Yemisi Izuora
The Director General of Federal Institute of Industrial Research, Oshodi (FIIRO), Prof (Mrs) Gloria Elemo has said that for innovation to be effective, it has to be simple and it has to be focused.
Prof. Elemo who was represented by the Deputy Director, Tecno Enterprises of the FIIRO, Mr. Ogundeji Rasaq Kayode, delivering a key note address at the #WorldstageEconomicSummit2017, themed “‘Transforming Business and Economy Through Innovation’ said innovation must be channeled towards solving one problem, so as not to confuse people.
She stated that innovation that creates new users and new markets should be directed toward a specific, clear and carefully designed application.
“Effective innovations start small. They are not grandiose. She said.
“It may be to enable a moving vehicle to draw electric power while it runs along rails, the innovation that made possible the electric street car, or it may be elementary idea of putting the same number of matches into a matchbox from the erstwhile 50 match sticks. This simple notion she said made possible the automatic filing of matchboxes and gave the Swedes a world monopoly on Matches for half a century.
According to her, grandiose ideas for things that will “revolutionalize an industry” are unlikely to work.
She however noted that in order to transform businesses, innovation- which, she said is the soul of business enterprise, must be approached through research and development, required for growth and development.
Prof Elemo thus stated that businesses need to imbibe high performance in innovation, Balance of skills and Abilities, appropriate equipment that is up-to-date, space to work as well as staff team development activities to promote compatibility and interaction.
Speaking further, Elemo explained that innovative solutions can be applied to business issues so that businesses can create positive change. This can make people exploit new opportunities, refuse to give up and remake the economy for the better.