MARCH 2008 EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE17

Collaborating for InnovationFrom Concept to Zone Practice

The core premise of the future is collaboration. This does notmean that organizations don’t compete. This is inevitable.What it does mean is that the shift in orientation becomesone of sharing and leveraging one another for mutualsuccess. In national and global terms, it is described ascreating the common good from which all benefit.

“Value-chain thinking is very old. Al-though useful in defining the linearinterrelationships of functions, it doesnot provide a robust framework for aninnovation strategy that capitalizes onthe strengths of interdependent net-works of business units. This is theheart of a new vision—the art of col-laborative advantage.1”

The knowledge economy offersorganizations and society anunprecedented opportunity for

creating the future. This is a bountifulclimate in which ideas will be valued,but only as they are applied to ad-vance society. The answers lie in aneffective innovation strategy, rede-fined according to the flow of knowl-

edge — “ideas to prosperity.” Themandate is quite clear; but the role ofexecutive managers and financial ac-countants is yet to be defined. Whatwill be the legacy left in ten, twenty orfifty years?

The world is experiencing unprec-edented change in applications ofknowledge in every dimension of de-velopment, growth, revitalization andorganization. The demands and op-portunities of an interdependent glo-bal economy have implications forprivate and public decision making byenterprises and communities,whether local, national, regional orglobal. Most nations have launchedmajor initiatives to harness their in-herent capability within a trans-na-

tional context. All has been done inthe name of international competi-tiveness-economies have been trans-formed, communities revitalized,emerging territories supported and in-dustrialized nations repositioned. Wehave much to learn from one another.

The foundation for a new eco-nomic world order has been laid—onebased upon knowledge, innovationand international collaboration. This isa new landscape where managerialrules have significantly changed—buthow, when and to what end?

The role of the management ac-countant has evolved substantiallyover the past decade. More significantchanges lie ahead. Responsibilitieshave already shifted from monitoringthe financial accounting process tothe overall management processes ofthe firm. Once the emphasis shiftsfrom managing the tangible to the in-tangible assets, their advice and coun-sel will be needed more than ever. Notonly are the language and conceptstransforming, but the basic principlesof the profession may also be chal-lenged. This can be seen as a realthreat. Progressive managers will, in-stead, see it as an opportunity to shapethe very foundations upon which thefuture will evolve. What was managedpreviously will be viewed as myopicin contrast to the multi-variableeconomy of tomorrow.

The RationaleManagement responsibilities will in-creasingly be viewed as facilitatingthe learning process which includesexternal stakeholders (e.g., suppliers,distributors, alliance partners, cus-tomers and even competitors). Howthese relationships are “managed” isfar more a matter of collaborative skillthan competitive advantage with

1 Internal Digital Equipment Corporationsmemorandum (1991), reprinted in Schein, Edet al DEC is Dead(2003).

MARCH 2008 EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE18

Debra M Amidon is Founder and CEO of ENTOVATION International, Ltd.

(Wilmington, Massachusetts)— a global innovation research and consulting

network linking 90 countries throughout the world. Convening the 1 st

conference on “Managing Knowledge Assets into the 21st Century” and

writing about intellectual capital in 1987, she is considered one of the original

architects and social entrepreneurs of the knowledge economy.

Her Network includes the internationally recognized ENTOVATION 100 of

Global Leadership with 160 members from 62 countries. Her own specialties

include knowledge management, e-learning networks, customer innovation, and

enterprise transformation. She’s been featured in notable biographical publications

such as The International Book of Honor and the Woman of the Decade.

She has presented extensively in as many as 35 nations throughout the

North and South America, Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, Australia and

South Africa and the Middle East. Her interviews have appeared in global

media, such as Ottawa Citizen, Innovacion, Singapore Business Times,

Effective Executive, CORDIS – the EU Press, and the Arab News.

Debra was featured along with ten Nobel Laureates in the “Festival of

Thinkers” held in Abu Dhabi hosted by the Crowned Prince, and

subsequent presentations in Dubai and Bahrain. Her certification program

has been instructed through the Ministries of Egypt and courses downlinked

throughout Saudi Arabia. She is a founding member of the Arab Knowledge

Economy Association (AKEA).

In India, her articles have been published in many ICFAI publications,

including an interview for Effective Executive. This month, her training

program on Knowledge Innovation® was sponsored by MindTree Consulting

and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

In addition, her counsel has been sought by Fortune 50 and world-

ranked sustainable companies as well as other diverse organizations.

Her background spans Higher Education Administration (as the 1 st

female associate dean at Babson College); state government (as the

Assistant Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts); and 12 years of industrial management (in the Office of

the President of Digital Equipment Corporation) where she established the

which most are so familiar. There areways to optimize results rather thanleave destiny to serendipity.

The focus on values, valuation andvaluing will gain prominence as execu-tives search for what, how and when tomeasure performance. Only when wehave a common language across bor-ders—functions, industries, and coun-tries alike—can we begin to explore theprospects for collective prosperity.Given the identified trends —estab-lished, emerging and over the hori-zon—we get a glimpse of the funda-mentals of the future. Implementationwill vary—company-to-company, in-dustry-to-industry—but coming to acommon understanding, our mutualmission could enable better utilizationof resources, financial, technical andhuman.

Knowledge of the “emerging com-munity of innovation practice,” weunderstand can let various practitio-ners throughout the value-systemcontribute. How they are engaged in ashared vision and common missiondetermines how they will be able toleverage their complementary compe-tencies. Rather than competing for re-sources and spheres of influence, in-dividuals, groups, organizations andnations can realize what they have togain through collaborative versuscompetitive strategy.

Frame for Progress – 3LawsThe dawn of the new millennium hasbeen met with great enthusiasm andan equivalent commitment to change,or as we prefer to call it, innovation

(i.e., the capacity to preserve the bestof the old and realign the rest to takeadvantage of future opportunity). In-dividuals and organizations from ev-ery function, sector and corner of theglobe are envisioning a new economicworld order—one based upon intel-lectual and not financial capital. Ofcourse, knowledge has always beenan essential element in the advance-ment of civilization, but today’semerging economy proposes thatknowledge be managed explicitly.

Certainly there are numerous fac-ets to understand with this complexevolution; but there are three primaryunderlying themes that are fundamen-tal to the new infrastructure needed tocreate prosperity in this new economy.These 3 Laws of Knowledge Dynamicscan be labeled as in Exhibit I: Evolu-

1st industrial-strength management systems research organization in the

world.

She has authored many seminal books published in many languages,

such as Innovation Strategy for the Knowledge Economy: The Ken

Awakening (1997) and The Innovation SuperHighway (2003) which has been

called “the breakthrough innovation book of the decade” and selected by the

European Union KnowledgeBoard as the book of the month.

When she visited Beijing in 1998, her books were translated into

Chinese. This fall, she will release a three-volume co-edited trilogy,

Knowledge Economics: Principles, Practices and Policies published by Tartu

University Press (Estonia) featuring 27 authors from 14 countries.

Debra holds degrees from Boston University, Columbia University and

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she was an Alfred P Sloan

Fellow.

Debra has been referred by her peers as “Drucker operationalized” and

the “Deming for innovation management”. Her ENTOVATION Network is

intended to create collaborative advantage to provide a foundation for

economic sustainability, stakeholder innovation and world peace.

She can be reached at debra@entovation.com; URL: www.entovation.com

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MARCH 2008 EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE20

Exhibit IEvolution of Thought

50s-70s 70s-90s 21st Century

2 Amidon Debra M. The InnovationSuperHighway (2003)

3 Amidon Debra M, Formica, Piero and Mercier-Laurent, Eunika (Eds.) Knowledge Economics:Principles, Practices and Polices (2006)

4 Amidon Debra M. Innovation Strategy for theKnowledge Economy (1997)

Product

Competition

Data Information

Solution

Cooperation

Knowledge

Innovation

Collaboration

tion of Thought 2. In a trilogy of bookson Knowledge Economics, authorsfrom the ENTOVATION Network of-fered their most progressive thoughtson the principles, practices and poli-cies of the knowledge economy. ThisE100 Readings can be crystallized intothe following 3 Laws of knowledgeDynamics3:ÜKnowledge (or Intellectual Capi-

tal) is the new, expandable sourceof economic wealth. There is anemerging recognition that the in-herent intellectual assets—effec-tively exploited through innova-tion—are the most valuable re-source of any country.

ÜInnovation encompasses the fullspectrum from creative idea gen-eration through full profitablecommercialization. Successful in-novation depends on convertingknowledge flows into marketablegoods and services.

ÜCollaboration, replaces the com-petitive (win/lose) paradigm,which is prevalent in many busi-nesses today, with win/win benefitsbased on pooling competencies—knowledge, know-how and skills.Today, we know that the knowl-

edge agenda is worldwide, pervadesevery function and every industry,and has implications for industrializedand developing nations alike. Indeed,it has evolved well beyond the bordersof a nation; it has become an agenda ofinternational collaboration. Althoughoriginally thought to refer to white-col-

lar, high technology workers, there isno such thing as a non-knowledgeworker. And, originally to have beenthe focus of the services sector, there isno such a thing as a non-knowledge-intensive industry as well. The knowl-edge of all individuals is important.Knowledge is what makes companiesunique even within the same industry.We have more to gain by building uponthe competencies of one another as in-dividuals and nations.

Knowledge Economics –The ArchitectureThe principles of knowledge econom-ics should be endorsed as a revolu-tionary change—an opportunity toprovide a solid foundation, rationaleand vision to substitute somethingmore sustainable than the old regimeof traditional economics. Intelligentand innovative explorations of com-puter capabilities optimize individualand collective work of employees andthe entrepreneur. We are witnessingan acceleration of experimentationand adoption of progressive manage-ment approaches at every level-micro,meso, and macro-economic. This sec-tion will illuminate some of thebroader scheme context and sense-making approaches to initiatives of thenew Knowledge Economy. Topical ar-eas include trend analysis, moderneconomic principles, emerging stan-dards, etc.

Management approaches enableinstitutions to takeadvantage of the newmodels of organiza-tion structures, real-time learning mecha-nisms, foundationsfor cultural evolu-tion, performance in-centives, environ-mental consider-ations, ecologicalpractices, countryand company re-structuring, and theuse of technology. Anew emphasis onpolicy-guiding proce-dures for action isneeded to effect sig-

nificant managerial innovations,changing—or better—abandoning theold rules, thereby producing new andviable principles of economic policy.This is a counterpart to the principlesof self-organizing systems in thatthere may be ways to architect, viapolicy-change initiatives, the poten-tial output of an innovation system.

It was Dr. Tom Malone, formerly atMIT and now a Distinguished Scholarwith North Carolina State University,who introduced many of us to the realopportunity at hand: “The path to aprosperous, sustainable, and equi-table society is long, winding, and dif-ficult, but a start can now be madewith a knowledge-based and human-centered strategy. This strategy em-powers individuals to renew ratherthan degrade the physical and biologi-cal environment, aid to enrich ratherthan impoverish the social and cul-tural environment. Entry into thisknowledge society will require newpatterns of collaboration among thescholarly disciplines. New modes ofpartnership must also be establishedamong all levels of government,academia, business and industry, andlocal community organizations.” Us-ing the foundation for sustainabilityoutlined for the Western HemisphereKnowledge Partnership (WHKP) thatwas premiered in Boston (USA) inJuly, 2001, participants imagined a vi-sion for nations and regions of theworld:

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MARCH 2008 EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE21

5 Mashelkar RA. “Economics of Knowledge”,h t t p : / / w w w. i a s . a c . i n / c u r r s c i / j u l 2 5 /articles14.htm

1. EducationLifelong learning is a sine qua nonfor a knowledge-based economy.Distance education is a promisingtool that helps pursue lifelonglearning.

2. Health and Resilience of NaturalEcosystemsRequires development of indica-tors for the pressures on, the ex-tent of, and the output by agricul-tural, coastal, forest, freshwater,and grassland ecosystems. As civi-lization expands, hazards fromnatural disasters increase. Exten-sive use of collaboratories is envi-sioned in this and subsequentagenda items.

3. Eco-efficiency in the Productionand Consumption of Goods andServicesBeing environmentally benign toalleviate the impact of further eco-nomic growth on world ecosys-tems.

4. Energy to Power EconomicGrowthConservation and exploration ofenvironmentally friendly sourcesof energy (the accumulation ofgreenhouse gases in the atmo-sphere is emerging as a regional aswell as a global problem).

5. National Income AccountsExtension to include environmen-tal impacts and make realistic theconsequences of contemporarypatterns of production and con-sumption.

6. Intellectual Property RightsThe knowledge-based economy istransforming legal and measure-ment standards.

7. Delivery of Health CareNow entering into an era of pro-found change in which integrationwith the sciences and sharing ofnew knowledge and its applica-tions to health care are increas-ingly important.

8. Community NetworksTo foster interactive participationby individuals at all levels—local,regional, and global—from indig-enous communities to major ur-ban centers.It is not these factors individually,

but their interrelationship that helpsthem combine to establish a founda-tion conducive to attracting foreign in-vestment, stimulating entrepreneurialmanagement to take advantage of theopportunities that technological ad-vancement provides. Further, RAMashelkar, in his article on the eco-nomics of knowledge, reinforces:“Tomorrow’s societies will be knowl-edge societies. Tomorrow’s marketswill be knowledge markets.Tomorrow’s wars will be fought not bythe conventional weapons, guns, mis-siles and so on, but they will be foughtin the knowledge markets with thenew thermonuclear weapons calledinformation and knowledge…to meetthe twin objectives of growth with eq-uity, knowledge cannot be the pre-rogative of a few; everyone in the soci-ety must have access to knowledgeand become a knowledge worker. Na-tions which do not create knowledgesocieties will vanish into oblivion. Butthose that do create these knowledgesocieties will have the potential tolead the world.” 5

“I see equally exciting possibili-ties for global knowledge networksfor economic gains, where Indiacould assume a dominant position.The chain of concept to commercial-ization necessarily crossestransnational boundaries today.Thus, many major multinational cor-porations in USA and Europe, whoseR&D budgets are larger than evenIndia’s R&D budget, are becomingpartners of India’s R&D laboratories.CSIR’s partners today include giantssuch as Mobil, General Electric,DuPont, Boeing and so on. For India,rather than remaining a perennialseeker of knowledge from the West,opportunities are opening up for do-ing even reverse transfer of knowl-edge.”

In this regard, Mashelkar makesthe case for an integrated architec-ture, one that might connect theworker and the network in an inno-vation system, rather than a valuechain. Further, all is enabled bea (collaborative) technology plat-form, one that embraces themultifunctionality, interoperability

and interaction with Web 2.0. ExhibitII illustrates how all might be inte-grated to fuse values and visionaligned with the strategic direction ofa company or country.

ÜThere is a new discipline – Knowl-edge Economics. What we countmatters especially in terms of hid-den intellectual wealth.

ÜKnowledge structures operate asholonomies – nesting of networks–with local and global scope andspheres of influence.

ÜEveryone is a knowledge workerand must be motivated to contrib-ute with modes of interdepen-dence.

ÜAll knowledge processes fit underthe rubric of innovation strategyand we need to make the practiceexplicit.

ÜKnowledge Technology especiallyin its collaborative and multime-dia forms is not an end, but an en-abler.In this regard, there is a relation-

ship—indeed a compounding effect-between the economics of the firmand its sociology, psychology, man-agement and technology. The morecomplex the performance measuresbecome—as in the case of calibratingintellectual wealth—more the reli-ance upon networks and cross-boundary communication. The morereliance on networks—knowledgewithin and outside the firm—morewill be the reliance on collaborativetechnology. Thus, the art of success inthe Knowledge Economy is far more afunction of collaborative than com-petitive advantage.

It was July 1944. In his openingAddress at the Bretton Woods Con-ference in New Hampshire HenryMorgenthau described the intent.That July, world leaders convened todetermine how to move financialcapital around the world based onstable and adjustable exchange rates.The International Bank for Recon-struction and Development (TheWorld Bank) was established withoriginal members being those of the

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MARCH 2008 EFFECTIVE EXECUTIVE22

6 Voice of the ENTOVATION 100: Trends of the Knowledge Economy (2002), http://www.entovation.com/voiceoftheE100.doc

International Monetary Fund (IMF).Today, it is well recognized that wehave entered a new frontier in whichintellectual capital—properly lever-aged through relationship capital—israpidly becoming the new currency.Given the increased interdepen-dence of our global economy en-hanced by international technologyplatforms, the need for a collabora-tive strategy based upon the value ofintangible or intellectual wealth isneeded more than ever. It is time toplan the Bretton Woods of the Knowl-edge Economy.

Collaborative Innovation –The ProcessThe ENTOVATION methodology in-cludes 10 dimensions of InnovationStrategy, the first being the collabora-tive nature of the process itself. Overthe past few years, we have seen a dra-matic shift from competitive strategiesto the value of collaboration. Thismodern management modus oper-andi comes from an explosion in vir-tual networks, cross-boundary inter-action, and the development of sharedpurpose. Many progressive enter-prises both private and public are re-alizing that managing the process ex-plicitly is a path toward more sustain-able innovation. Knowledge leader-ship has become a matter of being ableto create value through collectivecompetencies often harnessedthrough vertical and diagonal initia-tives versus the traditional hierarchi-cal management techniques.

After an interview of the E100 -160 experts from 60 nations, we havegleaned some of the trends 6

undergirding this shift:ÜCompany to Community: The va-

lidity of the current concepts of ab-stract corporate legal entities is be-ing questioned as being part of thediscredited rationalist doctrine,which separates mind and bodyand thoughts and emotions. A newcommunity value system based oncompassion is advocated.

ÜCollaboration to Cohesion: It nowalmost goes without saying that

collaborative relationships are be-ing increasingly emphasized at thecorporate level. Competition re-mains the dominant paradigm atthe level of the nation state. Here isthe first indication that beyondcollaboration, there exists anothermore intense relationship calledcohesion.

ÜCommunities of Practice toShared Meaning: When the cer-tainties of our era dissolve beforeour eyes into chaos, the time hascome to make new meanings.Sharing best practice is not aboutasking the question “why”; shar-ing meaning is.

ÜSecurity to Trust: Cheating in anopen knowledge-trading environ-ment is not sustainable since itwould quickly lead to exclusion.Trust and reliability are seen as be-coming more important, as secu-rity and contractual enforcementbecome less certain.Perhaps the most dramatic

changes as a result of this new Knowl-edge Economy has been in perfor-mance measures. The primary re-source to be monitored—and evenmeasured, as many would suggest—isthe intangible value of an organiza-tion. It is no longer sufficient to mea-sure only financial indicators of an en-terprise, a nation or a global economyfor that matter, for there are too manyother significant variables contribut-ing to sustainability or prosperity. Thetraditional balance sheet measures thepast when what is needed are indica-tors for the future. The accountingprofession has aggressive plans forguidelines and several companies andcountries have come forth with theirown methods for intellectual capitalreporting.

The focus on knowledge and in-novation (i.e., how to put knowledgeinto action) has provided a commonlanguage across functions, sectors,stakeholders and nations. Education-based strategies are seen as an equal-izer between industrialized and de-veloping nations. There is evidenceof a major shift from teacher-oriented

to learning-centered education strat-egies enabled by advanced technolo-gies and the explosion of Internet/Intranet communications. Learningoccurs throughout all activities of theenterprise, not just in the classroom.Progressive approaches are designedto be more “pragmatic”, yielding per-formance results, but there needs tobe a balance between the traditionalacademic approaches and the practi-cal, “real-time” application of learn-ings, such as industrial incubators,lessons-learned initiatives, et al.Story telling —as a documentationand deployment mechanism—hasenabled very complex concepts andresults to be transferred readily.Since the 1980’s, learning has beenthe path to developing “competitiveadvantage”; but now the process maybe more “collaborative” in scope,across the boundaries of functionalresponsibilities or even inside andexternal to the enterprise. Nationalinitiatives using learning as the ru-bric for change are focused on build-ing a better standard of livingthrough knowledge sharing and in-novation.

There has been a dramatic shiftfrom hierarchical management tonetworked learning systems inwhich all stakeholders, both insideand outside the enterprise, become asource of knowledge. Networkedmanagement requires different lead-ership skills based upon inspirationand innovation (i.e., acting uponone’s learnings). Motivation happenswithin the individual; and much suc-cess may depend upon an under-standing of the whole system—thusnew views of the management land-scape emerge that are holistic inscope. Gone—well, for the mostpart—are the value chains of activitythat have yielded to more robust net-worked systems where learning is atwo-way street at every point of inter-action. The questions of course arehow people are receptive to the ideasof others and will capitalize upontheir complementary competenciesrather than reinventing the wheel —acharacteristic of an inventive, but notinnovative community.

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Where it used to be a function ofcompetitive business/market/nationpositioning, the rules of the game mayhave changed. Earlier, to be competi-tive, one needed to understand theproduct development capability andbusiness strategy. Today, one must in-novate—create ideas and put theminto products and services—in ad-vance of the competition. To get tomarket requires a more fundamentalunderstanding of the capacity to inno-vate and how one collaborates (i.e.,their alliance/partner strategy). Busi-ness intelligence, then, is far more afunction of knowing where and how acompetitor is going and, then, inno-vating faster. Success in the neweconomy is a function of creating newmarkets; so studying best practiceshas only limited value.

As the innovation cycle has accel-erated and the potential for new mar-kets increased with the globaleconomy, the opportunity to createknowledge-intensive products, mar-kets and services has grown exponen-tially. Sub-themes might include:Smart Card, Nanotechnology, Robot-ics, Intelligent Learning Agents, etc.No longer is the services sector con-sidered the knowledge sector; manu-facturing environments are equally re-liant upon the leveraging of knowl-edge in new products and services. Si-multaneously, the world has becomemore cognizant of environmental fac-tors and is looking toward ecological

systems as a foundation for new prod-uct development. Focus has shiftedfrom analysis of materials and tech-nologies toward how new productideas—coming throughout the enter-prise—can be incubated successfullyand expeditiously.

Global consciousness based on acritical mass of individuals sharingboth knowledge and meaning is seenas the way to ecological and economicsustainability. Knowledge profession-als are expected to become increas-ingly “key players” in the world oftrade in a “dematerialized” economy.Product lifecycles are predicted to beshort with new waves and more com -plex generations spawned by inten-sive innovation.

With heightened global competi-tion and acceleration of product/ser-vice life cycles, it is increasingly evi-dent that organizations are unlikely tomeet market demands in-and-ofthemselves. Essentially, no enterpriseis an island. In today’s economy,partnering—and successfully manag-ing strategic alliances—becomes thenorm, not the exception. Many of thewell-tested competitive managementtactics of the Industrial Era are notsuitable for the collaboration strate-gies of the Knowledge Era. If it is truethat enterprises will rely more uponknowledge external to the organiza-tion for their own future success, thenthe art of managing strategic allianceswill become ever more critical in the

coming decade. Managing such com-plex relationships requires both fore-sight and skill to leverage the compe-tencies from which both or all partiesmight benefit.ÜSelf-interest to Group Interest: Al-

liances are seen as being neces-sary, not just between companies,but also between learning institu-tions and governments with thegoal of replacing “temporary coop-eration” with “lasting partner-ships” facilitated by methods formatching offers and wants. Theboundaries between non-profitand for-profit activity are reportedas becoming increasingly blurred.

ÜInternal Knowledge to ExternalKnowledge: With increased ero-sion of boundaries—functional,sectoral and national—the enter-prise is being defined as “ex-tended” to include stakeholders(e.g., suppliers, distributors, inves-tors, alliance partners, customersand even competitors) whoseknowledge may be germane to asuccessful business strategy.Communications, both internal

and external, is not often consideredan integral part of the innovation pro-cess. Global competition has intensi-fied; and relationships with custom-ers (and other stakeholders for thatmatter) have become increasinglymore important (and more difficult),enterprises are realizing that commu-nication of important information andknowledge is critical. Market percep-tion, regardless of accuracy, can makeor break the competitive positioningof an organization. Further, the rela-tionship with external sources—espe-cially customers—may be the key tofuture products and services. “Learn-ing from” and “innovating with” thecustomer may become a survival tac-tic for organizations, both profit andnot-for-profit. Multimedia technolo-gies afford communications to bemore multifaceted than ever.

The Knowledge Economy de-mands a very different form of leader-ship—that which is visible internallyas well as to the outside world. Lead-ers are visionary and see the broaderpicture. They are holistic in their

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Reference # 03M-2008-03-03-01

7 Amidon Debra and Davis, Bryan. A Preview:the State of Innovation Zones (2006), http://w w w. e n t o v a t i o n . c o m / p r e s s - r o o m /KIZ_Preview___Oman___FINAL4_1_06.pdf

8 Website: www.inthekzone.com9 Amidon Debra and Davis Brian. “The Triple

Knowledge Lens”, anmd article in IC Magazine(February 2006)

© ENTOVATION International Ltd. All rights reserved.

analysis and systematic in theirimplementation. They have the capa-bility to inspire others to action witheffective communications skills. Theyknow how to operate in teams andcreate a culture of openness, curiosity,innovation and learning. Further, theycan articulate their insights and aspi-rations externally by being visible inpublic forums, authoring articles andbooks, and being respected for theircandor and passion. In short, the lead-ers are learners and espouse a similarethic with everyone with whom theycome in contact.

The explosion of acceptance of theIntranets, Internet, multimedia andcollaboration technologies, wirelessdevices—not to mention e-business,e-learning, e-commerce, et al—has ac-celerated the potential foundation forThe Innovation SuperHighway. Tech-nology has become a learning tool onthe desktop and in homes. Electronicsystems, however, are not just mecha-nisms to serve as a repository ofknowledge; they are also vehicles tofacilitate innovation conversationsacross borders than increase the glo-bal reach of enterprises and the indi-vidual entrepreneur.

Zones of InnovationAt the World Summit on Innovationand Entrepreneurship (WSIE) held inMuscat, Oman, a Knowledge Innova-tion Zone (KIZ) Preview 7 was release(Amidon and Davis 2006). The KIZ con-cept was premiered. Once a company,region, country or industry can be de-fined as a zone of interaction, true col-laborative wealth can be determined.

A KIZ is a geographic region, prod-uct/service/industry segment or com-munity of practice where knowledgeflows from the point of origin to thepoint of highest need or greatest op-portunity. 8 It is where diverse talent,teams, and technology, are strategi-cally clustered for creative collabora-

tion in order to generate maximumknowledge value, intellectual capital,and intangible assets and values for allstakeholders.

Continuous innovation throughbuilding and leveraging new ideas,and knowledge and creative capital, isclearly recognized as incredibly im-portant. However there continues tobe a significant gap between aspira-tion and reality. Indeed there is agrowing risk as many projects cur-rently framed and advertized as inno-vative knowledge capital initiatives,will underperform or fail. Substantialsums of financial capital are invested,people are staking their reputations,and stakeholders will lose heavily, ifthese projects are unsuccessful.

In an analysis of contemporarydevelopments worldwide, we havehighlighted the need for knowledge-driven leadership, stewardship andcohesive strategies. There is a spec-trum of needs: transparent gover-nance, appropriate policies, commonstandards, advanced enabling tech-nologies, and new, relevant perfor-mance optimization techniques. Arobust recipe for success, accompa-nied by practical knowledge masterywill mitigate risk. (See Exhibit III)

The key differential is the flow ofknowledge, whether viewing aBrownfield, Greenfield or Hybridcommunity or a startup, medium-sized or large-scale enterprise. Unlikethe Industrial or Information Eras ofthe past, the Knowledge Economy ishuman. With the plethora of fundingand initiatives from The World Bank,UN and corporate investments, theplaying field has been leveled. Nowwe need demonstration projects with:1. Effective strategic planning2. Directories to expertise and other

network resources3. Change management strategies4. Development of knowledge lead-

ership that really understand theknowledge innovation game

5. Investments in appropriate newtechnologies

6. Better performance metrics andindices

7. Innovation practices database fornew ideas that work

8. Incubation and nurturing ofknowledge entrepreneurship.New rules are being shaped; and

they are based upon collaborativestrategy. The new game is one of lead-ership—that will get there first andbecome the enterprise to emulate.Those who establish the managerialstandards are likely to be successful.

ConclusionThe core premise of the future is col-laboration. This does not mean that or-ganizations don’t compete. This is in-evitable. What it does mean is that theshift in orientation becomes one ofsharing and leveraging one another formutual success. In national and globalterms, it is described as creating thecommon good from which all benefit.We have experienced the previous erasof reliance upon resources which aredepleted. Perhaps the era based uponthe bountiful resource of knowledgeprovides an opportunity for true globalsymbiosis.

Knowledge Innovation has becomethe platform for world peace, the ulti-mate form of competition being war.By sharing the strengths and insights ofone another, we impact the progress ofus all. The reliance upon intangible as-sets is likely to increase; and the tradi-tional forms of comparison such asGDP or market share will fade. Newperformance measures have emergedin the form of the Triple KnowledgeLens (TKL)9—a Knowledge-basedEconomy, a Knowledge-based Societyand a Knowledge-based Infrastructure.

Organizations must create the inte-gral connection between the value ofhuman capital and economic prosper-ity. There is likely no better communitythan that represented by managementaccountants to bring clarity, meaningand methods to the process. What isequally obvious is that this cannot bedone in a vacuum. Creating the inno-vation language, culture and shared vi-sion is, by definition, a collaborativeprocess. History will document howwell this transition is managed into thenext millennium.

Collaborating for Innovation