From Incremental to Exponential

FOUR

False Assumptions, Broken Models, Wasted Effort

CHAPTER SUMMARY: This chapter looks at the failed strategies and tactics that organizations have used to try to systematize and foster applied and organic innovation, including innovation clusters, Silicon Valley outposts, and dedicated corporate innovation teams. We examine why all these strategies have failed, and why it has been so hard to replicate the magic of Silicon Valley.

Some readers will recall the halcyon innovation days of the 1990s, when everything seemed possible and governments invented various strategies to spur innovation in entire cities. Remember the announcements about science parks and Silicon Valley–like tech hubs that they called industry clusters? Alas, most of those ...