Stratos

Stratos President, Sean MacLeod, offers insights in the November issue of Seattle Business magazine.

How many times a day do you hear the word “innovation”? While true innovation is what will reestablish the United States as the world’s leading industrial country and drive our future prosperity, the word itself has been bandied about so often that we risk losing its already elusive value.

So what does it really mean to be innovative? Here in Seattle, we are fortunate to have the right combination of attributes to compete and promote our position as a global innovation leader. We should embrace our advantages, recognize threats and further expand our abilities to compete on a worldwide scale. Innovation, by its nature, is ambiguous. We can say that we know it when we see it, but an innovative culture is not created overnight. Most companies look to imitate success without first recognizing that they are different from the innovative organism they are trying to replicate. A culture of innovation is in the DNA of a company and it is inherently different from anything else that exists. True innovation requires a unique solution for every company.

There are some common elements that businesses can embrace along the journey to a higher level of innovation. Many of them are commonly seen here in Seattle and demonstrated by local firms.

The first key attribute is openness to creativity. Creativity is the elaboration of new and distinctive ideas. Innovation happens when these ideas are implemented in a way that creates value to address a market’s unmet need. The secret here is for the big R (Research) in R&D to recognize appropriateness of an idea in order to create value and seed big D (Development), thus realizing that idea’s potential. For example, Microsoft has done a great job transforming the Kinect for Xbox 360 from early stage research into an innovative consumer success.

A second key attribute to innovation seen here in Seattle is the frictionless mobility of resources within an organization. The most prized resource in our technology community is intelligent people. We must be able to create frictionless spaces to gain access to knowledge, share ideas and build on these ideas to innovate. For example, Google has placed two office sites—one in Kirkland and the other in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood—where their employees can conduct business interchangeably as required. While Lake Washington is a natural barrier to frictionless commuting, Google understands the need for mixing talent from both downtown Seattle and the Eastside, and has created an environment to continue fostering this key attribute.

A third key attribute to innovation is diversity. The innovation process is filled with ambiguity and uncertainty, which cause a diverse group of people to problem-solve and create solutions. Washington state’s universities graduate people who are well prepared for challenging technical professions. Unfortunately, the state’s universities do not create enough of these knowledge workers to fill the growing number of available positions, even in present economic times. Just ask Amazon. As a result, there is a net importation of technical and business people to the region that naturally creates a level of diversity.

There is more to innovation in Seattle than one might first assume or hear reported. Seattle is still a hub for aerospace and commercial fishing, but also a center for software, internet technologies, biotechnology, drug discovery and global health. Our innovations draw from our vision and creative spirit with an eye to the outside world. Our quality of life and the amenities of our city continue to attract great talent to create that crucial diversity that fuels innovation. We need to continue to create more frictionless flow of our resources to enhance local competitiveness and prosperity. In these attributes, our area’s local executives should take comfort and progressively push for more. With creativity, mobility and diversity at the forefront, Seattle is poised to continue to be a leader in true innovation.