Recently I have had the chance to read a compelling new book called The Venturesome Economy written by a professor from Columbia University, Amar Bhidé. Check it out here.
The book shares a unique and perhaps controversial point of view for some where the author discusses how the most significant economic impact of invention and innovation is not typically captured by the inventor of a new innovation but instead by communities, regions, states and countries that are able to bring together the broader and more varied resources required in order to commercialize these inventions. These thoughts in many ways counter the current conversations of many writers and commentators who express that the U.S. is losing its innovative edge vis-à-vis other countries if we have less scientists, researchers and resulting patents. Bhidé comments that it is exactly the breadth and depth of complementary skills located in the U.S. that will support and grow our country's ability to innovate in the future.
I like the fact that Bhidé also highlights great examples of how companies like Apple have been able to leverage their "venturesome" skill sets to create great products like the iPod by integrating inventions from other companies and hence creating a great new standalone product. If you would like to watch a video of Bhidé discussing this book you could also review this link provided by the Kauffman Foundation.
If communities like Northeast Ohio are going to accelerate their transformation quickly, we certainly will benefit from significant research and an increase of scientists and math and science students and workers. At the same time, however, we are going to need a broader array of professionals in other disciplines as well if we are going to create the number of jobs required in order to keep our local citizens employed and productive. The Venturesome Economy does a great job of speaking to how we can understand and leverage this reality as well.
Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.