I am enjoying the debates over at the TASC blog and the irisheconomy blog. Good to get perspectives on NAMA and other economics issues. There is a real emphasis on NAMA though probably because it captures the headlines so effectively. There has been some debate on Ireland Smart Economy & Innovation proposals here & here but not on the scale of NAMA.

The innovation debate centres a little around two items; firstly, investment in third level education and secondly, what is innovation anyway?

I tried to help answer the second question a little.

Wonder what you think of the answer?

On the definition of innovation. I see that innovation can be a result, that result being something both new & valuable. Innovation can also be a process, a way of achieving that result.

The one off miracle teeth whitener or whizzy dizzy food slicer can surely be seen as innovations. Probably not wise to trust your economy to chance or trial & error though.

Innovation processes are properly about being able to make the innovative product or service less a result of blind luck or “blue skys” thinking but more of following paths and processess to guide and focus the imagination.
Sli Eile mentions Korea as an example of government investment in R&D. Korean industries ,such as Samsung & LG, have invested in learning processes such as TRIZ to improve their innovation processes.

As to whether Innovation and R&D are the same. The answer is yes and no. The Kirton Adaptor-Innovator (KAI) scale is a useful model to consider. At one end is your Academic/R&D pure research type folks, at the other end the adaptors, the transformers. We all fall somewhere on the scale but both ends create new value & innovation, you just can’t use the same metrics. Einstein ,at the innovator end, never sought or was granted a patent. Edsion at the other end, with 1093 patents, always worked on things there was existing models for.

There is a need for a more sophisticated understanding of the processes and metrics required for innovation in Ireland. Experts on customer experience, product design, creative problem solving & innovation are out there in the Irish economy I don’t believe we have to look very far to find the raw potential for ideas either.

You are right to identify the ambiguity of the language in the report. I join you in hoping for more clarity in the future.

The management of the innovation process is not that weird, esoteric or magical in nature that we should ignore the knowledge out there in favour of spending cash to just to meet an OECD or EU average in the hope it that will bring a knowledge economy to Ireland.

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