Does Ai Enabled Design Re-Imaginations Mean Instant Innovation ?
Re-Imaginations ( Ai or not ) drive ROI when Innovation is Integrated. Here’s how….
When the nature of breakthroughs is a direct function of measurable firm impact, a key variable of patience is often overlooked but more specifically often not factored into what we might call the bamboo delta – the time difference between the start of an unknown internal growth cycle necessary before a massive and overwhelming growth stage takes place similar to the way bamboo seems to be completely dormant and then grows at such a radical pace it could be considered to the uninitiated other worldly, in many cases with bamboo shoots growing at 5.5 inches per hour or almost 1mm every 90 seconds.
Where typical Innovation efforts ( often realistically defined at NPD or New Product Development work ) look to have an output measure of dynamic technological capabilities, when firms undertaking either radical product innovation, radical process innovation, or both and are often measured against domestic patent applications only ( but not necessarily being granted / assignment said patents ) or as marked by industry awards ( in the case of design and manufacturing awards ) a specific form of balance can be missed: the re-interpretation / re-imagination of internal firm capability to in fact, push out ( and deliver utility ) before the acceptance of said ” innovation ” becomes known. But how?
Via a focus on Dynamic capabilities to mean the collective capacities to learn and adapt ( within the firm ) with the help of dynamic competencies ( i.e., individuals’ abilities to learn and solve problems where a system of stated or unstated champions inside an organization assist with this effort is grown and supported ) is where innovation aggressive firms are able to be “visionary” enough to perceive opportunities which necessitate investment in knowledge-intensive strategies through the R&D process, and which ( when focused properly ) allow for the development of knowledge and investigation internally that is also absorbed from the outside so that when it comes time for incredible & rapid growth the firm / organization / individuals are ready for that zeitgeist to begin.
Simultaneously making sure that employees who are capable of re-designing, using, applying, re-configuring and producing for firm’s products and technologies ( when they are ready ) are also the ones that often take leadership stakes in said radical efforts before a firm approves them. Oddly where this does not seem to be year or country dependent, and as detailed in Competencies, Innovation And Profitability Of Firms we can see how the exact definition of Innovation ( a radical breaking from an accepted inter or intra firm / organizational norm ) can directly impact firm performance if an only if firms are prepared from a sub-culture perspective to allow such radical growth to take place.
We see this even more specifically where the effectiveness of process innovators is more affected by a firms / organizations influence ( the more influence that a firm or organization has the more easily they find value in new and interesting ways of working with their clients and the design process ) where physical ( and in some cases digital ) product intensive innovation means that research skills ( including end user focused feedback and iterative manufacturing efforts ) are key factors to the optimization necessary for sustained radical efforts. This is further seen in the most recent Ai enabled design re-imagination capabilities where new functionalities and empowerment do not mean instant innovation ( and by the exact definition of innovation ) however where new Ai capabilities ( and especially due to the nature of physical iterative manufacturing ) means the digital realm continues to be turbocharged thus the nature of making radical breakthroughs is happening at an even more accelerated pace.