his breakthrough book gives a ground-floor view of the innovation process, showing how fundamental innovators really work. Then, it connects that knowledge to the bigger picture, explaining why the “innovation system” in the United States is failing to work as it once did, and what all parties can do to build a better system for the future.
Inside Real Innovation is written by distinguished practicing innovators. They debunk the concept of innovation as a linear process, from research to development to product in the market. They present a simple model for understanding it as a highly iterative process, in which you cycle repeatedly through many factors in the areas of Technology, Market and Implementation — until the right pieces come together. Co-author Gene Fitzgerald tells the story of his own major innovation, tracing it along the winding path into products we use every day. The authors then proceed to tell the larger story of how the vaunted American “pipeline” for carrying this process has been pulled apart.
The book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in a strong innovation system: investors, innovators and people in corporations, universities and government. Inside Real Innovation has become the course-book for a White House-recognized MIT course entitled 3.086x Innovation and Commercialization.
Eugene Fitzgerald is the Merton C Flemings SMA Professor of Materials Engineering at MIT, Visiting Professor of Management in the Johnson School at Cornell University and Fellow in the Singapore-MIT Alliance. He is Founder and Board Chairman of Innovation Interface. Building upon his early experience at AT&T Bell Labs, he has created and led a series of fundamental innovations, from early technology to final implementation in the market. As a serial entrepreneur, he has been a founder or founding team member of five start-up companies.
Andreas Wankerl is a lecturer in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and Operations Director of the Innovation Interface. He conceptualized its beginnings and co-founded its precursor, the ‘Business of Science and Technology Initiative’ at Cornell University. The Innovation Interface works with corporations on innovation processes and innovation projects at the corporate/university interface. With a PhD in Electrical Engineering and after managing international sales and customer relations in the semiconductor equipment industry, he returned to Cornell to earn his MBA and to start what has become the Innovation Interface.
Carl J Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, is an international authority on entrepreneurial innovation and economic growth. He has served on two Department of Commerce innovation committees during both the Bush and Obama administrations, advises government leaders worldwide on economic expansion, and serves on the Prime Minister of Singapore's Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council. Trained as an economist and lawyer, Schramm has founded and cofounded several healthcare finance and information technology companies. His commentary appears in major publications such as Foreign Affairs and The Wall Street Journal, and his book, Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, is available in nine languages.