Innovation and Entrepreneurship

A Vision of the Future

Innovation is a powerful concept, hyped by many, yet all too often misunderstood, misapplied, and underutilized.

Back in 1985, Peter Drucker defined entrepreneurship as, "The practice of systematic, managed, and purposeful innovation." Let's interpret him to mean that entrepreneurship is purposeful innovation of businesses, and business is purposeful innovation of products and processes. That identifies the two key sides of any business.

Innovation of business and the business of innovation

Every business must evolve both itself and its value to stakeholders.  To envision the full scope of innovation, let's grow our perspective step by step.

A product is any way to satisfy needs of targeted customers and other stakeholders. On the commercial side, we commonly recognize products, services, technologies, processes, expertise, business models, strategies, facilities, and investment opportunities. Now expand that for government (e.g., maintained infrastructure), education (knowledgeable graduates), military (security against threats), and the arts (symphonies, paintings, sonnets).

The business of innovation delivers new results that permeate our lives.

Expanding your view, you'll see that a business itself is a product... perhaps of corporate strategy, perhaps of entrepreneurial spirit.

Entrepreneurship is the innovation of new, free-standing businesses.

"Intrapreneurship" is innovation of businesses within existing organizations, and is vastly more common than entrepreneurship. We can innovate businesses in any industry serving any market.  Indeed, we must innovate or lose our advantage.

Innovation of business changes our world... every day in many ways.

Now expand your view again. Innovative businesses may offer products so new that no current market exists. Effective launch of an attractive new product can quite literally create its own market.

Innovation delivers opportunities beyond our normal expectations.

The next step up is an industry. The computer industry was an innovation half a century ago. Biotech is happening today. Commercial spaceflight is coming. With persistence of large numbers of innovators, we consistently innovate whole new industries. You'll probably be part of the innovation of a new industry. After all, we live in the global transition from industrial age to information age.

Innovation recreates and renews much of the context of our lives.

Let's go another step. Human civilization is the sum of innovating and re-innovating social constructs (e.g., constitutions) and social contracts (agreements to honor constructs) over the last 10,000 years or so. Our survival as a species requires innovating new constructs and contracts leading to preservation of ecosystems and peace among Humans everywhere.

Innovation used for peace and sustainability
may be the single most valuable asset Humanity will ever own.

Gary Lundquist, 2007