Necessity should be the mother of innovation

The imperative of thinking differently, identifying and exploring opportunities for innovation, may never be greater for many organisations than in a period of economic recession, yet the likelihood of it occurring in practice given the frequent need for short-term ‘fire-fighting’ may never be lower. At an economy wide level, the same impasse and disjoint between what is required and what is likely to happen in practice jeopardises the process of renewal and recovery. There may not be an obvious solution to this conundrum but there are some straightforward possibilities that might be considered by organisations small, medium and large, private or public.