Gosh! You have finally made it here, isn’t that amazing; for all the millions of blogs that could have stopped you in your tracks. It is here you choose to spend some of your valuable time, for which I much appreciate, thanks.
Let this be a Journey for me, as much as it is for you. In the coming days, months, and perhaps years I will want to engage on a simple task. To explore the difference between improvising and innovation, are they different ideas, if so what is the difference in real terms, in practice for everyone. Are we all avid improvisers or amateur innovators, which is which? These are the issues that I would want to explore in my journeys in India and Denmark, with my friends, colleagues and among my students.
The pest few weeks has seen me trying to write a paper on Innovation, I often wondered why is innovation so special and what makes it interesting, why don’t firms and us, talk of improvising, as we engage with it at every stage in our lives, in our struggles, aspirations and our ambition. Why don’t we talk of improvising as a real skill rather than celebrate innovation that can change our lives?
Well, the story of this poor sole begins with a project called Knowledge Mapping of Indian ICT competencies. Yes, Yes, I am an academic, and my business is research and teaching. You see then, my interest in the notion of improvising and innovation. I improvise every day in the class room, but I am not sure if I really innovate, depends how we define innovation.
Coming back to the project; It is to map in real terms what is going on in India, in terms of ICT research and development. By mapping, yes I mean scientifically mapping. To do this we will engage with all those companies in India who have in the past innovated. Look here, I have not deliberately defined innovation, this is because I want you to carry your own ideas. This is not a class but a dialogue between you and me. So tell me what you think of innovation? Anyway the mapping of Indian ICT R&D potential will take two years to complete starting 2008.
O’ God, sorry to bore you, I will not tell you more stuff about this project, from now on it will be just me and the journey of confusion and question I have embarked upon. You know what, the ideas to blog was growing in my mind for some time now, until I red two of my students blogs. What a nice way to communicate and hey presto; here I am.
Coming back to the idea of improvise and innovation, which is which?
On the fun side of things, I travelled to India in April this year; see some photos below and a video. The fun part was that I saw people improvising at every stage, there is so much struggle and adversity in simply living and surviving that improvising becomes second nature, like breathing or feeling. It is so automatic, kind of second nature, that one does not think much about it, but innovation, yes innovation. Now that is a big deal. Why? Is it because we seldom innovate but often improvise, Or is it many series of improvising leads to an innovation or the other way round, which comes first. I wonder.
In the many posts to come I will share my experiences with you on this and hope we can reflect on the nature of innovation, how do we understand it, when we see it.
In the mean time here are some pictures from India for your viewing
