Experimental Labs and Innovative Entrepreneurship-

Piero FormicaIntentac, Innovation Value Institute, and Eden Centre, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Dublinwww.intentac.orgwww.ivi.iewww.eden.nuim.iepiero.formica@gmail.com

• PATHFINDER vs PATH CREATOR

PATHFINDER – the “knowledgist”

Knowledge

Knowledge maps MeasurementOptimization PathSpecialization PathNeutralization Path Silos

Horizon of certainty

Nevil Maskelyne John Harrison

Hypothetical reconstruction of the lost world map of 1474 by Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli (in clear, the position of the American continent, which he ignored), "A Literary and Historical Atlas of America

Planned route, proof of preparedness

Disobedience(“Ignorance is bold and knowledge reserved”, Thucydides“Future knowledge is not possible in the present”, Karl Popper )

UncertaintyInaccuracy

Horizon of doubt

Imagination(“Knowledge circumscribes the imagination”, Giacomo Leopardi, Notebooks)

“The imaginary has more natural powers, and natureis always superior to reason”,G. Leopardi, Notebooks)

A range of disciplines

PATH CREATOR – the “resilient persona”

e-Book!

NO MAP“There is no map, and

charting a path ahead will not be easy" - as Mr Bezos,

Amazon's founder, said after he bought

the Washington Post

Battle of Leuctra, July 6, 371 BC

Apple and Googleversus Intel

BlackBerry considered a simple toy the iPhone that Apple introduced in 2007

Path creator is a depositary of entrepreneurial energy transmitted in packets (‘quanta’) of indivisible ideas and used to create a path.

Co-Creation of Trade Routes and Novel Products

Nokia’s market capitalisation at the end of 2000 was $209bn while Apple’s was $8.6bn.

At the end of last year, Nokia was worth $14.3bn and Apple $627bn – a swing of $800bn.

Source: EUROPE HAS PAID A PRICE FOR LOSING ITS MOBILE LEADBy John Gapper, FT, September 5, 2013

HORIZON 1

Innovation Horizons 1The Visible Horizon

Pathfinders seek a path within the boundaries of their knowledge map.

HORIZON 1

Innovation Horizons 1The Visible Horizon

Constraint of knowledge“Knowledge reserved”

My point of viewis expert’s point of view

Pathfinders, ‘knowledgists’ who read markets

HORIZON 1

Innovation Horizons 2 and 3The Real Horizon

HORIZONS 2, 3

Creative

friction

‘supernova’

‘hypernova’

Purposeful ignorance

Path creators chart a path by randomly walking, disregarding the map of knowledge mastered.

HORIZON 1

Innovation Horizons 2 and 3The Real Horizon

HORIZONS 2, 3

Creative

friction

‘supernova’

‘hypernova’

Freedom of ignorance“Ignorance is bold”

The non expert point of viewSearch for disconfirming

evidences

Need & Tech seekers

Purposeful ignorance

Path creators, salutary purposeful ignorant, whose ignorance follows knowledge

R-Evolution (New Thinking) in Business Economics

2. INCUBATION(EU design)

Accumulation of (managerial) skills

Consultancy-led services

3. EXPERIMENTAL LAB FOR INNOVATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP (HIGH-EXPECTATION START-UPS)

Firsthand knowledge of states, situations, emotions, or sensations

Content of direct observation or participation in an event

Arbitrage between competing models/ hypothesis

HIGH EXPECTATION ENTREPRENEURS

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS + ENTREPRENEURSHIP =HIGH-EXPECTATION ENTREPRENEURSHigh-expectation entrepreneurs pursue the intent of significantly growing their companies

High-expectation entrepreneurs are responsible for up to eighty percent of total expected jobs by all entrepreneurs

Experimental Lab – A Collision Hall

High-expectation start-ups are detected and created during high energy collisions between seemingly unrelated business ideas

High-expectation start-ups drain enormous energy in the build-up phase

The business idea is treated as an assumption or conjecturebased on incomplete information and imprecise or vague knowledge

E = MC 3

where E = Entrepreneurial energy; M = Motivations and attributes inentrepreneurial behaviour; C (Creativity) raised to the third power: Creativity in technology (creation) x Creativity in planning (conversion)x Creativity in marketing (commercialization)

Power relations: creative power that emerges when different disciplines collide.

E = MC 3

Incubator and Experimental Lab:‘Fission’ and ‘Fusion’ Processes

Potential start-up

Splitting (‘fission’) demand for and supply of premises and value-added services

Merging (‘fusion’) together demand andsupply

Incubators

.Roots and rationale in the industrial era

.Based on (subsidized) protection of aspiring entrepreneurs

Experimental labs

.Productivity-driven open models of innovation

.Young minds for new venture creation are opened up and so much energized to be intelligently earlier exposed to risk & control

Experimental Labs vs Incubators

Roller Coaster Profile of an Experimental Lab

1. Business idea in its initial reference position in opposition to a force (e.g., known unknowns, unknown unknowns, entry barriers, etc..)

1

2. When the business idea climbs the ‘Experimentation Hill’, energy is expended and a potential difference (‘potential energy’, stored in the lab) is created

2

3. Maximum potential energy at the top of the Hill

3

4. Down the Hill, potential energy turns into kinetic (i.e., energy due its motion)

4

Extraordinary: Large Deviations Make the Difference In experimental labs events supposed not happening, happen

“normal” is the focus

“extremes” are the focus

“extremes” are the focus

Feedback loopsCumulative, snowballs, arbitraryand unpredictable effects

You don’t tame uncertaintylooking at extraordinary events

We rewardacts of preventionrather than treatment

“I am going to use my idea in my field

of use, and you are welcome to use it in your own field”A

B

C

The Experimental Lab community is a platform where business ideas are being posted looking for problem seekers and problem solvers. The first actively seek out and attempt to deal with problems as they arise from the Lab community ideas. The latter identify effective solutions by enabling unobvious connections of different ideas. Teams of problem seekers and problem solvers are interchangeable.

“I am going to use my idea in my field of use, and you are welcome to use it in your own field”

“Innovation is a body contact sport. I search for adjacent ideas – one door leading to another door – which ignites a process of accretion.”

Interactionist identity (“innovation is a body contact sport”): – search for adjacent ideas (“one door leading to another door”), – which ignites a process of accretion (“accretive development”).

1. High Context Communities of Practice

2. Cafés-type Communities of PracticeAre life forms whose behaviour is organised from the bottom up

It was in coffee-houses that commerce and new technology first became intertwined.

Playing cards in cafés instead of playing by business cards in formal debates

3. Low Context Knowledge Communities

BRAINSTROMING‘Do not criticize’

“Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.”

HOW?

“Do not inhibit ideas but, rather, stimulate them relative to every other condition”. “Casual, cafe-style interactions,but allow people to disappear into personalized, private spaces when they want to be alone”.

GROUPTHINK ‘Debate and Criticize’

HOW?

Creating a community of innovators

ONE DAYWORKSHOP

Alertness

The organizer proposes 1 to 3 themesto be resolvedE.g.:Smart CityEco-energyE-Health……

1Candidates form 2 to 4 personsteams of problem seekers.Each team must analyzes indetails the theme which has beenchosen

2

Each team presents the themedetected into its components

Tutors, Mentors and Coaches provide support for teams

Themesdetection andselection

3 TEAM 1Different in composition from team 1 of problem seekers

Teamsof problem solverselaborateproject solutions

TEAM 2

TEAM 3

TEAM n

4

Project

Project

Project

Project

Presen

tation

s / Discu

ssants

JurySenior

JuryJunior (successfulStart-up founders)

Awards

Winners

56

Externalstimulus

Finding what is missing….

….then fixing it…. ….and building something

that is interesting

Different in composition from team 2of problem seekers

Different in composition from team 3of problem seekers

Each participant show and test her/his passion, motivation aspiration, and attitude

Creating a community of innovators

ONE DAYWORKSHOP

Alertness

The organizer proposes 1 to 3 themesto be resolvedE.g.:Smart CityEco-energyE-Health……

1Candidates form 2 to 4 personsteams of problem seekers.Each team must analyzes indetails the theme which has beenchosen

2

Each team presents the themedetected into its components

Themesdetection andselection

3

Externalstimulus

Finding what is missing….

Each participant show and test her/his passion, motivation aspiration, and attitude

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” ― Albert Einstein

“The formulation of the problem is often more essential than its solution, which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.” ― Albert Einstein

“You cannot solve a problem with the same level of consciousness that created it.” ― Carl Jung

“It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem.” ― Malcolm S. Forbes

TEAMBUILDINGto form a tight group

CREATIVITYto form a creative spirit

GROUPTHINKINGto generate ideas

IGNORANCE“ignorance follows knowledge”

– the equivalent of open-mindedness, which gives the strength to take a stance

different from the traditional one and set out into unknown paths

KNOWLEDGEto get the maximum of knowledge and information

ENTREPRENEURIAL TEAMSparticipants

with diversified, complementary

background

EXPERIMENTAL DAY WORKSHOPTraits of Entrepreneurial Teams

SHARING“I am going to use my idea in myfield of use, and you are welcome

to use it in your own field”

Team mode. Each participant engaged in a team (size: 2 to 4 individuals) Each participant can change team during the experimental phase.

Two or more team can merger. " I use your idea in the field you don't" is an example of an operational tool.

Participants work in parallel

Participants are supported by mentors and coaches.

Process

Mentor and Coach – Profiles

Mentor: Facilitate, Question, Listen; Challenge, Build, Inspire

Coach: Instruct, Direct, Teach; Engagement with transformation (changing

direction, breaking new ground)

• Experimenting with business ideas

• Learning how to turn ideas into opportunities serving the market

• Learning how to engineer high level of creativity and initiative

• Getting immersed in a community of innovators

• Gaining confidence in mastering intercultural exchange

• Learning how to capitalize on brain circulation

Outputs

1. Concept Description  2. Value Proposition

To Customer

To Company  3. Commercial PotentialEstimated Market Size & RevenuesTotal Revenue  4. Competitive Advantage  5. Feasibility  

BUSINESS CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

1. What's the Problem, the Opportunity?2. What is the solution found and how it works?3. What are the benefits of the solution and how does it

differ?4. For whom is the solution important and what

community or social subjects would benefit from it?5. What are the estimated costs to implement the idea?6. What are the pros and cons of the idea and the

difficulties?

Questions to answer

42

NOME DESCRIZIONE PESO

Magnitude of the Idea Reform or Redefinition of the Market 35%

Business Model Key resources, Value Proposition and Marketing 20%

Economics Impact, Costs, Revenues 10%

Feasibility SWOT Matrix 35%

Jury: Criteria of Evaluation

Marks: from 1 to 6

CROWDFUNDING and…• The 2013 crowdfunding report by Massolution stated that

around $5.1 billion in transactions occurred globally in 2013. That’s around a 100 percent increase from 2012 when

$2.6 billion was raised.

• A new report produced by Richard Schwartz for the World Bank states that the annual total market potential of the entire

crowdfunding industry could reach $300 billion by 2025. China’s potential could reach $47.6 billion,

while Europe and central Asia could reach $13.8 billion.

…..BITCOIN• A fascinating use case for Bitcoin is micropayments,

or ultrasmall payments. Micropayments have never been feasible because it is not cost effective to run small payments (think $1 and below, down to pennies or fractions of a penny) through the existing credit/debit and banking systems. The fee structure of those systems makes that nonviable.

• With Bitcoin, that’s trivially easy. Bitcoins have the nifty property of infinite divisibility: currently down to eight decimal places after the dot, but more in the future. So you can specify an arbitrarily small amount of money, like a thousandth of a penny, and send it to anyone in the world for free or near-free.

There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomesRichard Buckminster US engineer and architect, 1895-1983

It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrongRichard FeynmanAmerican theoretical physicist, 1918-1988

Finale