Guns, Games, and Style
Short article by Kevin Werbach on behalf of BusinessWeek
on, well, kind of user-centered innovation:
Want a sneak peek of tomorrow’s technology? Look to generals, gamers, and fashionistas, where the real innovations will come from
Interesting how he views the big and huge organization military as kind of hothouse and testbed for innovation, I do agree in some parts … like e.g.:
Think of the Defense Dept. as an enterprise, with millions of employees, operations throughout the world, and a business that epitomizes the term mission-critical. In areas ranging from real-time collaboration to knowledge management to sensor networks, the military is pressing technology vendors to push the envelope, spawning innovations that will diffuse to other markets
However, innovation is still pushed by external organizations … and at an enormous cost … analogies for normal companies are hence limited.
Still the article is worthwile, noting that interesting things may occur at the intersection of these three groups …
SYNERGY BURST. Particularly interesting innovations occur when guns, games, and style intersect. […] the military is extremely active in using massively multiplayer online games as training, recruiting, simulation, and collaboration tools.
[…]
if you’re interested in the business of technology, you would be wise to pay attention to a different set of customers: the generals, gamers, and fashionistas. When it comes to innovation, their decisions may be the ones that matter.
Seems reasonable to me, innovative and creative business models may emerge … so you better watch this peculiar focus area.
