Forbes Column 2009: Barriers To Innovation
Here’s Zero-In this week, reflecting on what barriers to innovation need to be removed for us to have a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. Read my new Forbes column, Barriers To Innovation.
Open Source Means Business →
This segment is part 4 in a 44 part series
Jump to part: Silencing India, Advice For Laid-Off Engineers, Success Tips For New Entrepreneurs, Barriers To Innovation, Open Source Means Business, India's Innovation Gap, US and India's Tech Dilemma, India - Where Angels Fear To Trade, An Entrepreneur Stimulus Plan, Recession Entrepreneurship, Gaming The Recession, The Smart-Grid Dilemma, Key To Innovation: Universities, An Innovation Conundrum, Green Jobs, Health Care's Big Opportunity, The Future Of E-Commerce, The Future Of Television, Consolidation Looms For SaaS, The Next Frontier In Search Marketing, A Time For AI, The SaaS Roll-Up Begins, Health Care IT's Diagnosis: Excellent, Venture Capital: Get Back To Basics, Mompreneurs, New Careers For Techies, What Amazon Should Buy Next, China's Innovation Advantage, The Long Road To Edutainment, Wall St. Vs. 'Virtual Street', India's Idle Tech Talent, Building Your Personal Brand, New Ways To Mentor Entrepreneurs, Seducing A VC, The VC Quandary, The Education Solution, Tech M&A Heats Up, Entrepreneurs: The Silver Screen Beckons, Reading Your Customers' Minds, Capitalism's Fundamental Flaw, India's Next Celebrities, Retailers: Embrace Web 3.0, Streamlining Innovation, Health Care's Email Prescription
The innovation machine that once was the American economy has come to a halt. Technology has reached a point where a small investment will no longer fund a great idea. It has become very capital intensive. Corporations use outdated metrics to evaluate projects such as internal rate of return. The sheer volume of capital required to undertake an innovative project, using traditional metrics forces management to forgo the project. One solution to promote a more innovative atmosphere is to adopt an open innovation business model. An open innovation model invests in technology from outside the company’s own R&D. Cisco adopted this model and has proved to be very successful.