How research pushes the boundary …

Research is often characterised as the act of intense and structured search. Though this view is not wrong, it doesn't get to the core of what research is and what it is about. Let's explore.

Knowledge and the economy

Any endeavour that exceeds the skills and resources of an individual or that entails significant uncertainty and risk benefits from collaboration. At the same time, we have a very human inclination to share only the risk, while retaining the benefits for ourselves. This desire for selective sharing defines a love-hate relationship that applies to innovation as well.

Innovation & Science

Intuitively we know that science is somehow related to innovation. It is somewhere at the origin of innovation, isn’t it? Science underpins innovation, doesn’t it? But this relation is not as simple as we might like; there’s no self-evident direct connection. It's a dilemma that I’ll try to shed some light on today.

Taking a walk across the innovation landscape

Recently I have described my concept of an innovation landscape along two axes: the demand for innovation, represented by the problems society is faced with, and the supply of innovation, represented by the ingenious ideas that have the potential to solve those problems. Today, I'll take a closer look at the four corners of this landscape.

Shaping the innovation landscape

Looking for a better way to explain innovation, I feel that "landscape" can be a quite powerful metaphor. Focused on the value that innovation must provide to society at large, I'll present the innovation landscape as the tension field that takes shape between demand and supply.