Bringing Innovations in Technologies in the Market: Entrepreneurship Experience

Someone predicted the smartphone in 1953 without even knowing that more than half century later his prediction would be reality. Dealing with innovations in technologies and business models to bring them in the market is even challenging beyond predicting them.
In 1997 I was the one to develop the first business plan and the first business model to invest and operate the first generation of digital mobile phone technologies (GSM) in Africa, especially in Congo. The company created under the Congolese government concession licence No2/97/GSM on January 02, 1998 with these business plan and model was among the first ones in the world to market these innovations in technologies. Few years later, that company was acquired by a major multinational firm in telecommunications…
In my first book I published as Economist scholar and researcher in Belgium🇧🇪 and France 🇫🇷 (Le Défi Congolais: de la Dégénérescence à la Renaissance; Academia-Bruylant, L’Harmattan, 2001–2002); I used some of data and outcomes from the market study I made and that I used to design the business model case of the mobile phone project in Congo in 1997.
Since 2015 to nowadays I have been working on scaling up in the global market 3D printing technologies for construction with WINSUN innovations. I am also working to introduce hybrid airship technologies for logistics on the market… One of the lessons I have learnt from my experience as entrepreneur is that people tend to see disruptive innovations throughout past experiences instead of projecting themselves to the future and envision different opportunities that such innovations would bring…
As consequence, many are incapable to anticipate real benefits of innovations for the economy and the wellbeing of people. It is even more difficult when outsiders should bring innovations within very risk averse and high capitalistic industries where insiders have huge powers…
Governments that support entrepreneurs to take reasonable financial and economic risk on innovations in business models and technologies are the ones that will really help to create wealth while making the economy sustainable… That’s the main idea beyond the concept of creative destruction.
It seems to me that it was easier to bring innovations in technologies in the market before 2000s than it is nowadays. Am I alone to notice this? Is this a new trend that is shaping the future? If it is; that’s a real disaster in making…
This video of Jeff Bezos in 1997 explaining the potential and future of E-commerce is another exemple of how visionary entrepreneurs can easily understand the value of innovations in technologies. It also shows how it was easy to introduce disruptive innovations in the market before 2000s.
Bill and Melinda Gates have shown how gender and geography can be a major factor of equality in accessing opportunities. I fear that time is becoming another huge barrier to equality of chance and opportunities. To geography, gender, race, etc; the generational barrier may become another obstacle because of the way it is getting harder over time to develop innovations in successful businesses…
Could have Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google and other like companies be founded and developed in our today world? I really doubt it! I even doubt that the first generation of GSM digital mobile technologies would have been introduced easily in the market nowadays like it was done in the end of the 1990s. The case of Huawei 5G technologies better illustrates what I am talking about…
The world is full of very disruptive innovations in technologies that can efficiently solve many problems and issues society and communities are dealing with. At the same time it is becoming more and more harder for entrepreneurs to bring these innovations in the market nowadays. That’s really a real disaster in making for the future of our world!
Many people think that Enlightenment philosophy ideas are beyond the human progress since the 18th century. It is true that ideas have always driven change in the human history. However for such change to be materialized in everyday people life; it requires progress. Innovations in technologies have always been the tool of implementing change in everyday life of the human society. Without the industrial revolution; it would have been difficult to end the slavery and the objectivation of women in the Western culture.
Great ideas that have made and changed the human civilization always need innovations in technologies to make them working in everyday mankind life. The way governments and other stakeholders or players behave with innovations in technologies tells you a lot about the future of their country. The way entrepreneurs, architects, scientists, engineers and other players beyond innovations in technologies are treated shapes the prosperity and stability of a nation.
Critical issues of the human society won’t be solved by making the mankind return to the cavernous era before the Stone Age. From climate change, social and political stability, economic prosperity and inequalities, etc; nothing of those issues will be solved by making barriers to innovations in technologies and entrepreneurship. Because it will require that talented entrepreneurs capable of designing and implementing efficient business models with innovations in technologies provide efficient solutions to those issues. Most of countries in Africa show how a human society can suffer when vested interests become impediments to the rise of entrepreneurship, wealth creation and societal fairness for equal chance and equal opportunities.
