Social Innovators with a Business Case: Facing 21st Century Challenges One Market at a Time

Abstract

today can agree, it is the ever-growing importance of innovation. The search for innovative solutions to the world’s myriad local, national and global challenges has become a clarion call rallying people across multiple borders defined by nation, industry, and academic discipline. Yet policy making reflects deep ambivalence about innovation. The cheerleading over innovation exists in contrast to the myriad institutional, legal, regulatory, and educational impediments to the work of innovators. While not innovation experts, we have been privileged to interact over a span of decades with the some of the world’s most recognized innovators—from those working at the grassroots to those at the helm of new industries. This has provided us with some perspective on the nature of innovation and the hurdles innovators face daily as they search for ways to disseminate their approaches and products. Education is a good place to start. A society’s capability to innovate arguably begins, or possibly ends, in school. For the vast majority of primary schools, among the qualities of a “star” pupil are tidiness, adherence to rules and directions, and good behavior. In the later grades, outstanding achievement is measured in grades, standardized test scores and sometimes, the number of extracurricular activities undertaken. These constitute the ticket to acceptance to top schools producing the world’s elite. But it is not clear that this is how to develop the talents of tomorrow’s innovators. The educational system is reinforced by employment policies in most government institutions and corporations. When reviewing candidates, recruiters invariably look for evidence of academic achievement and a steadiness that produces good exam pass rates and grades rather than for experiences that might suggest a candidate is innovative and inspired, perhaps even rebellious. This is because most organizations have a low tolerance for mistakes. Risk-averse societies and organiKlaus Schwab and Pamela Hartigan