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0:00
My name is John Bessant.
I'm Emeritus Professor for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
at the University of
Exeter in the UK.
The talk I'd like to
give today is all about,
what is innovation and
why does it matter?
0:17
Innovation.
It's a wonderful word.
But if we think about it,
there's a problem because
that word is everywhere.
I'll give you 30 seconds
on any company website
before you'll probably
bump into it.
A magic word says that
innovation is working
for our people,
innovations driving
the business,
innovation, innovation
everywhere.
These days, in the
public sector,
it's pretty much the same story.
If we want to deal with our big
challenges in the country,
well, what we need
is more innovation.
That word is on the
lips of civil servants
all around the country.
Innovation, innovation,
innovation.
Now, of course, it is a
really important word,
but just saying it isn't enough.
If we're serious about
working with it,
we need to understand what it is
and how to make it work.
What is innovation?
1:06
Well, the word originally
comes from the Latin,
"innovare", to make
something new, to change.
Yeah, that helps us.
But perhaps a more
useful definition is to
see that innovation is about
creating value from ideas.
Now, that value could
be commercial value,
but it could also
be social value.
1:30
Let's look at a few examples.
A good place to start might be
the smartphone in your pocket.
That's a pretty impressive
example of innovation.
But, of course, this
goes back a long way.
Way back in the 15th century,
Johannes Gutenberg came up
with the printing press.
It revolutionised
things for its time,
particularly how we
communicated information.
It was really the
internet of its time.
Or the Wright brothers,
starting off at Kitty Hawk,
in their rather flimsy
first aeroplane.
But, of course, that gave
birth to whole word of
of travel and communication.
Or take the
pharmaceutical industry.
In 2020, the world was hit
by the COVID-19 pandemic,
and we came to really rely
upon what the industry
has done for a very long time;
provide drugs and
vaccines and things
to keep us healthy.
Or Henry Ford and his motorcar.
A hundred years ago,
he created the car for
everyone that everyone can
afford and that changed the
future of transportation.
These days, 100 years later,
we're looking at another
big change in personal
transportation moving
towards electromobility.
