MaRS

Two ways of thinking: Darwin and Da Vinci

Charles Darwin, despite his momentous effect on the world of biology, was not a trained biologist. His knowledge of geology was what allowed him to think deeply about how things change over time. His intellectual curiosity brought him out of his field of study and onto the deck of a ship that travelled the world in search of the new. Upon his return, it was his collaboration with zoologist John Gould that allowed him to propose his revolutionary theory of natural selection.

“One thing we know about creativity,” says Marc Tucker, Head of the Washington-based National Center on Education and the Economy, “is that it typically occurs when people who have mastered two or more quite different fields use the framework in one to think afresh in the other.” Group-think is the enemy of innovation.

Jenga: Demonstrating gravity

Quick: What are the seven innovations that revolutionized the world?

According to Jacob Zimmer’s grade school teacher, our society was revolutionized by Gutenberg’s press, Copernicus’ solar system, Newton’s physics, Darwin’s evolution, as well as the Industrial, Nuclear, and Information Revolutions.

It inspired Jacob Zimmer to create “Dedicated to the Revolutions,” an innovative show that engages the audience around these scientific revolutions that have altered the course of humanity… while remembering that science is fun (and funny). It opens tomorrow and plays until April 12th.

In the following interview, I ask Jacob about what the MaRS community of innovators can learn from his show.

The Phoenix Generation

I know there is a crisis going on out there. I experience it directly every morning as I get on the Tube at Liverpool station, in the heart of London’s financial district, where people walk slouched over, noticeably dragging their feet with their grey suits and greyer faces and actively avoiding any chance of eye contact. I try to force myself to smile when I walk in the station, even if it’s before I’ve inhaled my first coffee, but inevitably the headlines in the newsstands catch my eye, or I see another 70-per-cent-off sign in a shop window…

This feeling of there being a giant discontinuity playing out around us was thick in the air at an event I attended in Davos this January. Despite having my new favourite accessory, ready to use as a show-and-tell to explain what social entrepreneurship is all about (one of Eako’s stylish handbags made of salvaged fire hose) I was surprised at the heaviness and pessimism that infected the town. I’ll admit that my time and exposure to the full “Davos” was extremely limited, however from my eavesdropping perch at one of the bars in the main hotels it seemed people were mainly focused on the problems, with little talk about solutions.

Dr. Kim Chan

This week, MaRS hosted prof. W. Chan Kim of INSEAD (one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools, who also co-founded and co-directs the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute) on his first official visit to Canada and his introduction to MaRS.

For the uninitiated, Blue Ocean Strategy is the systematic pursuit of new market and new demand creation through the simultaneous pursuit of higher value and lower cost. It is called Blue Ocean because of its focus on creating unknown market space where you do not compete head-to-head against the competition but rather out-compete them by creating new markets where no competition exists.

The current tumultuous global economic environment was a hot topic during the reception. Is there a unique opportunity for Canada, and how can we capitalize on it?

Adoption curve

The traditional way of finding innovation is to find a need and fill it. Market research teams go directly to potential users and ask them, “What do you think you want?”

More recently, there is a new school of thought on how to discover disruptive innovation even earlier. This thinking is based on finding and commercializing solutions already developed by lead users – not target users.

Lead users often need a solution sooner even than the earliest adopters. Lead users want to create innovative products and services because there is no commercial solution available. Their needs foreshadow general demand in the marketplace. That’s where to find the leading edge of a disruptive innovation demand curve, and one could expect to reap much benefit from their solutions.