Corporate Innovation Spaces That Don’t Go Anywhere
Today I would like to talk about some comments made during one of the online university lectures I attended this week. It’s regarding labs and other spaces set nowadays by corporations to allow their employees to explore new technologies or ideas that would spark new innovations within the company.
In my own experience, these spaces can be very interesting and educational. You get to try out new tech, discuss tech trends and get to know colleagues you otherwise would never meet if you didn’t participate. I remember trying out a 3D printer for the first time and it was a bit weird to realize how long it might take to print a small model of.. anything really. It could take hours just to print a cube. Though I must say that the 3D printer I worked wasn’t necessarily the fastest one on the market. It would still take a lot of time to print something as everything is done through layers of printing material.
Working and talking to colleagues about 3D printing technology was very inspiring because it gives you this ‘Sillicon Valey’ vibe that wants to persuade you to start your own company on some gadget you just made using a glorified printer. However, when you actually do come up with an innovate idea or product, that’s where the challenges start. And they aren’t even necessarily technological challenges. They’re more human and corporate challenges that you would have to go through to make people aware of your idea.
I feel like companies setup these innovation labs or spaces for their employees just to align themselves with ‘Sillicon Valley fashion’. You gotta have a innovation space, otherwise you are not cool, but God forbid that anything useful comes out of it, because we don’t have any process in place to continue with things that spin off from the lab. I feel like employees that create anything in these labs would need to advertise, lobby, convince, persuade and even build strategic connections (preferably upper management connection) within the company in order to spread the word, otherwise nothing will happen.
I believe that people within the company aren’t all too excited about your new creation as it makes their work life difficult, complicated and they’re not being paid to care for your idea anyway. The argument is that there’s no time for new ideas. There’s only time available for costs vs revenue, and how do you minimize the first one and how do you maximize the other one.
This is a pity because, in my opinion, innovation is what opens new doors to increased revenue, employee involvement, positive PR for the company, you name it. In this day and age, its actually essential to encourage innovation, from start to finish, within a company. Don’t just create a space for your employees to ‘tinker around’ with stuff, encourage them, help them, promote their ideas, involve other people, and fund their innovative solutions, as this is one of the few ways large organizations can be ‘trendy’ and innovative. Especially considering that steering large organizations feels like turning a large cargo ship, according to some upper management people of large organizations I spoke to in the past.
So again, companies should not just create innovation spaces but also create a space that would incubate actual products and services. Your employees will be happier to work for you as they feel like their ideas are being heard and their employer is actually doing something with their input.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading!