Closing the Innovation Gap
Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy
By: Judy Estrin
Published: Aug 13, 2008
ISBN: 9780071499873
Format: Hardcover, 272pp
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Scientific innovation is not important only to scientists and to the U.S. economy. It affects everyone, writes innovation thinker and entrepreneur Judy Estrin in her visionary book Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy. The author makes a powerful case for the vital importance of innovation in building a strong economic future for everyone.
Judy Estrin describes the often unsettling but unvarnished underlying causes for the decline of American leadership in science and technology. That deterioration of American industrial strength, she believes, can be traced to a failure to continue the tradition of creative thinking and innovation in every aspect of American life. The spirit of new discovery in industry, academia, government, and public education has declined dramatically over the past decades. Instead of seeking long term answers to vital questions in science and technology, the focus has changed to results that only require a short time horizon.
Judy Estrin (photo left), as former CTO of Cisco Systems, understands the modern corporate structure from an insider's perspective. She recognizes how Wall Street and shareholder pressure have shifted emphasis on long term innovative product development, to short term quarterly reports. Corporate CEOs, facing a very short job expectancy of an average of three years, are under extreme pressure to create immediate gains in profits and share value. The result of this short sighted thinking has been a loss of a generation of scientific research and development. Universities and government sponsored scientific research has suffered from similar constraints. The loser in the underfunding of scientific research is the entire economy and the overall quality of life.
For me, the power of the book is the visionary approach taken by Judy Estrin, as she analyzes the problem, and then offers concrete and workable solutions. Judy Estrin understands the process for creativity and innovative discovery is a messy business and difficult to quantify. She recognizes that false trails and dismal failures are part of the innovative process. As a result, executives seeking to apply standard metrics will often be disappointed in the results of the research team. Instead of further funding, whether internally or by venture capitalists, will very often be steered into immediate marketing solutions. In the end, the opportunities for real advancement in science and innovation are lost.
I highly recommend the important book Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy by Judy Estrin, to anyone who is serious about strengthening the role of science and innovative research in industry, universities and schools, and in government. The time is running out for American innovation to retake the leadership in science and technology. Judy Estrin provides a framework for rebuilding the scope of research and development far beyond today's declining level of true innovation.
Read Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy by Judy Estrin, and discover how to reignite the crucial spark of innovation and creativity in America. The future depends on advances in science and technology, and the time to begin that renewed innovative quest is now.
