Managing Innovation, Design and Creativity

Chapter 29. Putting all pieces into place

CASE STUDY 10: THE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP^[104]

The Technology Partnership is infuriatingly difficult to define. At one level, it is a research organisation, with an almost academic interest in knowledge for its own sake; at another, it trades brains for cash, finding solutions to industrial problems.

Financial Times, 15 January 2001

A NEW DIRECTION?

Late 1999 Anne Miller went to Gerald Avison, Managing Director of TTP Group, to say she was ready for a change. Anne had a background in mechanical engineering and innovation with 30-40 patents under her belt. She had joined PA Technology in 1981 and left to become a founder member of TTP, a company set up under Gerald's direction in 1988. She explained, "In joining Gerald, I wanted to be part of the culture he creates which is participative, not dictatorial."

At TTP she had built up and led the Innovative Engineering Sector of TTP's business and had invented a diverse range of products, ranging from power tools for Bosch to the manufacturing system for the Femidom (the 'female' condom). In 1999 she knew that she wanted to explore new avenues, though initially not sure exactly what she wanted to do. Gerald suggested she go out and talk about innovation to people that TTP would not normally contact because "something interesting will come of it, and in any case it will be good PR". She soon realised that many companies were struggling with infusing innovation into their organisation, and were very ...