What is the state of innovation in Germany? Does it need inspiration and what is inspiration? Does a digitization strategy make sense? Many Buzzwords and nevertheless three articles which do without Bullshit Bingo. Instead they inform, inspire and motivate to think ahead.
After the Global Innovation Index in treasure 72, Nugget #1 brings another index compiled by the business magazine Bloomberg. Who sees Germany behind countries such as the USA and Israel when it comes to innovation? You are wrong. With place 2 we are only left behind South Korea. Europe with 5 countries in the Top 10 does not have to hide itself. The index is determined by 7 factors such as density of High Tech enterprises, patent activity and productivity. Of course, such rankings can always be disputed and there are differences here and there to the assessment in the previously linked index. However, both see China with a clear upward trend. By the way, I was surprised by two scores for Germany. Firstly, 24th place in the productivity score. Our gross national income (GIN) is obviously to blame for this. But I was also surprised by the third place in the density of high-tech companies. Here I would have rated Germany worse. The only question is whether we can make enough out of it. What do you think?
These Are the World’s Most Innovative Countries (5 min, text, English)
Not about numbers, dates and facts but about people and emotions is Nugget #2. Filiz Scarcella asks the question what inspiration is. I agree that without inspiration it becomes difficult with motivation. The question “How should a fire burn if there was no spark?” reminded me of my article “Sparks” . However, when you look around some companies, there’s a lot of noise but only little sparks. By the way, that’s what I burn for. I want to generate sparks in companies and one or the other then becomes a fire, which brings the company forward. No matter whether these are new products, more efficient processes or simply structures that ensure that even more sparks are created. What are you burning for? What sparks are you generating? Write it down in the comments or if you like in a guest article. At this point, thanks to Thomas from the blog “Suddenly boss” for sharing this article.
Inspiration: What is it actually? (5 min, text, Geman)
At the moment there are many sparks on the topic of digitization called AI, IoT and Blockchain. As written in the last treasure, this makes people afraid rather than inspired. Valerie Mocker steps back in Nugget #3. Digitalization is not an end in itself but should help us humans to a better everyday life. I like to let algorithms take over 10 hours of my weekly working time and spend the gained time in activities with my children, social engagement (e.g. on the subject of MINT) or writing. So let’s talk less about digitization and more about the goals that digitization helps to achieve. Do you have a digitisation working group in your company? The best thing is to rename it tomorrow. For example in “Initiative for more effective recruiting”, “Great worldwide cooperation thanks to digital tools” or “Campaign to reach new customers via digital channels”. So the “what for” becomes clear and digitization becomes what it really is – a means to an end, not an end in itself. What do you want to achieve with the help of digitization?
We need to talk more about the sense and purpose of digitization (4 min, text,Geman)
Finally a bit of self promotion. First of all I am happy about new subscribers to my bottle mail. Advantage for you: You won’t miss a single post anymore.
And then yesterday chapter 7 of our book “The Art of Collaboration” was published. Get a trial version or all chapters now. For loyal readers of CompanyPirate I have a few vouchers left. Just drop me a note. Have a nice weekend!