Competencies need velocities, articulation and direction
We spent the last day of the Strategy World tour at the Godrej Innovation Center, a new space dedicated to Mr. Navroze Godrej’s efforts to inculcate a spirit of creativity, new ideas, and ‘innovation’ in its organisational structure and processes. The centre implements Disruptive Innovation and Human-Centred Design and works with a diverse set of employees from various Godrej & Boyce businesses to imbibe a culture of innovation at a grassroots level. He has developed quick initiatives like the “Sprint initiative” that indulges the user in getting their concept to the prototype level in 90 days. They also have a “Horizon initiative” which is spearheaded by Mr. Navroze Godrej and guided by the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. The project aims to prototype a viable business model and involves a detailed research study with probable solutions. The teams at the innovation centre took us through the research work of the horizon projects.
Mr. Patrick Whitney gave an introduction on brand and its history. He rightly said that competencies built need velocity, articulation and direction. Trust needs to be developed for new concepts and it takes time for acceptance. A radicle innovation would not happen in a day and it takes time for acceptance. Take risks for adventurous projects.
Earlier people were divided into Segments which involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers, businesses, or countries that have, or are perceived to have, common needs, interests, and priorities, and then designing and implementing strategies to target them. Market segmentation is now becoming irrelevant. In the step jump leap concept , jump is the most difficult part and includes early prototypes. Leap process is looking at the entire scenario. New business model in design goals are not likely to be met. The approach should start from sequential to disruptive innovation.
Patrick Whitney also introduced us to the eight core capabilities that form the foundation for a range of questions relevant to innovation capacity today and sketching options for novel business models,operations and use cases. We had an interesting quick 20 min workshop where we hypothetically created a competitor for an existing company and tried to disrupt their business. This quick exercise was very refreshing and proved that visualising and prototyping early ideas enables us to see the alternative ramifications of different options.
Later we had a panel discussion where various design thinkers discussed their viewpoints on innovation in design and studying practices globally and traditionally.The following were takeaways from the discussion.
A good example of following practices globally is the hospitality seen in the hotel chains from all over the world. The problems need to be looked upon at the macro and micro levels. Transition happens when flexibility adapts to needs.The driving population of India is our biggest plus point and infrastructure if we use it appropriately.The economy is growing fast and there is very little to innovate. The real challenge is managing quality and scale together. The best example is that of the Kumbh Mela, a mass Hindu pilgrimage which happens in Uttar Pradesh, where an entire community pops up out of nowhere and disappears quite magically once the event is over.
Mr. Abheek Singhi from BCG threw light on the concept of coexistence of demand and supply. Mr. Parameswaran Venkataraman from IDEO talked on desirable products. In China designers leave their designs at the sketch level and somebody else takes over the concept for prototyping and testing. This supporting ecosystem is missing in India. Ultimately, user centric design is the key to all design solutions.
Innovation is deeply associated with processes, business models and different aspects that combine towards getting a new product or service to market. It is not a feasible product but a process and an invention is the result of an innovation.
