Innovation in America

Mark Adkins

There is no question that innovation (as defined by President Obama) is THE engine for growth and prosperity in America. With a long tradition of innovators, in particular Thomas Edison and his R&D Center at Menlo Park, the United States has been the world’s leader in innovation. Yet it seems that other nations are bypassing the U.S. and that is of great concern. The recent NAM/BCG Survey on Innovation ranked the United States eighth in the world behind nations such as Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland.

There are two critical areas that are holding back our ability to lead the world again in innovation. One is based around a lack of information. We lack data and therefore do not act aggressively to elevate our inventiveness. The other is policy based and can be fixed by local, state and the federal governments.

We have no baseline of innovation activity. There is no active, current measurement for innovation activity in the U.S. There are over a half dozen indexes, reports and surveys that are published annually that contain innovation in their titles but the really don’t give business and government a solid measurement of innovation ACTIVITY. The PDMA is studying a proposal to establish a monthly Product & Service Index (PSI) modeled after the Institute of Supply Chain Management’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (The PMI). This monthly report would tell the nation if our level innovation activity is increasing or decreasing. With this index in the news each month politicians and business leaders would be forced to deal with statistical proof a declining level of innovation activity in our nation.

The second critical area is: We are failing to innovate our manufacturing processes. We all know how high the jobless rate is and politicians decry jobs moving off-shoring but the fundamental answer to manufacturing job loss is AUTOMATION. Innovating manufacturing processes is just another name for automation and we have some of the world’s leading automation companies right here in the U.S. yet we fail to invest in automation and watch jobs go to either low cost nations like China or high productivity nations like Germany. In 2000, as reported by the Association of Manufacturing Technology (AMT), the amount of investment in new manufacturing technology was $6B. By 20009 that number had plummeted to $2B. Opening up lending for capital equipment and extending tax credits for both New Product Development and New Process Development would stimulate investment, create jobs and improve the competitiveness of the U.S.

I was asked if I thought businesses or individuals were holding back American Innovation. My answer is NO. What we are suffering from is a lack of information (Give us an Innovation Index) and too little investment in innovating our manufacturing processes (Give us Automation). These solutions will move us back to the top!

About Mark Adkins

Mark Adkins currently serves on the board of directors of the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) and is PDMA’s Vice President of Marketing. Mark also helped found the Cincinnati Chapter of PDMA in 2000 and in 2010 helped launched the Pittsburgh Chapter of the PDMA currently serving as their president.

Mark is the founder & president of Smart Hammer Innovation a consulting business that applies Lean principles to new product and market development. Its customer base is B2B industrial firms that are seeking profitable growth through product and service innovation. In his career Mark and his teams have led development projects that have launched numerous new products with lifetime sales of over $1B.

About PDMA

The Product Development and Management Association (PDMA) is the premier global advocate for product development and management professionals. Its mission is to improve the effectiveness of individuals and organizations in product development and management. PDMA accomplishes this by providing resources for professional development, information, collaboration and promotion of new product development and management. For more information about PDMA’s 34^th Annual Global Conference on Product Innovation Management, visit http://2010conference.pdma.org, follow on Twitter @PDMAintl or connect on LinkedIn.

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Ron Gold and his view on Networking

Ron Gold

Today I have the honor of meeting a networking pro, Ron Gold, and listening to his perspective on networking:

RON GOLD BIO

PRESIDENT, MARKETING WORKS

After 25 years in the radio industry as General Manager of WALK and B-103 Ron started an advertising agency with his wife called Advertising Works. When the industry changed so did Ron and with his passion for marketing he changed the name of his company last year to Marketing Works. At Marketing Works, he combines his love of marketing and his many years of Public Relations to create a great value for his clients. Marketing Works is becoming known quickly as he believes if you cannot market yourself, you cannot produce results for your clients. He recently helped found The Long Island Alliance for Small Business and is the Chairman of the Board of Directors. He loves to watch his son Jarrett play Ice Hockey as the Captain of the Cortland State University and to discuss Public Relations with his older son Matthew who is an Account Executive for Hill & Knowlton. His wife Eileen Hattersley breeds Labradoodles.

How long has Networking been popular?

That is a good question as I run my own Networking group called The Marketing Group and I always believed that in marketing your Business you needed to be part of networking groups. 5 years ago, I started my Networking Group and I hired a full time employee to just work on getting business people and professionals to the group for my monthly meetings. It was a struggle to get 20 people there and it was not always the right people. They were not decision makers. After 2 years, I closed it. I started The Marketing Group again in late 2008, I now have close to 40 members, I spend one day a month getting ready for the event, and they are the right people who can make decisions. Networking has changed as the economy has changed. After so many people were laid off, they had no choice but to look for ways to be employed and many started their own businesses. When they started, they had no choice but to somehow promote it and they heard networking was a good way to go and it is.

How many Networking groups can I join?

My suggestion is to get involved in as many as you can and have time for but do not get tied into any too quickly. Most will let you come as a guest a few times before they make you join. Reach out o a few people in the group and find out how beneficial each group is before committing to any. Also, look at the commitments as some make you go every week and only allow a few absences before they ask you to leave.

In addition, don’t look go once and if you don’t get any business quit. Most groups feel you out at the same time you are feeling them out and are reluctant to hand you anything the first time. Also, don’t ask for business too quickly as it turns members off. Connections are done in separate meetings called “one on ones” which are set up between you and another member for another time where you both discuss how you can help each other get business. There are groups that want you as an exclusive member and there are groups that don’t have formal memberships. When just starting out try to pick a few first before you commit.

What is the elevator speech?

The elevator speech is a quick 60-second synopsis of your business that each person who attends a network meeting stands up and gives at each meeting. The best way to do this so you are not nervous is to say your name, the name of your company and what your company does. For example, my name is Ron Gold, President of the Marketing Works and my business specializes in Marketing & Public Relations in order to get your company promoted and publicized. Short and sweet. Most people want to keep talking and do not realize the more they say the more they turned off every at the event as we are all trying to keep it concise. It is also recommended that you change it up every few weeks so people do not tune you out and some will say I did not know you did that?

How long should I stay in a Networking group?

That is another good question as most people get comfortable in groups and can overstay. In other words, when you don’t say new people coming into your group and your business ROI from the group has been declining its time to look for a smooth exit as other groups have other possibilities for you. I give most groups 3-6 months before I start evaluating them and after 2 years, I am looking for a change. Just remember how it was when you got started in the group and how many contacts you got. That is probably not happening any more.

Curated by Deepak Gupta.