) usurped by vested (usually traditional) interests

- We are not specific enough on defining the differenece betewwn Research, Development, Innovation, Invention etc. But then thsi person also said that Innovation is not risky if you know ewhat customers want and is all about making money - which is exactly the view of Innovation we object to - we unapologetically want to take Innovation back to what it meant up to 20-odd years ago, when it stood for change, and potentially creatively destructive, change.

- Intellectual Property laws are a big issue and we gloss over the ramifications of it on Innovation

- We are also too rude about Open Innovation (we believe it has distinct limitations and is not a panacea.)

- "Blue Sky" research needs to be aimed (we believe it is an option you play, investing a proportion of your resorce - and that any research doen to fix real problems is not wasted.
Observations

- Munita Mirza from the London Mayor's Office noted that "Creativity" has been abused and diluted in the Arts in a similar way that Innovation has in the enterprise world.

- Fewer potential MP's than ever before in 100 years have science or engineering a background in this election (I don't know if its true) so what chance has technology based innovation got vs the policy and regulation wonks

- The "Fetishisation" of youth and of lack of expertise today in popular society is a big problem, you have to know the rules to break them.

I'll leave you with this comment from afterwards.

"There is a deep disquiet in the population at large that current institutions, politicians etc can no longer deliver the srevices we need. People are recombining in new ways to solve this. You guys (ie Big Potatoes nnovation Mainifesto ) are not only a part of any solution set, but also and a part of this trend of people self organising to drive new ideas.