Innovation: What Does It Look Like?

Innovation is an oft-used word these days, but what does it really look like?

During the month of January 2007, I will be working on answering the question of what innovation looks like, at least for certain situations and organizations. This initial work of defining the concept of innovation is part of a six month plan which centers around innovation.

The six month plan has a number of components, and more will be added if appropriate. One component is to work with a diverse group of people to identify five top books about innovation in today's world which apply to advanced manufacturing, to the knowledge economy, and to organizations focused on making innovation a major part of their way of doing business.

Another component is to identify people in the 18 northeast Wisconsin counties of the New North region who are innovators. Part of identifying those people will be to understand what is innovative about products and services they've brought to the market. Having a list of people, products and services that exemplify innovation makes it much easier to explain what it is and catalyzes further innovation.

A third component of the six month plan is to explore innovation in the PPNB industry supercluster (pulp and paper, printing, nonwovens and biorefinery). This industry supercluster has been identified as a strength of the New North and is a good place to focus the efforts and resources of AMW (Abba Makolin Waldron & Associates, LLC).

If you have a suggestion for the top five innovation books, if you want to be part of a project to identify New North innovators, or if you're interested in innovation in the PPNB industry supercluster, contact me through www.goodprocess.com. I look forward to hearing from you!

May your Journey through 2007 be rewarding, interesting, challenging and filled with friends and new acquaintances. Happy New Year!

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