The US has been in an epidemic for two decades—one that has been progressively getting worse. It has been quiet, without a formal name, and yet, its effect has been visible to those who want to see it.
It is an innovation epidemic. What is that, you may ask?
There are two parts to innovation. The first is the process of innovating—refining an existing service, taking a product and making it better, or transforming X into Y so it generates new value. The second part is leveraging that innovation. Once a firm has “innovated,” how does it take it to the market? Often, this is not a black and white calculation. Other aspects come into play, like competition, a broader ecosystem of products, consumer readiness, product saturation, etc.
Yet, regardless, most businesses, hungry for greater growth, marketshare, and customers, have sought to bring the “core” of their innovation to the market—a service, a feature, an entire product that embodies what the business has unlocked.
Innovation is what differentiated companies and underscored competition.
In America, the most innovative nation in modern history, a different logic has taken over many organizations. Instead of unleashing their innovation on the market, it is being cut down to size, over and over again. Firms are squeezing their innovation across product cycles and timelines. This is an inversion of the old models.
It is what I call “drip innovation.” Some companies are giving drops of innovation, packaged as huge breakthroughs or even transformation. In reality, there is nothing new. Drip innovation should be ringing alarm bells in Washington. If it is not fixed, it could roll back America’s footprint.
👁 GEOPOLITICAL FORESIGHT ON INNOVATION
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