Race to invent the next Wii

Valerie | 25 Mar 2009, 16:18

A recent article published by The Times – entitled We British must invent the next Wii draws attention to an extremely timely issue. What will happen to innovation and entrepreneurship in these times of recession? Perhaps the question should not be whether the British will invent the next Wii but how can we can foster innovation and create an environment in which creativity can continue to flourish – on a global scale.

Innovation is driven by ideas and the global creative industries are the lifeblood of inventiveness and the production of new ideas.  In Britain, 78% of creative firms are active innovators, whilst creative firms attribute 52% of their turnover to new or improved products, compared with 40% for firms in other sectors.  The challenge is to help the creative industries become even more innovative through continued incentivisation, investment and importantly, through facilitating a culture of open innovation and collaboration.

HP recently talked about its open innovation culture, acknowledging that innovation doesn’t happen in isolation but through collaboration with universities, government and other industry players:

“We want to tap into the best ideas from around the globe and to bring those ideas to market faster” said Rich Friedrich, director of the Open Innovation office.

The entire innovation value chain needs to be supported, from unlocking creative talent to converting ideas into commercial success.  Today, Ambassadors for the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009 are meeting in Brussels to create a Manifesto for Creativity and Innovation in Europe”.  This follows unanimous consensus that investment in education and in the skills and creative capacity of Europe should be the top priority of EU institutions and governments.  Importantly, it also acknowledges that it would be a fundamental mistake to cut spending on research and development and education in the context of the current economic climate:

“Creativity and innovation are tools to tackle Europe´s challenges, including the move to the knowledge society, demographic change, globalisation and climate change.”

The onus should be on continued investment in innovation and creativity precisely because of the recession.  A McKinsey article published last month acknowledges the importance of ‘building an innovation nation’ as an important competitive differentiator in times of economic turbulence. Partnering with the World Economic Forum, it has produced an “Innovation Heat Map,” by identifying factors that are common to successful innovation hubs – including infrastructure, demand, government regulation, human capital and business environment.

This week also saw the launch of the world’s least expensive car, the Tata Nano – welcomed on the whole as a triumph of Indian design innovation and was a particularly well timed announcement. Meanwhile the New York Times reports on a Boston-based venture capital firm that is looking to capitalise on the downturn as an opportunity to find fresh ideas – by creating a grant for early-stage web companies. These are just some examples of how creativity can flourish at a time of intense need – perhaps just the stimulation that Britain – or indeed any other country needs to spark a new idea that could lead to the next Wii.