Inventions to Innovations

I was recently reviewing some talking points from a talk Steve Jurvetson gave in May 2003 in Memphis, Tennessee. Steve stated more or less that we view the future as a linear continuation of the past, but we can not view technological innovation as a movement in a straight line. He further stated that technology advances exponentially, moving quicker and quicker, impacting a wider and wider array of fields. No disputing this, but how has the bridge from theory to practice kept pace?

I don't think it has. The process of taking inventions to new business applications has to rapidly change. Passive technology deal creation is not working today. This may be because what used to be a technology spicket has turned into a fire hose -- the growing volume of technologies flying out of the research labs ever faster. I would argue that while the number of technologies developed each year has vastly increased, application of these technologies to real world problems has not kept pace. This is likely due to a passivity and/or the need for a new mode of technology transfer, commercialization, and venture creation. Active innovation networks and active deal creation, I believe will be the best method moving forward.

Call it Creation Nets, Open Innovation,Venture Creation, Innovation Connection, or whatever -- it is just the way technology venture development will need to shift to keep pace with the exponential advancement of technologies.

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Published as written at ericmathews.blogspot.com:
http://ericmathews.blogspot.com/2006/12/technology-transfer-keeping-pace.html