Innovation Series – 1.5 – Measurement Segway
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying “The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome.” IMHO this is the current state of innovation policy in Canada and particularly Ontario is significantly flawed. We continue to fund public innovation when perhaps facilitating the private sector is often what is more appropriate.
Photo Attribution: “Oil all joints” by Bryan Costin bcostin on Flickr
After doing a bit of research I have found that there is a phenomenon known as the “Swedish Paradox”.
“The first formulation of the Swedish paradox is that there was surprisingly low production of high-tech
products in Sweden in relation to her high R&D expenditures (Edquist and McKelvey, 1998).1 The second formulation of the paradox states that high-tech exports are low given the high R&D investments (Braunerhjelm, 1998). The third formulation of the paradox is more general and states that Sweden is inefficient in transforming its high R&D expenditures into productivity and growth (Andersson et al., 2002) or more generally that economic performance is poor (Klofsten, 2002).” [1]
The athlete analogy from the previous post regarding measuring success via inputs which is what typically happens. Alternately there is a focus on results but not on return for investment. What I mean by that is if you throw lots of money at a problem then there is a good probability that some level of success will be achieved, but at what cost. I have yet to see from any level of government statistics that tie inputs (primarily spending) to outputs (results). Greg Boutin of Growth Times wrote a very exhaustive series of posts on how Ontario is spurring innovation.
The next section of the innovation series will be entitled measuring what matters. I have looked at those dimensions of innovation that were touched on in the first part of the Innovation Series. Those dimensions are; Prosperity, Innovation and Commercialization as all three are dependent on each other. I will reference at least one or two expert sources for each dimension.
Next post in the series: Section 2 – Measuring What matters,
[1] The Swedish Paradox Astrid Kander, CIRCLE, Lund University, Olof Ejermo, CIRCLE, Lund University 2006-02-27
Ian Graham
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Measuring what matters is what our start-up is all about. Einstein was right when he said “Not everything that matters can be measured; and not everything that can be measured, matters.”
At Noank Media, we and our licensed content owners in education and entertainment contend that a better measure of content value than download totals is how much of each consumer’s limited time per day is spent playing each file. So we measure that, and pay by play.
As famed UofToronto communications guru Marshall McLuhan taught us in the 1970s, “The medium is the message, and the massage. It reworks our thoughts.”
Keith, CTO, Noank Media Inc.