A remarkable innovation renaissance is underway. Companies the world over are being swept up in this journey, which has taken root across several industries, including consumer goods, financial services, life sciences and others. This transformative thrust flows from an unprecedented set of pressures on executives to drive shareholder value, improve productivity and enhance asset utilization. As all this unfolds, my organization, NORCAT, has watched and learned from the experiences of various sectors, though we will use the mining industry as the centerpiece of our views.
From our Sudbury, Canada, technology innovation cluster, we see mining and mining technology companies working together to achieve their respective goals and ultimately drive sustained prosperity for the industry. We have an inside view because we operate a regional innovation center with an operating mine.
Our Underground Centre provides a hub for startups, small to medium-sized entities and international tech companies to develop, test and demonstrate new technologies in an operating mine environment. This "active laboratory" creates and nurtures relationships between mining tech firms (the "builders" of innovation) and global mining companies (the "buyers" of innovation). As such, it fosters a vibrant tech ecosystem.
Given our privileged perspective, we offer meaningful and bold insights to help executives overcome their innovation hurdles. While the points we put forward resonate closely with the mining sector, we believe they are applicable and relevant to executives in other industries and throughout innovation and technology communities.
Defining The Problem
What's at the core of the innovation problem plaguing most businesses today? Is it truly an innovation problem? No. It is what loosely can be defined as a "technology adoption" problem. From our work across industries and our participation in innovation workshops with business executives, we have learned that most companies realize the importance of innovation, but they struggle with knowing how to deploy, use and integrate innovation to achieve their strategic priorities.
An example relates to the perceived lack of data within an average company. Why perceived? Because many companies don't actually have a data problem, but rather a data utilization problem. What's more, solving these data problems doesn't necessarily require an emerging home run in terms of big data technology. Perhaps refining internal processes and using a technology that scores a single or a double could fix the issue.
Barriers To Technology Adoption
The path to meaningful technology adoption and integration is top of mind at NORCAT. We seek insights to help guide our continued investments in and expansion of our Underground Centre. As part of the process, we asked for feedback from two of our constituents: technology firms that cater largely to the mining industry and mining companies.
With these two groups, we posed the same question: What are the main barriers precluding emerging technologies from being adopted? Among the varied answers, there were three key themes from both groups, which apply broadly across industries:
- Try before you buy. Before companies invest or make a decision to implement a new technology, they want to see it, touch it and validate that it works. Ideally, they also want to observe it in an actual operating environment or situation -- not on paper, in an academic lab or in someone's garage, but in real life.
- Vet the vendor. Executives want surety that the lifespan of the company they are buying from is healthy enough to deliver ongoing service and support over the life of the deployed technology. Is the vendor reliable? Does the firm appear to have the wherewithal to be there for the long haul? These are critical factors.
- Innovation is a team sport. Those who purchase technology are seeking meaningful partnerships with their providers. This team approach applies not only to the development cycle but also to the deployment of technology solutions. Relationships are crucial here, and the best ones win.
Take A Deep Breath
New things -- especially new technology -- can be wildly appealing. As such, many companies get caught up in the innovation excitement bandwagon without defining a clear strategy, vision and road map.
Discussions around topics like artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, digitization, robotics and creating in-house convergence or collaboration spaces, while fun and exciting, need to be tempered. What's the remedy? Pause, slow down and fix what needs fixing before jumping on the tempting innovation train.
As an example, for those with plans to implement AI in the coming year, bear in mind that Gartner predicts that "through 2020, 80% of AI projects will remain alchemy, run by wizards whose talents won't scale widely in the organization." Make sure the bus is going in the right direction, with the right people on board and in the right seats, before pushing too hard.
Learn From Others' Experiences
Innovation is not easy, and it thrives in different ways at different times. It continues to evolve and often looks different from what many may have anticipated. The continued growth in outsourced innovation models has been spurring and creating vibrant tech ecosystems anchored by entrepreneurs keen to solve some of our most intractable challenges. Regardless of its origin, know there is a lot of creative capacity at play in the technology innovation ecosystem, and it's important that buyers of innovation recognize and leverage the potential opportunities.
For this reason, I encourage executives to look at and learn from the innovation journeys in sectors other than their own. Although these industries may have no direct connection, many have undergone innovation transformations that others are just starting.
Take it from Einstein: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." How does this apply to technology? Sometimes, it makes sense to stop. Use the time to fully assess the issues along the path, and then apply that learning to make great leaps forward.