Looking Ahead To A Good Year Of Innovation

I don’t like to wish time away, but I am glad to see 2009 is behind us.  It was a very challenging year thanks to one of the worst financial climates in decades.  No thanks to the blind squirrels in Washington, some hopeful signs that the worst is behind can be seen.  Let’s all hope that these signs are true indicators of an upward trend for 2010.

Looking back to 2009, it was a challenging but good year from my point of view.  What made it good?  Simply, the financial stresses and practical realities of the recessionary climate made the strategic importance of innovation palpable to businesses globally.  As a result, the conversation in many companies has moved beyond “We should do something about innovation,” to “How do we do something about innovation?”  Better still, many companies have taken concrete steps to transform themselves by moving down a path toward instilling innovation capabilities as a core competence.

The momentum for innovation that was built in 2009 should now translate into tangible action in 2010 as the climate for investment improves with companies slowly becoming more bullish about the prospects for the New Year.  Already, I see many signs among the global companies which I talk to that suggest this is a growing trend for this year.

In my own organization, this scenario has been mirroring the global trend.  In 2009, we took the change in global business climate as a sign that it was time to change the game, and so it was that we introduced game changing innovations in our products to help our global customers drive their own innovation initiatives even faster.  Looking forward to 2010, we are again undertaking many innovation projects that are redefining the limits of what is possible.  It’s shaping up to be a very exciting year.

What does the year ahead hold for you?  I’d love to hear about it.  While you’re at it, please take a moment to vote in the Vizu poll on this blog (look to your left) where the current polling question is: “V recession or double dip, what does the climate for innovation activity look like for your organization in 2010?”

Comments

[Leila]

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