Innovation Management - Creating value with innovation management.

In a world of economic gloom and crisis in Europe, Africa’s performance and potential provide huge opportunity. Its growth and other performance indicators are strong. It needs entrepreneurs, innovation and investment to make it happen.

Clean water and clean power, especially in remote areas of Africa and other developing nations, are critical challenges. One piece of technology, Microbial Fuel Cells, (MFCs) could help address both problems, and bring the additional benefits of mobile communications – changing the lives of millions. In one incarnation, it might also reduce the scourge of malaria.

Clothes buying, both in-store and online, is set to change with help from interactive and virtual assistants. Interactive mirrors, virtual changing rooms, a personalised fitting service and a mobile app all aim to help consumers find the clothes and the look they want more easily. They may also reduce costs for online retailers and help them reach new customers.

The number of potential flashpoints globally is growing. Could they spill over into serious conflict? Possibly, possibly not. The number of flashpoints and the nature of the tensions, not to mention the lessons from history, certainly make it possible. It may therefore be a case of hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

The discovery of graphene has not only won two scientists the Nobel Prize, but its extraordinary properties have triggered a boom in research, investment and superlatives. While the list of potential applications continues to rise, and the race to invest and research speeds up, a major challenge remains making graphene cheaply and easily.

As the world welcomes its 7 billionth inhabitant the pressures on water supplies continue to rise, often ignored and underestimated. The pressures on water supply present huge challenges, but also opportunities to improve capture, conservation and management.

The iPad and a growing number of other tablets continue to challenge the dominance of the PC; new arrivals such as the Aakash may make an even bigger mark. They continue to redefine where computers are used and in the process, how we do things.

Recent research into power, status, stress and aspirational gadgets reveals the extent to which decisions are anything but rational. Investment decisions and governance could be subject to new forms of scrutiny.

Food trucks are continuing to spread in America. They started in Los Angeles and have spread to San Francisco, Portland, Austin, New York, New Orleans, and shortly Chicago, to name a few. As hard times continue, they may be the perfect answer for low cost eating out, literally. And for hungry entrepreneurs.

Two new research studies examine on the one hand personal values among young adults on the other the realities of corporate values and culture. Both have some harsh truths to tell. The two forms of ‘relative values’ these studies discuss, have implications for strategic flexibility and devolved decision making for market success. Coupled with greater transparency they may also mean that companies need to take a long hard look at their corporate cultures.

Resource prices are rising which should be good for waste reclamation and recycling: it increases economic viability, encourages new processes and behaviours. And provides new opportunities. Even the humble toilet may get a makeover into a power source. The War on Waste is hotting up.

We may be approaching lift-off for mobile payment systems. At present non-western markets still dominate the market, but a flurry of activity, collaborations and trials by major technology and finance companies may herald lift-off in western markets.

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) enable people to control things by thought and nerve signals: they are emerging from the medical research arena. The technology of BCIs is becoming less invasive, sleeker and more powerful, with a growing number of applications from health care to gaming, smart homes to typing, medical research to market research. While not yet a mass market by any means, the potential for interacting with our surroundings in radically new ways is arriving.

While consumers continue to profess a desire to do the right thing, in reality they often do not – choosing convenience and product performance over higher prices and/or ethical and sustainable production and products. But the values shift accompanying the recession in the west, may be the background against which new approaches to sustainability could flourish by creating win:win strategies and greater clarity.