The world economy in the 21st century – so diverse, so inter-connected, so creatively rich in infrastructure, technology and ideas – is capable today of unleashing another innovation boom.

That’s the view of Steve Forbes, Chairman and CEO of the Forbes media empire and the Editor-in-Chief of its flagship magazine, Forbes. As the guest speaker at The Allstream Global Forum, a dinner event held for Allstream customers in Toronto on June 18, Mr. Forbes suggested that today – contrary to the naysayers with doom-and-gloom scenarios – we’re actually in the midst of a great Golden Age, an era of unprecedented economic prosperity and social development, enabled in part by wave after wave of innovation continuing to spread to all regions of the world, thus allowing hundreds of millions of people to enter the global middle class.

Drawing on his experience as an award-winning financial journalist, businessman, and public figure on the U.S. political scene, Mr. Forbes provided an entertaining perspective on the history of innovation as a force for positive economic change. He cited the example of medieval Europe, where developments such as the printing press, the invention of eyeglasses, the birth of the banking industry in Italy, and a fragmenting political structure on the continent, all nurtured forces that led to the cultural and economic flowering known as the Renaissance. He talked about China, which, in the centuries preceding the Industrial Age, kept itself in relative isolation and neglected to build on its inventions – in metallurgy, military technology, and the compass – and fell behind catastrophically, only to reemerge as an economic power in the waning days of the 20th century when it opened up again to the world. Mr. Forbes also strongly emphasized the far-reaching implications of the high-tech and communications revolution, which has accelerated in North America over the past several generations, a development that continues to be essential in creating an inter-connected, inter-dependent global economy that’s open to innovation.

A recurring theme in Mr. Forbes’ presentation was the notion that countries, city states, trading regions and enterprises alike are all faced with the challenge of harnessing innovation in order to remain healthy and to grow. A lack of innovation, he implied, inevitably leads to the decline of any culture, commercial entity or political system. More importantly, innovation, as the lifeblood of business growth and competitive dynamism, isn’t just an accident: it’s the outcome of the interplay of complex factors in the environment within and surrounding a company.

So what does that environment look like, according to Mr. Forbes?

Mr. Forbes covered the macro-environment, his commentary taking in U.S. monetary policy, taxation and trade issues. He referenced the changing structures and dynamics of geopolitical power in the post-Cold War years, and the economic implications of the rapid pace of change and diffusion in technology. He talked at length about the dynamics that can be profitably leveraged – if not always controlled – by enterprises keen to create an environment for innovation. For managers and entrepreneurs, he suggested the following in creating an internal environment where innovation can flourish:

• See the world through the customers’ eyes. Enterprises capable of imagining the world through the eyes of their customers are the best situated to thrive. Mr. Forbes talked about successful companies that avoided unprofitable commoditization by changing the rules of the game, and often doing so by tapping into customer needs not yet acknowledged. Forbes cited the famous – and still relevant – example of GM in the 1920s, competing with Ford by giving customers the option to choose the colour of their car, or purchase it on an installment plan – this at a time when Henry Ford declared that a customer could have a car in any colour as long as that colour was black.
• Don’t reinvent the wheel – do something with it. Mr. Forbes made distinctions between “invention” and “innovation.” An invention is one thing – the plough, the compass, the chimney, the phonograph, the radio, etc. But it’s what you do with any invention that counts. An invention, no matter how good, in the wrong environment, like a complacent culture, authoritarian political system or highly controlled, heavily tariffed economy, may not reach its full potential in benefiting society or yielding commercial returns for investors. The real job is to turn inventions into innovation – to build on the great legacy of human creativity in unique ways for current needs. And, in the world today, with the sophistication of communications networks, enterprise software and solutions and, as well, our long tradition of creative management thinking, enterprises have so many resources at their disposal to drive innovation forward.
• Encourage new ideas and collaboration throughout your organization.  By fostering a strong, flexibly collaborative dynamic across your company, and being open to contributions from everyone, no matter where they report within the corporate hierarchy, the potential increases exponentially for good ideas to surface in greater number – all to drive innovation and its desired outcome: competitive advantage.
• Everyone and everything’s connected. Mr. Forbes commented on the pace and comprehensiveness at which the world’s populations are being connected today by communications networks that now span the globe, leveraging the increasing power and the cost reductions in successive generations of microchip technology. It took decades to wire up the first billion people with phones, with the second billion connected in five years. How long before the third or fourth billion are connected? In the hyper-connected, high-bandwidth world, innovation as a force for change will accelerate as we improve our means of collaboration and communication as a driver of corporate and cultural innovation. And for those who ignore this reality, the message is clear: isolation leads to stagnation.

At Allstream, we too believe that innovation isn’t merely an accident of inspiration or enthusiasm. It requires a consciously built or structured environment – a platform, essentially – where enterprise creativity and collaboration consciously manifests in the most productive and ultimately the most sustainably profitable ways. In good, bad or uncertain economic times, the value of innovation never diminishes.

Innovation in its most exciting form thrives in both structured business processes and totally random situations, in real time and synchronously, by connecting individuals and workgroups within an intricate communications web. And that web is built upon a platform of network capabilities on which to innovate by leveraging the most of the competitive potential in your business.

Using our solutions, enterprises can innovate by enabling their people to:

• collaborate by sharing ideas effectively;
• function in the accelerated flow of messaging;
• manage relationships both real and virtual, and
• above all, to think and act competitively – to win in the market.

At Allstream, we’re long recognized as an innovator in providing a comprehensive range of solutions and networking capabilities designed to help your enterprise focus on creating an innovative environment.  If you’re a company focused on innovation to compete today and for tomorrow, please contact your Allstream sales representative to learn more about our solutions.

For more information go to allstream.com

Also, we invite you to visit connectingcanadians.com,
a website dedicated to chronicling the history – the tradition – of innovation
at our company for the past 100 years.

*The views expressed are those of the author/speaker and do not necessarily represent the views of MTS Allstream Inc., its affiliates, or their respective directors, officers, employees or affiliates. MTS Allstream Inc. makes no representation regarding, will not be liable for and does not guarantee the source, originality, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any statement, information, data, finding, interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.