This session was a fruitful one as the class had an in-depth discussion about sustainable development and innovation management. Prof started the class with a recap of the previous topic and shared with us an innovation that he was impressed with. He talked about Emperor Qin Shi Huang forcing everyone to use the same type of writing and how this had allowed the people to spread information easily as everyone understood the writing. He also shared that the flow of information can actually allow science and technology to grow very fast.
Next, as usual, Prof started the topic about sustainable development with a video, “Story of Stuff, Full Version; How Things Work, About Stuff”. This video illustrated that our current industrial development is actually a “linear” system which is a system in crisis, and we cannot run a linear system on a finite planet that we are living in. This video has shown that our current industrial development is not sustainable as we cleared forests for land and raw materials, and used energy to process the raw materials, producing chemical products which could be toxic and not tested for impact on health and the environment. These actions are depleting the world’s resources and polluting the environment at the same time. In addition, as industrialization development requires a large usage of energy, most companies will turn to burn fossil fuels for energy, reducing the amount of fossil fuels and releasing a large amount of green house gases such as carbon dioxide. Hence, traditional linear industrial development has resulted in depletion of world’s resources and worsening of global warming caused by greenhouse gases. There is really a need to look for other sources of energy so that we will not be using resources at a rate that will compromise the future generation.
As such, a “cyclical” industrial development will be more beneficial as used products can be recycled and processed to make other products. This will reduce the need for more raw materials and hence reduce the need to burn more trees, slowing down the rate of depletion of resources and preventing air pollution. The key takeaway for the first half of the session is that we should be transforming from traditional “linear” industrial development to “cyclical” industrial development to ensure sustainable development, bringing about both economic and environmental well-being.
Prof also talked about countries spending on green technology so as to ensure sustainable development. He shared that China is spending twice as much on green technology since it consumed the most energy as compared to other countries as it develops. In addition, he talked about why some products are cheap because the damage done to the environment by the production methods is not accounted for. With production methods that are not environmental friendly and thus cheaper, the products will be cheaper. Manufacturers only take into account the short-term economic gain from the sale of the products, ignoring the long-term damage done to the environment. In this case, the development of the country will not last as the environmental damage will hinder the country’s future development.
For the first half of the oral presentation, one of the presenters posted the question to the class, “Who do you think can help sustain our world more effectively”. The options are scientists or politicians. The answer is that both scientists and politicians can help sustain our world effectively. In fact, scientists, politicians and everyone help sustain our world effectively because all parties are interlinked. Scientists are required to carry out research that will consider the impact on the environment, politicians are needed to govern the people and everyone has to make an effort to recycle to protect the Earth. Education is also crucial as people may not know the extent which the environment is damaged and may not know that they have to recycle or may not know what to do to sustain the world.
For the second half of the session, the class talked in dept about innovation management where people translate their promising ideas to high-valued products and services. I was impressed by the article written by Prof. He shared with the class about the “valley opportunities”, “summit opportunities” and “cloud opportunities”. I agree that most companies should focus on “summit opportunities” and capitalize on the current knowledge and technology to move forward. I think only capital-rich companies who can afford to innovate can focus on “cloud opportunities” and open up a new market. Nevertheless, all companies should always try to keep up with the current technology and be involved in research and development so that they will not fall to “valley opportunities”. The Prof shared that a company that has more ideas than products is more risky than a company who has more products instead because the latter is able to transfer their ideas into high-valued products which is one of the keys to success. Companies can only be successful in their innovation when they are able to put ideas into actions and come up with the actual products or services.
The Prof also shared with the class the R-D-A Translation Process. The innovation process involves researching, developing and applying. Research is first needed to look for new insights and understanding. Then, the new insights and understanding in response to market realities are to be translated into practical application by the innovative enterprise for commercial use. As companies progress through this process, value proposition increases while execution risk decreases.
Lastly, presenters of the second half talked about innovation processes being technology pushed or innovation pulled. A technology pushed process involves using existing technology to find applications to use it to generate profits whereas a market pulled process involves finding areas where consumers’ needs are not met and focus development efforts to find the needs. For both processes, companies must first have the resources and capabilities to innovate. On top of that, for market pulled innovation to be successful, the needs of the consumers must be known so that companies are able to come up with ideas that fulfill the needs of the consumers.
I will rate this session 9/10 as I had many key takeaways for this session.
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