Innovating Ourselves Out of the Economic Crisis

This discussion about innovation at the World Economic Forum in Davos provides some optimistic outlook on how we could find ourselves out from the economic crisis that originates from the melt down in the financial market in the US. I am sure human being had survived numerous crisis before and the present one would not be the last.

Following the discussion about innovation, we could observe a number of features which we could apply in business or other issues that we need to resolve:

• Innovation is not limited to scientific discoveries only covers many areas such as leadership, management, process etc

• Since innovation is driven by brain power, involvement of larger pool of people with expertise in broad areas of knowledge would enhance the success of the effort

• Opportunities for people to offer their ideas should be created including organising competition within an organisation or throughout industries

• Motivation for innovation is not limited to monetary rewards. However, the reward system must be transparent and fair to all parties

Another discussion which could be relevant to innovation is about the protection of intellectual property rights. Interestingly, the discussion on this area in Davos agrees that intellectual property protection is essential for development but inequality in this area needs to be recognised as there are different developmental stages among countries as well as the ability to deploy innovation could differ from country to country. 

From my observation, one of the challenges for companies in Malaysia to innovate is the sense on reliance on the government to the extend that we always expect the government to solve all our problems. Perhaps given that everybody may be facing greater challenge this year, more people and corporations would push themselves to think outside the box and become a more innovative society.

What would be the areas that you would be innovating to sustain your business in this challenging economic environment?