How The US Patent System Crushes Innovation
Forbes Magazine recently interviewed Michael Meurer and James Besson, authors of Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats and Lawyers Put Innovators at Risk, a massive study on the costs and benefits of holding patents. Their chilling conclusion:
Sphere: Related ContentMeurer and Bessen concluded that in every industry, except pharmaceuticals and biotech, publicly traded companies spend more money litigating to protect existing patents and paying fees to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office than they earn from the same patents. (Bessen and Meurer evaluated patents issued by all publicly traded companies between 1984 and 1999.)
7 Things Innovators Do That You Don’t
What prevents you from being a great innovator? Not much. Innovators by and large aren’t creative geniuses gifted with da Vinci-like talent. It’s not what they ARE - it’s what they DO. They do these seven things you most likely do not.
Sphere: Related ContentThree Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part I
Table of contents for State of Innovation
- Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part I
- Three Amazing Reports On The State Of Innovation - Part II
In December, three international consultants published the results of their research on the current state of innovation. This four-part series will cover each in turn, then I’ll add a conclusion that ties them together. First on the block - Innovation 2007 from the Boston Consultancy Group.
Sphere: Related ContentMaking Money By Giving Stuff Away For Free
Have you ever considered what you can get for practically free today that you used to pay a lot of money for?
- Computer Performance
- Long Distance Telephone Calls
- Computer Storage
- Bandwidth
- Music
- Web Server Space
- Domain Names
What’s been the impact of the value of these commodities becoming almost “too cheap to meter?” It’s opened up opportunities in other areas, to sell new services and innovate new business models. And it’s taken innovation out of the hands of invisible ‘gatekeepers’ and into the hands of the people.
Sphere: Related ContentDo You Know If You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know?
Do you produce the best solutions possible?
How do you solve an easy problem? Probably, based on your experience, the solution comes quickly. You solve it easily because of what you know.
What happens, though, when you’re confronted with a problem outside of your experience? Chances are, you know SOME of the right stuff, but you don’t know enough to solve it. So you find out what you don’t know - you research things, or consult others.
But your solution is only as good as the knowledge you acquire. If the knowledge is adequate, so will be your solution. But if it isn’t, your solution may come up short.
You know what you know.
Sometimes, you know what you DON’T know.
But other times, you DON’T know what you don’t know. Hard to follow, eh? But essentially true.
Sphere: Related Content7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
Table of contents for 7 Levels Of Change
- The 7 Levels Of Change - Introduction (Part 1 of 9)
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 2 of 9) - Level 1: Effectiveness
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 3 of 9) - Level 2: Efficiency
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 4 of 9) - Level 3: Improving
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 5 of 9) - Level 4: Cutting
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 6 of 9) - Level 5: Copying
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 7 of 9) - Level 6: Doing Things No One Else Is Doing
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 8 of 9) - Level 7: Doing Things That Can’t Be Done
- 7 Levels Of Change (Part 9 of 9) - Bringing It All Together
The last in a nine-part series on Rolf Smith’s 7 Levels of Change, I bring everything together and discuss how to put the 7 Levels to work.
Sphere: Related ContentUnder Armour: Branding Juggernaut Pushes Customer Experience
Over the past few years Under Armour has built an amazingly successful brand via their awesome sports-based ad campaigns. Now they’re moving into a new business area - retailing. And in doing so they are trying to master yet another form of innovation: customer experience.
An Industry In Search Of A Disruptive Business Model
A few weeks ago I posted about Rick Rubin’s subscriber-based vision for the music industry. But a familiar company currently using this business model is abandoning it due to plummeting revenue.
Buffalo Wild Wings - Another Example of Innovation Effectiveness
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There is a Buffalo Wild Wings about 15 miles down the Interstate from me now. It opened about two months ago, in a rather large mall. There is also a well-established restaurant 3 miles from my house that specializes in wings. It has a more locally appealing flavor variety, the wings taste better, and they’ve been doing extremely well for years. So naturally, people all over town are flocking to…
…Buffalo Wild Wings, even though it’s out of the way and has lower quality food. Why? How is BWW kicking ass?
Sphere: Related ContentHannah Montana, Radiohead, Virginia Tech, My Band, and the New Music Business Model
In the future, when we look back on what will soon become the next business model for the music industry, people will regard Hannah Montana as a pioneer, or maybe simply the catalyst that got things started. But if we look at things the way they are now, the signs of a coming music business revolution are as plain as the nose on her perky face.
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