A Social Culture Of Innovation

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>We are living in special times. After a long wait the world is getting truly connected. Globally, nearly 5 billion people are connected via mobile phones. China's mobile penetration is expected to reach 100 per cent within the next five years. India is not far behind with already more than a third of its population connected through the mobile network. Large parts of Africa are also moving up the mobile adoption curve rapidly. Indeed the world has suddenly become closer.<br><br>The near ubiquitous presence of mobile technology is having a powerful impact on the lives of people in emerging markets. It has enabled new connections to be formed and old links to be renewed. For example, mobile calls are often made by the poor in rural villages to their richer relatives in cities for the transfer of funds. Mobile telephony has enabled new forms of entrepreneurship amongst the rural populace. Witness the success of Grameen Phone in Bangladesh in which women are creating businesses to sell communication services through a mobile phone stand. It has also stimulated the creation of innovative applications to improve the quality of life for farmers. For example, Nano Ganesh (the emerging markets innovation award winner from Nokia in 2009) is a simple mobile-based application in India used by farmers to switch on remote irrigation equipment for their fields.<br><br>A similar phenomenon is also taking place in developed countries. The increased availability of 3G has improved the richness of communications and data access possible through mobile telephones. Witness the range of applications available on the Apple iPhone platform. In about a year's time, more than 150,000 iPhone applications are now available for a variety of personal and business needs. These innovations are not being designed by large software houses, but are rather being driven by individuals. A similar phenomenon is taking place in other social computing platforms. More than a million developers and entrepreneurs from 180 countries have created over 400,000 active applications on Facebook within a year's time.<br><br>While these innovations improve the quality of life for many, it is interesting to note that they are not generally driven by high technology research. Most are driven by a deep understanding of local customer and contextual needs and the liberation of the creativity of the individual.<br><br>It is not just technology that is becoming ubiquitous in society. A new force of innovation is becoming pervasive in society. A social culture of innovation is emerging and ubiquitous technology is driving this.<br><br>The author is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, France.&nbsp; He has authored&nbsp; several books on technology, policy and innovation. He can be reached at: soumitra dot dutta at insead dot edu<br><br></p>