Page 136 - ENTREPRENEURSHIP Innovation and entrepreneurship

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Source: New Knowledge 129

Yet there is no choice. If we want knowledge-based innovation,
we must gamble on receptivity to it.

The risks are highest in innovations based on new knowledge in
science and technology. They are particularly high, of course, in inno-
vations in areas that are currently “hot”—personal computers, at the
present time, or biotechnology. By contrast, areas that are not in the
public eye have far lower risks, if only because there is more time.
And in innovations where the knowledge base is not science or tech-
nology—social innovations, for instance—the risks are lower still.
But high risk is inherent in knowledge-based innovation. It is the
price we have to pay for its impact and above all for its capacity to
bring about change, not only in products and services but in how we
see the world, our place in it, and eventually ourselves.
Yet the risks even of high-tech innovation can be substantially
reduced by integrating new knowledge as the source of innovation
with one of the other sources defined earlier, the unexpected, incon-
gruities, and especially process need. In these areas receptivity has
either already been established or can be tested fairly easily and with
good reliability. And in these areas, too, the knowledge or knowl-
edges that have to be produced to complete an innovation can usual-
ly be defined with considerable precision. This is the reason why
“program research” is becoming so popular. But even program
research requires a great deal of system and self-discipline, and has
to be organized and purposeful.
The demands on knowledge-based innovators are thus very great.
They are also different from those in other areas of innovation. The
risks they face are different, too; time, for instance, is not on their
side. But if the risks are greater, so are the potential rewards. The
other innovators may reap a fortune. The knowledge-based innovator
can hope for fame as well.