BIF Research Advisors Head to Davos: Collaborative Innovation Goes Global

This week, the global elite converge on Davos for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting. The agenda: The Power of Collaboration. BIF research advisor Larry Keeley is speaking on a panel about innovation and Bruce Nussbaum will be blogging the event for BusinessWeek and moderating an innovation workshop.

Industries are discovering that much of their future growth depends on the ability to collaborate with different actors to build public-private partnerships, galvanize multiple stakeholders and work with fast-growing competitors. What is the framework for the modern MNC to evaluate and initiate alliances and partnerships across multiple countries, interests and sectors worldwide?

Davos organizers write of a paradox emerging in our networked world where "knowledge is ubiquitous and change is rapid, but the absence of a common vision and agenda ensures that the status quo will be maintained with respect to major global challenges." This sounds a whole lot like John Kao's argument in his book Innovation Nation.

Here in the states, we urgently need a robust national conversation on issues that matter the most. I'm hoping next year that BIF gets an invite to Davos. Ours is a platform for building public-private partnerships. We are indeed galvanizing multiple stakeholders for a shared, common purpose.

Beyond a lot of hoopla and rhetoric, I'm curious to see just what comes out of this week's meeting. Because when you deal with populations instead of employees and governments instead of competitors, something as simple as a “common agenda” becomes quite difficult to achieve. Hopefully at Davos this year, global leaders will start to move from just getting the importance of innovation to getting innovation done.

You can track Davos through Bruce's blog at BusinessWeek: NussbaumOnDesign.

Posted January 22, 2008 11:07 AM by Chris Flanagan | Permalink