The Industrial Revolution essentially was an energy revolution: we learned to harness energy way beyond the natural sources we had used thus far. Instead of relying on renewables such as muscle (ox, horse, and man), wood, water, or wind, we increasingly utilised fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to power the dizzying progress we have … Continue reading Disrupting energy and production – Why
Over the last century, Big Business transformed dramatically, several times. What used to be in the hands of heavy industry, of oil and steel, gradually became the domain of the chemical, pharmaceutical, automotive and later on consumer electronics industries. And from the 1990s onwards, it morphed again as the Digital Revolution unfolded. Today, Big Business … Continue reading Disrupting Big Business
In the previous post, I introduced a graphical overview of innovation's inner workings, embedded in a circle of useful knowledge that innovation draws from, and contributes to. That chart might create an impression of innovation as a messy, even unwieldy process. To highlight the structure underneath, today I'll dissect it a little further. A simplified storyline of … Continue reading More sketches of an innovation
We all know that successful innovation is not easy to achieve. And still, we sometimes seem to hope that the 1% inspiration is more important than the 99% transpiration. Well, it's not. But instead of using a thousand words, this time I've tried to cast the story into a single graphic. Using my earlier working … Continue reading Sketching an innovation
When you think about the flow of useful knowledge through society, and then imagine how that flow enables innovation, you'll realize a massive entanglement. At first glance, there is a myriad of different connections between people, processes, and locations: these are the tangible pieces of the puzzle. At second glance, you'll find that they all play some role in the generation, dissemination, and application of useful … Continue reading The Gordian Knot of innovation?
understanding innovation 