THE LEADING VOICE OF INNOVATION

CHIEF
INNOVATION
OFFICER JUN 2016 | #10

T H E L E A D I N G V O I C E O F B I G D A T A

BIG DATA MAY 2016 | #22

INNOVATION
the future
of jobs &
T H E L E A D I N G V O I C E O F S P O R T S

SPORTS
education /6
PERFORMANCE
& TECH
+
AUG 2015 | #14

Tech Unicorns To Become Is Your Company Succeeding In

TA H E L E A D I N G V O I C Innovation
Rarity E O F Or S TPR?
R AT E G Y

CHIEF
We look at the reasons behind the
decline in the number of startups
valued at $1 billion / 15
Misunderstanding of innovation creates
innoganda - a phenomenon which can
benefit PR campaigns but has nothing
to do with innovation in practice / 24

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Officer Summit
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/2

EDITOR’S LETTER
Welcome to the 10th Edition of the
Chief Innovation Officer Magazine
Throughout history, the most
successful innovators have always had
a hard time sustaining performance.
Some of the most famous early
pioneers in their fields have failed -
for example, Polaroid, Nokia, Sun
Microsystems, and Yahoo. Their
products were once celebrated,
leading the market and seemingly
unassailable. However, they have all
since fallen dramatically behind the
competition. So, why is it so hard to
build and maintain the capacity to
innovate?
In order to effectively maintain
innovation, it is vital to have a good
innovation strategy that aligns with a
business’s overall strategy and goals.
This enables the company to pinpoint
problems and their solutions quicker. It
can also help to synthesize ideas into
real business concepts and product
designs, and helps the company best
understand which projects deserve
funding.
There is not one business strategy
that fits all companies, and the same
is true of an innovation strategy. The
decision around which strategies to
use must be based on consideration
ISSUE 10
of all circumstances and factors that are constantly changing and there
affect the sector. It is also important to is a steady flow of new processes
avoid any possible conflicts between and methods in the approaches
innovation and business strategies. companies use to deal with changes
Business unit heads can focus on and enable growth. In regards to your
the target markets whereas R&D innovation strategy, it is vital that you
scientists and engineers tend to see have your finger on the pulse with the
opportunities in new technological most recent changes and trends and
processes. Diverse perspectives are make adjustments accordingly. By
crucial for successful innovation, but continuously polishing your strategy,
they shouldn’t disrupt one another. you will keep up with the market and
aligned with what your customers
The mutual features of business
want.
and innovation strategies are that
they should both start with a clear If you have any feedback or want
understanding of the specific to submit an article, please don’t
objectives that can help the company hesitate to get in touch at anastasia@
stay ahead of its competitors. Those theiegroup.com.
objectives can be different for each
company and include, for instance,
reduction of the product prices or
creating a visible societal benefit,
(anything capable of creating value).
Choosing the type of value your Anastasia Anokhina
innovation strategy will create and managing editor
sticking to it is critical.
Finally, the innovation strategy must
always be evolving. Introducing an
innovation strategy and letting it work
once or twice is not enough to create
a sustainable impact. Industries
/3
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/4
contents
6 | THE FUTURE OF JOBS AND 21 | ENTERPRISES ARE
EDUCATION MOVING TOWARDS LABS
AND INCUBATORS TO FUEL
The life skills people learn and
INNOVATION
how they learn them have
remained relatively consistent Integrating labs and incubators
through the ages. However, into your business can get your
technology will drive change innovation engine humming, but
in how professional skills are how can you ensure they are
taught over the next 50 years successful?

12 | GOOGLE HOME VS 24 | IS YOUR COMPANY

AMAZON ECHO SUCCEEDING IN INNOVATION
OR PR?
We look at the latest in Google
and Amazon’s battle to lead the Misunderstanding of innovation
way at home in tech creates innoganda - a
phenomenon which can benefit
PR campaigns but has nothing
15 | TECH UNICORNS TO
to do with innovation in reality.
BECOME A RARITY
How can we make sure that we
It seems like the boom in actually innovate?
unicorn enterprises is coming
to an end. We look at the
26 | INNOVATION CHALLENGES
reasons behind the decline in
THE CORPORATE LONGEVITY
the number of startups valued at
OF THE LARGE BUSINESSES
over $1 billion
It is predicted that the lifespan
of large enterprises is going to
18 | DRONES: SKYNET OR
drop significantly by 2030. We
SAFE BET?
look at the factors which affect
While many people have companies’ longevity and force
negative associations with them off the S&P 500 list
drones, the technology will
likely offer some impressive
investment opportunities

ADVERTISING WRITE FOR US

For advertising opportunities contact: Do you want to contribute to our next issue?
cmurren@theiegroup.com for more information Contact: anastasia@theiegroup.com for details

managing editor anastasia anokhina | assistant editor charlie sammonds | creative director chelsea
carpenter contributors matthew griffin, kit feber, harriet connolly, dean marshall, pearl cheng

/5
Matthew Griffin, Futurist and CxO Disruption Strategy Advisor

The Future Of Jobs

And Education
Life is a learning experience,
or so they say.

Broadly speaking, educational While educators prepare their students

activities can be split into two
categories - ‘Life Skills’ and
‘Professional Skills’. The life skills that
we all need to learn and the way we
learn them have remained relatively
consistent across the ages ‘ how we
all learn to communicate, socialize
and survive. But you can argue that
today’s education system is skewed
towards the second category, the
teaching of professional skills, and it’s
this category that will face the greatest
opportunities and challenges over the
next 50 years.
for a life of learning, it’s more true to
say their role is to prepare students for
life-long careers. But while that was
a relatively simple task in the past it’s
now much more difficult.
In the past, educators could teach
someone Law, for example, and it
would be fair to say that we could
have expected those students to
remain gainfully employed within
their chosen profession for at least
40 years if not until their retirement.
Today, though, technology is replacing
paralegals and, while I don’t take this

/6
view, there are skeptics in the legal
profession who are publicly arguing
that their industry will be completely
automated by technology within just
15 years.
In a world where educators are used
to educating Generation Y, Z and
eventually Alpha students for life-long
careers, what happens when jobs in
those careers - and even across entire
industries - cease to exist?
Furthermore, and as a demonstration
of society’s enormous short-
sightedness, we live in a role-based
society where the majority of people,
particularly in business typically believe
that people are only suited to fit one
role. A software salesman can’t sell
hardware just as a hardware salesman
can’t become a lawyer and a lawyer
can’t become a data scientist just
as a data scientist can’t become a
software salesman. And so on. If we
are to assuage some of the hundreds
of millions of redundancies that we’ll all
face in the next 20 years, society has
to change its thinking. After all, there’s
no reason why many of us can’t learn
new skills.
The changing nature of
the job market
Over the next 20 years, governments
and academia estimate that between
30% and 50% of all of the today’s
jobs will be replaced by technology.
However, unlike the disruptions of
yesteryear, where technology replaced
blue collar jobs, today’s technologies
are replacing white collar knowledge
workers and its shift that could have
dire consequences for you and your
children’s future career prospects.
Some of the world’s best self-learning
artificial intelligence and cognitive
computer systems are already
replacing advisors, analysts, artists,
commentators, consultants, doctors,
journalists, musicians, paralegals,
PhDs, teachers, translators and
even the data scientists who created
their original algorithmic models.
Machine vision systems are replacing
quality inspectors, maintenance
workers, security analysts and
security guards. Hardware robots
have already replaced many of the
blue collar factory and warehouse
jobs and now they’re replacing bar
staff, maintenance workers, porters,
soldiers, waiters and surgeons while
their new, modern day software-
only counterparts are replacing
administrative staff, customer service
clerks and FX traders.
In other areas, autonomous vehicles
- from cars and trucks to aircraft
and half a million ton cargo ships are
eliminating drivers, operating crews,
parking attendants, pilots and traffic
wardens. Avatars are replacing actors,
bank tellers, call center agents,
teachers, and pre and post sales
support staff. Cloud reduced the need
for change managers, enterprise
architects, and operations staff while
the Internet of everything is reducing
the need for engineers, inspectors,
facilities managers and maintenance
staff. Smarter cities will reduce the
need for police, street cleaners and a
myriad of other public servants while
wearables and Telehealth are both
reducing the demand for secondary
care workers, doctors, and personal
trainers.
The lists go on. Look around you
and I’d be surprised if you yourself
aren’t already seeing some of these
changes occurring, albeit gradually,
for the moment. Unlike the industry
disruptions of the past, though, where
jobs were destroyed but where new
ones sprang up, worryingly no one,
from the UN to the G8, have any idea
what the jobs of the future might look
like. And, while some point towards
jobs that need creativity, empathy and
social skills the machines are already
acquiring those skills.
The future of education
Education is one of the society’s
cornerstones - after all, as government
spokespeople say, it’s what prepares
us to become ‘useful and productive
members of society.’ But as the jobs
market continues to shift education
needs to stay ahead of it ‘ decades
ahead in some cases, preparing
people for jobs in 20, 30, 40 and even
50 years time, and the less that we
talk about people living longer and
having to retire even later in life the
better, let’s keep things simple here.
The education industry has a unique
dilemma. On average it has 18 years
to prepare people for careers that
span over 50 years and, as the pace
of technological change continues to
accelerate, trying to provide people
with skills that keep them sharp and
employed throughout their lifetime
is no small feat. As we’ve seen, if
/7
the analysts are right, then by 2036
at least a third of today’s jobs, the
ones that ostensibly most academic
institutions are busy preparing
Generation Y and Z for, will have been
taken by the machines.
The upshot of all of this is that
the education industry needs to
be developing hard and soft skill
curriculums that prepare their students
for a changing world but often the
education industry is at least one or
two generations behind the technology
curve ‘ a curve which is increasing
exponentially.
Take for example today’s chronic
shortages of cyber security experts,
data scientists and software
developers ‘ roles that are cited time
and time again by the Fortune 500
and governments as being in great
demand. For Generation X, who are
often at greatest risk of being made
redundant these topics, and the
subject matter underpinning them
would have had to have been included
in the 1960’s and 1970’s curriculums
and how many academies in the
1960s prioritised programming as
a subject ‘ how many do it today?
Even now, as we live and stand in
/8
the ‘digital age’, the answer is very
few. While we could argue that
academics are now beginning to catch
onto software programming as a
crucial part of the curriculum, today’s
scientists have already moved on and
are programming biology. Where are
those skills in the curriculum?
The apparent difficulty we have in
forecasting the jobs of the future
could leave two or more generations
struggling for jobs. In the meantime,
though - and curriculums aside - the
education industry faces a unique
opportunity ‘ the opportunity to
reach out to everyone on the planet
and provide them all with access to
insightful, valuable content and there
are three areas, curation, distribution
and consumption that are all going
through paradigm shifts.
Curation
Every one of us has a unique individual
learning style, so curating educational
materials that get the most from
each student is no small task. In the
past, the majority of content was
standardized and the same materials
were pushed out to every individual in
the same way - irrespective of ability or
learning style. Inevitably, some people
took to it and others didn’t and for
those who didn’t they got left behind.
Over time course books and course
work content became digitized,
and now we have a plethora of
interactive apps, e-books, and other
on-demand materials. The digitization
of the education industry - albeit
gradual - is a turning point. Now in
digital form materials are accessible
to everyone and everything, humans,
and machines, and as a consequence,
they can become ‘smart’.
Today, all of our educational course
materials are curated by humans
but there will come a tipping point.
By 2030, equipped with artificial
intelligence and with unlimited
access to powerful cloud computing
resources curriculum savvy machines
will be able to tap into the power of
the cloud to create materials that,
based on a wealth of available data,
are specifically tailored to the needs,
aspirations and learning styles of each
individual student.
Device embedded cameras and
machine vision systems will be able to
analyze students’ facial expressions
and body language to calculate how
engaged and invested they are, as well
as how easy or difficult they’re finding
a particular subject or topic. Behavioral
analytics will analyze writing styles,
patterns, and speeds to measure
competency as well as surface the
early signs of learning disabilities such
as ADHD, dyscalculia, dysgraphia,
dyslexia and even memory problems.
With so many different modes of
feedback the AI engines, or AI
directors as they will come to be
known, will create rich, adaptive,
personalized educational materials in
real time. Gamified and embedded
with AI, behavioural, contextual and
semantic analytics, augmented reality
(AR), natural language processing and
universal translation and virtual reality
(VR) content will be able to take on
a life of its own even going so far as
providing students with their very own,
personalised VR teaching avatar that
could take the form of anything from
a talking tree to a representation of
Johnny Depp.
Distribution
Over the past 20 years, we have seen
a significant change in the way that
content is distributed. In the past
students had to attend a classroom
but now educators including MIT
and Harvard as well as corporate
organisations like P&G and General
Electric are offering students from
around the world the opportunity to
attend their own versions of Massive
Open Online Courses (MOOCs) -
courses run over the internet, often for
free that have not tens but hundreds
of thousands of participants.
The proliferation of new channels
creates new opportunities and
problems for educators whose
curriculums are often standardized
and highly regulated. The internet and
the proliferation of new ‘over the top’
content, via channels that can include
YouTube and WhatsApp as well as
Disney, Harvard and the app stores
means that children have access to
a world of new material of variable
quality and sometimes questionable
perspectives.
As more and more content goes
‘over the top’ (OTT), how we find it
and where we find it will also change.
Today we’re already beginning
to witness the creation of ‘smart’
content ‘ ostensibly the third wave of
disruption to hit the content industry.
The first being printing and the second
being the internet, smart content
is content embedded with AI and
machine learning that, rather than
waiting for its audience to seek it out,
seeks them out instead. Imagine, for
example, content that can analyze
and see new trends in the jobs
market months or years before they
materialize and that can push the right
types of content to you so you are
prepared, virtual CV in hand, for when
they do.
Today, only 3 billion people are
connected to the internet, but over
the next decade, new stratospheric
network platforms like Google Project
Loon, Facebook Project Aquila, and
OneVu will connect the last 4 billion,
giving them all the same access that
you and I take for granted. While we
might think that distribution is already
ubiquitous the fact remains that only
40% of the planet is connected and
that in itself presents educators with
an opportunity.
Consumption
Consumption will be one of the most
rapidly changing parts of the learning
equation. Students will increasingly
become accustomed to AI, AR,
avatars and VR-powered content
but over time, these technologies will
/9
 give way to platforms, for which there
are already working prototypes, that
use brain-computer interfaces (BCI)
to transmit content directly into our
brains.
The adoption of all of this content,
whether it’s VR or BCI based will
always be influenced by accessibility,
affordability, and design and the easier
the content is to absorb the more
potential we’ll realize.
The good news is that many of today’s
modern Millennial organizations
have already embraced a culture of
design thinking. How many of you
think that your three year old would
embrace technology so quickly if it
was difficult to use ‘ okay, they need
your finger to unlock your iPad but I’m
guessing, that is if they’re anything like
my children, that they know how to
navigate and use your gadgets with
impunity and that in some cases they
can use it better than
you do.
Today and in the future it’s often the
frictionless customer experience,
often dubbed ‘design thinking’
that accelerates the pace of new
technology adoption. Well thought out
and implemented correctly Generation
Y, Z and Alpha have already shown
us that they will embrace new
technologies like ducks to water and
as these new technologies get curated
into new products and services, moral
and ethical implications aside they
will have no qualms about embracing
technologies and capabilities that not
so long ago were thought of
as magical.
As one student put it when asked
to describe today’s technology to a
person from the 1800s, ‘In my hand I
hold all of the world’s information.’

Just think what

you could do with
that...

/ 10
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/ 11
 googlevs. home
amazon echo
Anastasia Anokhina, Managing Editor

The time has come to sit back with popcorn and enjoy the ultimate
battle of two tech giants - Google and Amazon. Competition is a
healthy thing, especially when it’s going to benefit us consumers, and
make our daily routine easier.

/ 12
 In May this year, Google introduced Google, the latter demonstrated the
The speakers Google Home, a voice-controlled,
internet-connected speaker that is
best performance, largely because
it used data from Google’s search

perform tasks like going to compete with Amazon’s

smart speaker, Echo. The rivalry is
going to be intense because both
web searches, products target the same audience
and are based on similar concepts.
adding calendar So what do they have in common?
First of all, Echo and Google Home
appointments or are both speaker systems. They
are designed to improve your daily
looking up movie routine by completing tasks which
may be more time consuming if done
showtimes on the manually. The speakers perform tasks
like web searches, adding calendar
engine. It seems like Home is powerful
enough to leave Echo in the dust.
However, what Google is lacking is
cooperation with others, whereas
Echo can easily order you pizza, set
the right temperature at home, and or
order an Uber through 3rd party apps.
Google Home seems to be more
beneficial performance-wise, but if it
wants to be successful, it needs to
catch up on some of the important
features that Amazon offers. If we
think of it from a target audience

Internet. They appointments and looking up movie

showtimes on the Internet. They
perspective, we will see ordinary
people who are interested in improving
essentially perform as your personal their daily routine and interested in
essentially assistant. the new technology but not obsessed
with it. Most of the consumers will not
perform as your Amazon’s product is already available
to order, with a pricetag of $179.99.
notice or read tech reviews, where
both products appear similar but will
Google aren’t at that stage yet, and
personal assistant we only saw a sneaky presentation
be slightly different from one another.
Consumers only want something that
at their Mountain View headquarters.
is attractive and convenient to use.
Whilst we are still waiting for more
details from Google, we can already At the moment, the fact that Amazon
see collaborates with third-party services
that there are differences between such as restaurants, local businesses,
the two gadgets. and taxi services, puts it ahead of
its rival. Google Home’s success
Appearance wise, both have a
will largely depend on whether
cylindrical shape but Google Home
the company can persuade other
went for a more compact version
developers to collaborate and create
than Echo. However, Amazon also
new features.
launched its Echo Dot, a smaller
version which has similar features to
its bigger brother and is also based
on voice recognition. The top of the
Home unit is slanted downwards,
whereas Echo’s top is flat. Echo only
comes in black, whilst you can
choose from a selection of colors for
Google Home.
But the most important element is
always who does it better. The brains
of Home is going to be Google’s
virtual assistant, which works with
the help of its extensive search
database, whereas Echo relies on
Alexa, Amazon’s assistant. In this
respect, Google is ahead of its
rival. According to tests which were
designed to compare virtual assistants
from Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and

/ 13
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TECH UNICORNS TO
BECOME A RARITY
Bloated valuations are giving way to more
cautious investment

Charlie Sammonds, Assistant Editor

/ 15
In the world of tech, the ever-
swelling stable of unicorns that
has been dominating the startup
conversation for years is set to be
thinned. Unicorns are far more
common than their title suggests:
According to Fortune, the number
of private companies currently
valued at $1 billion or more stands
at 174. Of that total, a huge 66
can be found in California - the
majority in Silicon Valley - with
New York and China the other two
notable locations. Included in the
list are giants like Uber, Airbnb,
Snapchat, Pinterest and Buzzfeed,
but there are plenty of smaller
companies with inflated valuations
that are in for a potentially rocky
2016.
The impending disappearances will
not come as a shock as venture
capitalists and analysts have predicted
a downturn for some time. In April,
Benchmark Capital’s Bill Gurley wrote
an essay confirming what has been
a discussion for months - that the
unicorn situation is unsustainable.
Founders, often without a CFO in their
ranks, are regularly unequipped to
manage such lofty valuations and the
burn rates unfortunately associated
with tech startups.
It is the latter that many site as the
likely cause of the downturn in unicorn
numbers. Burn rates are one of the
key reasons these companies fail.
Founders and backers know when the
money will run out, but raising funds
has become significantly more difficult.
According to Bill Gates, ‘There is
some sorting out that is taking place.
It should never be a case of closing
your eyes and saying ‘Oh, it’s a tech
company, just throw money at it’. That
strategy worked for about two years;
now you actually have to open your
eyes and look at the company.’
Investment has reflected this
mentality - According to a PwC/
NVCA MoneyTree report, VC funding
slowed to $11.3 billion in Q4 2015,
down 32% from the previous quarter.
The ‘easy money’ for tech unicorns
/ 16
has continued to dry up this year, and if some of their key clients fold in the
burn rates will have to be curbed in near future.
any surviving unicorn company. Some
According to data from Mattermark,
companies have cut perks - free
analyzed by Business Insider, a
food, massages, gym memberships
number of e-commerce companies
etc. - but it will be the loss of jobs and
could be in trouble while biotech
assets that really signal a business
and energy startups are desperately
fighting for survival.
struggling. The impending decrease
For years, companies have been in unicorn numbers is not just caused
‘funded at valuations that were far by existing ones struggling, and
ahead of their fundamental progress the slowdown in VC funding will
as businesses… some of those compound the issue and see the
companies are not actually that great pool shrink further. What is perhaps
fundamental businesses,’ according to important to remember, though, is that
Sequoia’s Alfred Lin, and this creates this will simply be a return to normality.
a problem when the company is made The bloated valuations of the past few
public. Bill Reichert, managing director years have been the true anomaly, and
of Garage Technology Ventures, many are of the opinion that a return
said: ‘The public markets cannot to realistic investment will actually
possibly absorb the current batch of benefit the economy as a whole. Sky-
unicorns at their current valuations, high optimism is just one end of the
not to mention the thundering herd of ebb and flow of Silicon Valley and the
unicorn wannabes. There will be more wider startup scene - the tech unicorn
disappointment than celebration over could be set to rediscover its rarity.
the next 18 months.’
Identifying the unicorns most at risk
of disappearing is difficult, though.
No company goes bust with money
in the bank, and private startups are
rarely open with their balance sheets
- other metrics must be looked at.
According to Danielle Morrill, founder
of Mattermark (via Business Insider),
at-risk unicorns fit the following criteria.
They haven’t exited, they have raised
over $100 million, they have seen
growth in a number of employees in
the past six months fall to 5% or less
and they have raised new funding in
the last 36 months.
Unicorns that fit these criteria, as well
as having low growth scores, are the
most at risk. They have displayed
promise but rounds of funding
often wildly skew valuations, with
employee growth a key giveaway. B2B
companies in this situation tend to
find buyers - albeit at an often greatly
reduced valuation - but B2C unicorns
with low margins face a difficult time.
Startups that primarily sell to other
startups, too, will face difficulty -
businesses need to know who their
customers are if only to avoid a shock
 Product Innovation
Summit
September 28 & 29, 2016 | Boston

Speakers Include
+ 1 415 799 9986
dmarshall@theiegroup.com
theinnovationenterprise.com
Drones:
Skynet or Safe Bet?
Kit Feber, Partner at Big Cloud
Last week, PwC announced that
they were testing the use of drones
in a wide array of industries, from
construction to insurance. They
were testing the drone technology in
Poland, because it is one of the only
countries in the world, apart from
South Africa, that has laws which
allow the use of drones at a distance
that exceeds line of sight. This says a
great deal about the general attitude
to unmanned drones at present, but
this skepticism could soon be about
to change. It has been reported,
admittedly by aforementioned drone
enthusiasts PwC, that the drone
industry could take $127 billion worth
of human work by 2020. This could
include, but would not be limited to,
work that is currently too dangerous
or difficult for humans to complete.
Drones could prove invaluable in

/ 18
detecting gas leaks at power plants,
fighting forest fires in the Canadian
wilderness, or searching for survivors
at the sites of natural disasters.
There are already a number of key
implementations of drone technology,
that could have significant benefits
now and in the near future. A team
from the University of Zurich have
developed a tiny quadcopter which
can follow the paths in dense forests
from above, and could be used
to search for missing people. The
Phantom 4 drone, developed by
Chinese company DJI and Apple,
can autonomously follow its user
around, whilst avoiding obstacles
such as cars, pets and trees, and
could be useful for filmmakers, or
people who just like a drone to follow
them around! DJI estimate that their
drones represent 70% of the total
market share worldwide, and retail
their drones at $1,399, a bargain
considering the sophistication of
the technology. E-Commerce giant
Amazon amazed the world with
its advert featuring a Prime drone
delivering a package in under 30 mins
from order. While many were skeptical,
Amazon is clearly ambitious, and one
of their teams in Austria is currently
developing the drones, which they
hope will be operational in major cities
worldwide in the next couple of years.
From window cleaning to filmmaking
and everything in between, drones
are likely to impact every industry,
with PwC reporting that infrastructure,
agriculture, and transport will be the
three areas of maximum utility, with a
value of over $80 billion. So what’s the
catch? If this affordable, transportable
and easily customizable technology is
available, why is it not already being
implemented on a global scale?
Unfortunately, the word ‘drone’ has
some rather unfortunate associations.
Mention it to some people and rather
than see an opportunity, they see a
threat. Type the word ‘drone’ into
Google, and it’s likely that one of
the articles appeared will have a title
similar to ‘When Good Drones Go
Bad’. One of the most popular Box
Office films at the moment, ‘Eye in the workers in industries all over the
Sky’, focusses on the moral dilemmas world, or could the drones make
facing the pilot of a weaponized their lives easier, by doing the jobs
drone in Kenya. Associations such that are monotonous, dangerous
as this only highlight the reasons why or hard to reach? There is a phrase
drone regulations are being so rigidly that has appeared recently in relation
enforced, particularly in the United to the development of autonomous
States and the UK. Not to mention technology: ‘Augmented Intelligence’.
that a British Airways pilot reported This term means that AI will actually
recently that his plane had hit a drone look to work alongside humans,
on its approach to Heathrow Airport rather than to replace them, and it is
before he was able to land the plane here that the drones could be most
safely. At the moment, anyone can useful. Drones can be used to search
buy a drone from a shop or online, the wreckage after a natural disaster,
and anyone can fly it. They have been but don’t have the strength to pull a
used to fly over soccer stadiums and survivor free, which is where a human
political demonstrations, and although element will be invaluable. Likewise,
99% of users are conscientious and many drones won’t have autonomous
safe in the use of their drones, it is capabilities, and will, therefore, need a
the 1% who aren’t that appear most human to pilot them, so drones don’t
frequently in the public eye. appear to be replacing the human
workforce anytime soon.
Some clarification might be in order.
First of all, it is highly unlikely that
the drones that are to be used in What do you
the industry will be piloted by just
anyone, especially with health and
think about the
safety being what it is today. With the rise of drones?
way that legislation is flying about at
the moment, particularly in the UK, Are you
drone licenses might become the
only way of being able to use them. excited about
Furthermore, one way of ensuring that
drones can’t be used as autonomous
the prospect
killers, as many people seem to fear, or are you
would surely be to not fit them with
weapons? There are also fears that concerned
drones are the latest stage in the
automation of traditional jobs, and that that there
if they are allowed to be developed
to their full potential, they could
are too many
replace humans in the workplace unanswered
altogether. That fear might be allayed
by the biggest issue that drone questions?
manufacturers are currently looking to
solve: their frankly short battery life,
which doesn’t stretch much beyond
45 minutes at present. Let’s just hope
you don’t get lost an hour or more
from Mountain Rescue HQ before they
fix that issue!
Drones are clearly a huge opportunity,
hence the billions of dollars of
investment in the industry in recent
months. That being said, does
their development spell disaster for
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channels.theinnovationenterprise.com
 Enterprises Are Moving
Towards Labs And Incubators
To Fuel Innovation
Labs and incubators are proven to boost
innovation and perform as an efficient
problem-solving tool

/ 21

It seems like nowadays there is almost a daily announcement
about the creation of a lab, a hub or innovation incubator.
Solely in the U.S, there are more than 3,500 incubators and
accelerators compared to 12 back in 1980. Labs and Incubators
are not limited to one industry and can exist within pretty
much any sector, from medicine to finance.
Building internal labs and incubators
is similar to creating a company within
a company. For instance, a lab would
still be considered as a part of the
enterprise but would have its own
unique environment and working
atmosphere. Typically, these kinds of
projects are aiming to experiment with
innovation trends and in the end, they
would be able to deliver new products
or services. This ‘creative island’ is
usually isolated from the corporate
space in order to make developers
feel comfortable.
Innovation is all about generating
new ideas and introducing them to
the world. However, a core of it is
delivering the right product to the
customers, bearing in mind their
needs and interests. The purpose
of labs is to identify ideas that solve
important customer problems and also
apply design thinking, agile, and lean
startup methods to make it happen.
Integration of internal incubators and
labs is one of the ways in which to
do business inside a larger company.
Even successful entrepreneurs can
run out of ideas and start looking for
inspiration elsewhere. Thus, executives
often consider options like internal
business incubators and innovation
labs, places where innovation is born
and ideas generated.
One of the most successful examples
of incubators is based in Pasadena,
California - Idealab. The company
was started in 1996 and its aim is to
find good ideas for new businesses
and then recruit people from outside
/ 22
Dean Marshall
Innovation Commentator
to complete projects. Successful Successful incubators and labs
incubators take a bigger cut of the will always make sure that there
company than accelerators, usually is ongoing communication and
starting from 20%. education happening within its space
as long as there is no conflict between
In labs people work on different
the innovation team and the rest of the
projects, including some in very early
corporate team. It may seem difficult
experimental phases and others that
establishing a new business and
are fully developed and ready to be
operating it in a larger company, but
incorporated into the main product
if done correctly, it will have a positive
family. One of the most important
impact and provide a number of
features, regardless of the project
opportunities for the future.
stage, is the fact that they are all
focused on the customer. The eventual
aim is to successfully graduate and
become a part of the wider company.
Unlike groups that are only
assigned a single task or problem
to solve, innovation labs create
a unique ecosystem, where a
collective approach can be used for
problem-solving as well as product
development. This allows a team
to test capabilities and hypotheses
and deploy faster iterations while
ensuring all parties have a shared
understanding of the problem.
One of the most powerful elements of
incubators is that they bring people
together from different disciplines and
then create a team where everyone is
involved. However, in some aspects,
it may create challenges because
an incubator’s work doesn’t always
mix well with the existing business
processes, which sometimes creates a
tension between those working in the
incubator and those following more
traditional procedures.
 Chief Innovation
Officer Summit
September 7 & 8, 2016 | Shanghai

Speakers Include
+ 852 5808 1636
ryuan@theiegroup.com
theinnovationenterprise.com
Is Your Company
Succeeding In
Innovation Or PR?
Harriet Connolly, Head of Innovation

Have you ever thought about the true meaning of innovation?

Believe it or not, it may cause confusion amongst the
companies who think they are doing well at innovation but in
fact, they may be succeeding in PR.

These days, the word innovation is
highly popular. It has evolved from
a term with a specific meaning, to
an over-used must-have amongst
totally different industries. The
frequent use of innovation, has
nothing to do with applying it in
practice.
A vague understanding of its
meaning may also leads to negative
consequences, the worst one of
which is losing the power of its
original meaning. In that case, things
could snowball, leading to confusion
between those who have different
definitions.
It is not just the word we have
a problem with. A number of
professionals who genuinely can’t
distinguish between innovation and
invention, or innovation and creation.
Unlike other terms, innovation
means something new and uniquely
useful, with a stress on the latter.
The ridiculousness is compounded
by companies that want to appear
innovative but don’t seem to know
what the word means, and create
illusions of developing products
and launching new ones. This
phenomenon has even been given
a name - innoganda. Unsurprisingly,
there is no good in innoganda and

/ 24
 1
in business, it is used to describe an
effort that has little hope of driving
. What is the most
any material impact. exciting real project
Innoganda campaigns are often run you are working on at
in a piecemeal manner. Sometimes,
seeking to emulate others,
the moment?
executives hire a Chief Innovation
Officer but don’t give them any

2
budget or staff. Perhaps, following
trends, a company might build an
. How would it fit
innovation lab that doesn’t have the the company’s
funding or staffing to do anything
effectively, but looks good for the
strategy?
press. An increasingly popular
move is to create a press release

3
announcing the creation of a new
accelerator that will communicate
. How far are you in
with the startup community and the development
change the way we see things. In
reality, the company may not even
process?
know what it’s going to accelerate
and who it is going to communicate

4
with.
. How do you plan
There is even a test that you can
apply to spot those who are involved
to accelerate from
in innoganda campaigns. The next having an idea to the
time you suspect innoganda, it is
worth asking 5 simple questions:
real impact?

5 . Is there enough
financial support
for your team to make
a real product/service
out of your ideas?

Blank stares and weak answers will

tell you all you need to know. We are
not saying that the attempts to drive
innovation in a company have no
impact, but being poorly treated and
organized, these kinds of projects
would not give you anything but
financial and time loss. A genuine
desire to create a unique product
and a clear understanding of your
strategy, that’s what going to boost
innovation in your company.

/ 25
Innovation Challenges The
Corporate Longevity Of The
Large Businesses
Old-fashioned business approach is no longer an
option in the innovation-driven world
Pearl Cheng, Innovation Writer

The storm is coming and a red alert
has been issued for executives of
large companies. Forecasts predict
they may lose control of their firms
in the future. The world is changing
and external factors affect large
businesses by slowing their growth
and disrupting their influence. A
strategic readiness study says that
growth strategy is being undermined
by day-to-day decisions inside
companies and that too many
companies are lacking a coherent
vision of the future.
Standard & Poor's (S&P), the
world’s leading index provider,
predicts a challenging future for the
companies on its top 500 list. S&P
has been providing financial market
intelligence to decision-makers for
more than 150 years, meaning that
their words have some weight.
It is predicted that lifespan of
large enterprises is going to drop
significantly by 2030. Each year,
companies drop out from the S&P
500 list being replaced by new

/ 26
entries. According to some statistics, M&A activity. It intensifies because
in 2015, 28 firms were replaced on businesses either start struggling
the list. Back in 1958, a company and later they are bought out, or,
could easily expect to stay on the they merge with others because they
list for 60 years, whereas today the are not growing fast enough. 2015
average lifespan is only 18 years. was a record year for M&A deals,
with more than $5 trillion announced
For instance, big players such as
deals.
H.J.Heinz, US Steel, Dell Computers
and The New York Times have As the situation is escalating quickly,
been replaced by young but rapidly in order to stay big, businesses need
growing companies like Facebook, to consider abandoning their old
PayPal, Trip Advisor and Netflix. strategies and markets and enter
One of the reasons for that may be new ones. Balancing on the edge
that mature companies are lacking does not provide rapid growth and
the ability to create new markets an advantage over the new fast-
and new products because they are growing companies.
too comfortable in their own niche.
By missing new opportunities, the
firms create a gap which gives an
opportunity for the new businesses
to jump in the market and gracefully
enter the S&P 500 list.
The current changes are not
catastrophic just yet because
the business world tends to have
life cycles. Those cycles usually
reflect the state of the economy
or disruption by technology. The
latter factor is an important one, as
more young companies are moving
towards innovation and set it as
their top priority. They attempt to
create a revolution by achieving
tech breakthroughs, nurturing social
media culture and introducing
the whole new world of cloud
computing. Another force that helps
to create new entries is the rise of
the startups with billion-dollar private
valuations which are also known as
'unicorns'.
For instance, Hewlett-Packard sells
computers, laptops, and printers.
People still buy those products,
but they are not buying enough
to secure the company's growth
in the future. There has been a
shift towards the fast-growing
technologies such as smartphones
and tablets, which gain much more
interest from the consumers. HP is
still strong but has started to shrink.
Additionally, longevity continues
decreasing because of the intense

/ 27
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