The term innovation means a creation (a new device or process) resulting from study and experimentation. The creation of something in the mind leads to innovation. It can be termed as conception or design of something
Picture of Usain Bolt taken during Beijing Olympics in 2008. In 2009 he became the first man to hold the 100 and 200 m world and Olympic titles at the same time. His record breaking margin in 100 m is the highest since the start of digital time measurements. His achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "'Lightning Bolt".
Thus we can see that all the modern races are won in the mind even before the actual race begins. I saw this very much in the Beijing Olympics in the face of Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt Who bagged the maximum number of gold medals in athletics during the event.
In organizations the management must take an active role by learning to identify individuals with a creative bent, encouraging their special attributes and skills, and providing them with a challenging work environment. Innovation is an essential ingredient of economic and social growth. It helps to increase productivity by generating new products, processes, and services and is instrumental in creating new and better jobs, reducing production costs, and increasing personal incomes. Without innovation, prices tend to rise, employment declines, and competition from foreign goods increases. On careful analysis we can find that there has always been a large reservoir of untapped creative talent waiting to be utilised. The trick is for technical managers to learn how to recognise innovative individuals and to draw out their talent to the fullest extent.
Characteristics of an innovator
Few topics spark more spirited debate than that of the nature of innovation. But it is generally agreed that whereas an inventor develops a new idea, device, or process, the innovator brings about changes by introducing new methods. The innovator may or may not originate the new idea involved in the change, but he is the one who brings the idea to the market place and achieves some degree of acceptance.
Although the basic concept of innovation is quite simple, the creative process by which it occurs defies a cut-and-dried explanation. There is agreement, however, that the crucial factor involved is the unique combination of drives and qualities that characterizes the personality of the innovator.
A penchant for innovation exists in varying degrees in many engineers. But most of them succumb to compromises in their careers relative to their desire for money or position. But these motivations are not important to the innovator, who may or may not realize such rewards as a result of his ground breaking actions. In addition, the innovator has persistence, confidence, and a can do attitude that transcends all other considerations. He has a gut feeling that what he is doing is right, and he tries doggedly to get others to go along with him. Accordingly, an innovative person is questioning, competitive, pugnacious, and sometimes not pleasant to work with.
Such attributes are somewhat of a paradox for the typical engineer, who generally is an introvert. Nonetheless, the technical innovator maintains the courage of his convictions and makes the effort necessary to become a salesman. The strength of such characteristics is most evident when an innovator must find acceptance or a market for his pet idea.
Increasing your potential for innovation
An innovative engineer uses knowledge and skills in new ways, as opposed to merely following the directives or blue prints someone else has drawn up. He must possess creativity, determination, and the courage to break new ground. He understands the needs of the market he is trying to serve, so that his efforts usually produce useful results.
Unlike the merely creative person who focuses on generating new ideas, the innovator must turn his ideas into reality. Thus, he must become the advocate of a particular product in pursuing his idea from conception to application. To develop the skills necessary to accomplish this task an engineer should:
Ø Be product oriented, know the market needs of the company and position himself to be able to fill those needs
Ø Synthesize all relevant information when addressing a problem.
Ø Know where to get information that is not on hand
Ø Work within a tight budget
Ø Set goals according to realistic schedules
Ø Keep track of all the details of a project, either personally or through others.
Ø Make decisions and judgments no sooner or later than they are required.
Ø Supervise personnel fairly.
Ø Contribute to, and learn from, the people worked with.
Ø Learn from personal mistakes and from the mistakes of others.
Ø Communicate effectively.
An engineer does not have to be directly involved in all aspects of product development. However, he must be able to carry out any of the phases should the need arise. Thus, an understanding of each of these responsibilities is as essential to an engineer fulfilling the role of innovator as it is to an engineer functioning as an ordinary designer or manager.
Also, the innovative engineer recognizes the value of keeping abreast of various technologies, including those not directly related to their current projects. Such an on-going education produces a vast repertoire of knowledge to draw upon as needed. Also, it helps avoid the trap of becoming too deeply involved in a single area of expertise, only to find later that such specialized skills have become outdated.
Gearing a staff for innovation
Most engineering recruiters and managers agree that finding innovative engineers versed in several engineering disciplines is not easy today. They believe that the sense of responsibility, resourcefulness, and breadth of technical knowledge held by engineers a decade ago far exceeds that of today’s counterparts.
One obvious place to look for innovators is among the graduates of engineering colleges. Unfortunately, many graduates do not understand what is involved in being a practicing engineer, let alone comprehend the intricacies of being an engineering innovator. As a result, many engineering graduates aspire to little more than attaining some measure of personal financial comfort.
Engineering managers can compensate for this situation by carefully evaluating candidates for innovation potential before filling staff positions. This screening process should subject applicants to tests that would evaluate their technical training (or experience), their ability to handle stress, and their willingness to take risks. Such tests will reveal whether the individual has a dynamic and clear- cut sense of direction or is merely looking for an un-imaginative pigeonhole in a mundane company project.
Managers can also improve the innovation potential of their engineering staff by placing entry-level engineers in challenging positions under the guidance of senior-level engineers. This will ensure satisfaction and build confidence among newcomers, while preparing them to take on more difficult assignments in the future. Some measures an innovation-minded department should consider are:
1. Formal in-house training programs that will expose engineers to marketing, production, and other disciplines.
2. Department restructuring that will allow newcomers to work under a senior engineer or “mentor,” or with a group of highly experienced engineers who can teach the new engineers sound technical methods.
3. Job assignments that capture the flavour of the old-fashioned project engineer, as opposed to assignments that demand excessive specialization.
Remuneration is also important. No engineer can be expected to develop his innovative powers to the fullest if he feels that his efforts are not fully appreciated. This problem is reflected in the compression of engineering salaries which has occurred over the past several years. Innovate engineers usually owe at least part of their motivation to employers who recognise the value of their work.
India and innovation
By exploiting its significant strengths in knowledge-based resources, India can leapfrog to the innovation-driven stage and reap a higher rate of growth. India’s world-class engineering and business schools offer opportunities to export higher knowledge in specialised fields. India must exploit its investments in human capital by positioning itself as an innovation-driven economy focussed on knowledge-based industries. In 2008, India’s e-learning exports totalled $350 Million. India has significant strengths in knowledge-based resources. (For example; Product development, drug development, JV in hospitals, Health and Wellness, Proprietary software, Higher education and Virtual learning). By exploiting them, India can move its economy to the innovation-driven stage and reap a higher rate of growth.
Having dwelt with innovation in the previous paragraphs, we can now see what it takes to innovate as given below:-
The problem with traditional engineering departments may well be that their managers have neglected ‘critical-function-staffing’. Apart from whatever technical disciplines are necessary, five functional positions must be filled in every engineering group if profitable innovation is to occur.
· Idea generator – the creative sparkplug who comes up with new, bright ideas for developing new products and processes.
· Entrepreneur – the person who picks up the idea, whether it is his own or someone else’s, and champions it within the company.
· Gatekeepers – people who perform several specialized roles. The technical gatekeeper bridges the gap between the inside organization and the outside world of technology; the market gatekeeper understands what the competition is doing, what the regulators are up to, and what is happening in the marketplace; and the manufacturing gatekeeper knows enough about the environment of the manufacturing plant to keep technical colleagues up to date on the realities of materials, processes, and labour skills.
· Program manager – the person, who formally or informally plans, coordinates, supervises, and integrates the roles and contributions of the others in the department.
· Sponsor – a sort of “godfather” in the organization who provides protection, encouragement, and other help to those trying to push the new ideas forward.
Based on this breakdown, it is clearly not enough to focus on the technical backgrounds of members assembled in the engineering team. Such information provides little insight into the key attributes of individuals that are needed to perform the vital, unassigned functions that are essential to innovation.
In the light of the foregoing, we find that innovation leads to job creation, productivity improvement, market leadership etc... All of us have the wherewithal in our human brain system but the antenna in our brain is not used properly to get the full effect of innovation. Let all of us come out with our innovative ideas and put that to work in order to achieve the end results desired. In the first instance we witnessed the industrial revolution. We are going through the I.T. revolution from the beginning of 21st century. We will also go through the innovation revolution in the days to come. This will give us joy, satisfaction and fulfillment which will also clearly reflect in the faces of people in the society.
Be blissful.
S.SEKAR
Contact: sekrajc@yahoo.com
Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did. ~Newt Gingrich
