Inside Real Innovation

Innovation is realized on the successful interactions of Technology, Market and Implementation. Instead of a linear pipeline perceived by most people, it is a highly iterative process focused on optimizing innovation efficiency. Innovation is only realized when an invention/idea is implemented successfully in a real market with relevant technologies.

The innovation system has degraded in the US over the years as investors seek investments that are primarily optimized on high returns in short cycles. These profits are not driven by innovation, and do not have a lasting effect for corporations and society. In an iterative innovation system, investments in early innovation is risky and produce slow returns due to increased uncertainty, but this is de-risked and made more certain through each iteration.

University research is not aligned with Market and Implementation, leading to misaligned research metrics (publication count) and generation of huge amounts of "random" research. While "random" research is useful in a theoretical understanding of the domain area in science, it is not valuable to the Market and society. Fundamental innovation that is relevant to the Market that is correctly implemented reaps huge benefits to society for many years to come.