SxSW, Mashups and Innovation
Here are a couple of my observations on two diverse trends in innovation based partly on my trip to South by Southwest. The below are part of a broader recap of SxSW posted on the Huffington Post.
Mashups aren't just fun, they are a critical part of the next era of innovation
With sessions on topics like wearables and health care, technology and sports performance, and self-driving cars, the power of the combination of hardware, software and community were on full display.
In many cases, a pattern began to emerge. Hardware became the critical first step -- a wearable heart rate monitor that could become the size of a sticker and cost just a few dollars, 3D printing nearly anything, or every Internet of Things (IOT) demo. Once in place though, what created value shifted to how well the software behind the hardware works. Is it easy, is it powerful, is it fun? Then, to truly become market-dominant, required community. A wearable fitness tracker that let me challenge my friends becomes about more than me. This principle extends to the collective data of an entire community and its ability to drive greater insight into health, disease, performance, anxiety or whatever else your system solves for.
It's a fairly profound set of implications in light of how technologies like the Internet and enterprise cloud technology succeeded and scaled because they avoided hardware and ignored community until they were already established. Mobile partly changed that with its ubiquity, but still was like accessing a computer.
In the future, it will still be possible to succeed without mashing up innovation. But the combination of hardware, software, and community adds an entirely new dimension for driving innovation through integration. The next generation of innovations will often require this combination and will not be just in the domain of technology giants.
Rallying around the 'underdog' is about more than doing right; it represents untapped potential particularly critical to innovation
Civil rights, equality, immigration, diversity are more often considered political discussions or occasionally HR topics at organizations. Over time though, many have begun to realize that stereotypes that prevent talented people from joining and contributing to an organization are not in the firm's own best interest. This line of reasoning has grown because of its appeal to a broader audience and because of particular constraints surrounding certain key skills in organizations.
Yet, for organizations that must innovate to succeed in the future, there is another aspect to this need. In tomorrow's world, innovation often occurs through mashups of hardware, software and community; new solutions mashup industries like music, film, sports and technology; and consumers are more global, diverse in age and location, and breaking traditional gender constraints. All of these require a different and more diverse views on the next epic innovation. So even tapping into great talent -- if it's homogenous -- handicaps the likelihood of understanding technologies, markets and consumers. Tom Brady may be your most loved (or hated) quarterback, but no one would think 11 clones of him would create a great offense. This fact becomes particularly relevant once a few firms escape the shackles of stereotypes to become your future competitors.
Read the full article and check out the slideshow of images from the event.
