Katipunan Forum
The Industry-Academe Forum on
Linkage, University Technology Transfer and Technology SME Development
Opinion
Some Wild Ideas to Encourage a Culture of Innovation
by Dennis Posadas
My wife and I were browsing at a
new bookstore along Roces Ave. when I chanced upon a copy of AnnaLee Saxenian’s
book, “Regional Advantage”1.
Reading the book got me into
thinking that having the right network and culture counts just as
much as having the right technology. You don’t
necessarily need a shiny, new
building. In Apple’s case, all they needed was a garage (of course a MEMS
startup will require a different type of garage).
Take Apple’s Steve Jobs and Steven
Wozniak for example. All they had was a network (Homebrew Computer Club in
Steve Job’s case), access to sources
of technology (Xerox PARC,
Stanford), sources of components, capital (Mark Markkula, former Intel
executive) and a culture that allows for experimentation
and failure. Too often, I’ve heard
people ask how to encourage a culture of innovation locally, just like in
Silicon Valley or Route 128. Here are some wild
(and not so wild) ideas
just to get us thinking, maybe you can think of some more….
Ø
Initiate Forums, networking venues, symposiums, white
papers, etc. solely on technology innovation– while it
is perfectly
acceptable
to discuss these issues during professional society meetings, etc., we should
also consider that building an innovation
culture
requires the help of lawyers, accountants, VC’s, marketing people, who may not
be in your professional society meeting.
Katipunan
Forum is a start, but we also need papers and policies to help speed this up.
Emphasize cross disciplinary thinking !
Ed Deveza of UP TMC suggested a symposium (or summit) on technology innovation. Great idea !
Ø Form a Technology Angel Fund – Certain people might have a few pesos to invest. Instead of plunking it down for some other schemes,
why not form and manage a mass based angel fund for university startups. Maybe we can tell the investors to just forget about their money for
a while. This money shouldn’t go into garment startups (unless these are nanotechnology fabric startups) or towards non-intellectual
value businesses. Investments can be as low as P500 monthly, buying the investors equity in the new startup. While they assume the risks
for the venture, they also take part in the reward.
Put your money where your mouth is. It doesn’t matter if it’s just a small percentage of the equity. What matters is that you are a part of it.
Ø Zones of Innovation – We can’t keep quoting headlines from the newspapers, which in turn prevent us from acting. We can form “enclaves”
or “zones of innovation” where everything one would need to take a product from concept to creation is available, and appropriate tax
incentives would be given by the government (much like a standard PEZA zone). This “zone of innovation” would be similar to Hsinchu
Science Park in Taiwan, or the Malaysian Super Corridor. Everything we need – from research & development, product development
testing labs, VC’s, legal, accounting, HR, incubator offices, etc. should be in that area.
Ø Make symbols of innovation visible – Can we rename CP Garcia Ave. as Technology Ave. or Innovation Drive ? We should place symbols
which will remind people what the place is all about. Remember, you want to build a certain atmosphere of excitement. Placing the right
symbols will bring out the willingness of people to take risks.
Maybe we need an anthropologist to tell us how to develop this culture of risk taking, even within a limited enclave
(from a comment by Ralph Rodriguez of UP).
Ø Strong MNC support for the distance learning scheme – part of Silicon Valley’s growth can also be attributed to the network formed by
engineers from local companies around the Stanford area who took part in the distance learning courses offered by the university.
We can even involve the PhD’s already working in industry to give part of their time to teach (maybe Friday afternoons) and add to our
pool of MS and PhD graduates in industry.
Ø Live, eat, breathe, talk innovation – dreaming about that new job at that large MNC ? Maybe we should consider how we can convince
some of the fresh graduates to try the startup route. MNC’s should take this experience positively in case the older and wiser engineer
decides he/she belongs in a safer environment…MBA professors should consider holding at least one class in their respective
Technology Business Incubators just to get their students immersed in the environment….Business plan competitions should insure a
healthy mix of business and technology majors, just like they do at MIT’s $50K competition.
These are just my suggestions. Can
you think of more ?
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1
“Regional Advantage”, AnnaLee Saxenian, UC Berkeley, ISBN 0-674-75340-2,
Harvard University Press, 1994.