- About the Lecture
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About the Lecture
Are there any formulas for simultaneously achieving technological innovation and steady growth on a global basis? Ed Roberts believes companies must continuously access and leverage technical resources, which means they must not “just think globally but locate globally.” This strategy also involves allying with R&D partners, including licensing to and from them; outsourcing when appropriate; and investing early in energetic, capable entrepreneurial firms. Roberts’ research suggests that American and European companies are beginning to pursue these goals, with 35% of them reporting R&D activities outside of their home countries. He notes as well the increasing return of U.S.-educated foreign entrepreneurs to their home countries, which will “dramatically over time lessen the problem of overseas alliances and investment relationships.”
Frank Douglas describes the transformation over time of the pharmaceutical company, Aventis, with which he had a long tenure. In 1992, he joined what was then Marion Merrell Dow, whose three major products constituted 80% of sales. Douglas saw this as “a company in survival mode,” and came up with a plan for getting new products in the pipeline. His method involved a “fast-cycle concept, to make multidisciplinary teams the unit of innovation,” and to locate these units in different locations globally. Employees who did not contribute “to building a matrix organization” did not last long, says Douglas. In a matter of years, 54 projects emerged, with 300 scientists working on them. With the help of the decoded human genome, there emerged “a community of practice,” and common platforms that led to sharing of information and a swifter path to clinical trials.
Gerry Mooney views innovation not as a choice but “as a matter of survival.” His company, IBM, learned to make growth and innovation a “natural act.” His suggestion for other companies seeking to follow the same path: Don’t get preoccupied with current markets, or even with projects that promise revenue and profit in the early years, “but focus on what’s over the horizon.” IBM found that big opportunities lay in where new technologies were emerging, where industries collided. Since 2000, the corporation’s early business opportunity program has generated five ventures with more than $1 billion in revenue. IBM sought its customers’ insights, and tried to understand how to be a “catalyst, enabler in their growth.” It held roundtables to learn of innovations in new technologies, and then figured out if large and sustainable markets could be created for products taking advantage of these technologies. Mooney says it’s about “putting the right solution set together, and getting the right industry focus for that opportunity.”Related Videos
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- About the Speakers
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About the Speakers
Moderator: Edward B. Roberts '57, SM '58, SM '60, PhD '62
David Sarnoff Professor of the Management of Technology
Chair, MIT Entrepreneurship CenterDuring the past 45 years, Ed Roberts has become internationally known for his research, teaching and active involvement in many aspects of technology management, including technology strategy, corporate venturing, product innovation management, and technology-based entrepreneurship. He served as co-director of the MIT International Center for Research on the Management of Technology.
Roberts was a founding member of the MIT System Dynamics Group, is Founder and Chair of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and was a founder and for more than 30 years chaired MIT Sloan's Management of Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group. He co-founded and for nearly 20 years chaired the mid-career MIT Management of Technology (MOT) Program. Most recently he co-created and directs the MIT Sloan Entrepreneurship & Innovation MBA Track.
He has been a co-founder and/or director of numerous emerging technology companies. Roberts has authored more than 160 articles and eleven books.
Roberts holds 4 degrees from MIT.Frank L. Douglas
Executive Director, MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation
Professor of the PracticeFrank L. Douglas has earned many honors, including the Chief Scientific Officer of the Year, Pharmaceutical Achievement Awards, 2004; and the Medal of Honor, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, University of Frankfurt, 2004.
His research focuses on innovative methodologies in therapeutics, diagnostics and devices. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Cornell University, and an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College in 1977.Gerard M. Mooney
Senior Vice President, Corporate Strategy & Emerging Business Opportunities, IBM Corporation
Prior to joining IBM, Mooney held a variety of management positions at Hewlett-Packard, including spearheading HP’s corporate new venture program, managing HP’s Bioscience program, and running the Customer Education Division.
Before HP, Mooney worked for Westinghouse Electronics in their Defense Electronics Business Unit, where he was part of the Merger and Acquisitions team focused on expanding the company into commercial electronics.
Mooney holds an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management (1983), an M.S. in Accounting from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in Philosophy from Mount Saint Mary’s College. - About the Host
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About the Host
MIT Sloan School of Management
The MIT Sloan School of Management, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the world’s leading business schools — conducting cutting-edge research and providing management education to top students from more than 60 countries. The School is part of MIT’s rich intellectual tradition of education and research.
MIT Sloan began in 1914 as engineering administration curriculum in the MIT Department of Economics and Statistics. The scope and depth of this educational focus have grown steadily in response to advances in the theory and practice of management to today’s broad-based management school.
A program offering a master’s degree in management was established in 1925. The world’s first university-based executive education program — the MIT Sloan Fellows — was created in 1931 under the sponsorship of Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., an 1895 MIT graduate who was then chairman of General Motors. A MIT Sloan Foundation grant established the MIT School of Industrial Management in 1952 with a charge of educating the “ideal manager.”
Video Player
New Insights into Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Moderator: Edward B. Roberts '57, SM '58, SM '60, PhD '62
- Frank L. Douglas
Gerard M. Mooney - October 7, 2005
- Running Time: 1:16:15
