Innovation Passport: The IBM First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) Journey from Research to Reality

Introduction

Innovation is a social activity. Without advocates, builders, critics, and developers, even the best ideas have no impact. Thomas Edison tacitly admitted this when he swore he’d never invent anything for which a market did not exist. Look at any innovation, and you will find partnerships, teams, and communities that worked together to realize the value of an idea or cluster of ideas.

The challenges of keeping an original idea alive and shepherding it along the full path to becoming a new product, service, or business model become more daunting every day. The greatest opportunities and the most urgent needs tend to be complex and work only within larger contexts. Many of the best ideas need to operate across different disciplines, ...