Innovation was and remains crucial if you want to remain competitive and keep pace with your industry. Much has been written about innovation. This book virtually adds some fresh thoughts to to body of knowledge.
Not Invented Here: Cross-industry Innovation
by Ramon Vullings and Marc Heleven
Despite massive budgets for R&D and innovation, most businesses are still bound to the mental borders of their industry. In today’s business environment of disruption and breakdown of industry boundaries, this might be a grave mistake. As the authors state:
“Organizations need more radical and game-changing innovation to be able to meet the challenges they will be facing.”
“The problem is that – in many cases – innovation is an extrapolation of the current situation. Incremental improvement is necessary and beneficial, yet it is not enough to gain a real competitive advantage or to find game-changing ways of working.”
Vullings and Heleven urge businesses to overcome the “Not invented here” attitude that limits their innovation efforts. There is new untapped ground in other industries. Whereas a “copy and paste” approach will not work in most cases, a “copy and adapt” approach may lead a big step forward.
“Cross-industry innovation is a clever way to jump-start your innovation efforts by drawing analogies and transferring approaches between contexts, beyond the borders of your own industry, sector, area or domain”
This idea might look like a frightening and huge task for many businesses. Fortunately, this new book offers a comprehensive toolkit for tackling cross-industry innovation. It helps you to
- Ask the right questions (chapter 2)
- Look if someone else has already solved your problem (chapter 3)
- Identify inspiring industries (chapter 4)
- Wonder what x would do (chapter 5)
- Think about your particular business challenge (chapter 6)
- Use the power of the unexpected (chapter 7)
- Generate ideas on how to remix your industry (chapter 8)
This book is highly inspiring. Since inspiration alone is not enough, the authors also provide a range of helpful tools like tips for an innovative web search or a cross-industry transfer map and more. You can preview and download templates for some of them on the books website.
Besides being inspiring, the book is well structured, actionable and great to read. It is a highly recommended reading for all those who want to learn how to get beyond the traditional approach to innovation for their business. Besides that the book provides valuable ideas for startups and entrepreneurs.
Get this book at amazon.com
Not Invented Here: Cross-industry Innovation
(image source: http://www.crossindustryinnovation.com/media/)