The following clip is of my TEDx talk at Traverse City this year. What I call "creative consultancies" here is what I've come to call "innovation service firms."
I decided that the business relationship between these firms and their clients was a better way of collectively naming them. These companies provide outsourced innovation to their clients. More than telling people how to do things, these firms take responsibility for collaboratively creating the product of innovation with their client.
This video explains why I think these sorts of companies will allow our nation (and our state of Michigan) to compete in a global marketplace.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
About Carl Erickson
Carl Erickson is the president of Atomic Object, a 30-person software product development firm located in Grand Rapids, MI. Founded in 2001, Atomic Object builds web, mobile and embedded software products for clients ranging from huge multinationals to startups, in diverse markets spanning automotive, healthcare, financial services, education, distribution and entertainment.
Carl writes a blog, Great Not Big (greatnotbig.com), in which he shares experience, thoughts, ideas and practical help for building and running software product development firms.
Before co-founding Atomic Object in 2001, Carl was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Grand Valley State University. Carl holds a PhD in Computer Engineering from Michigan State University and maintains a part-time position as an industrial lecturer at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Innovation: Michigan's next big industry
Michigan needs innovation to get through the wrenching economic transition in which we find ourselves. Innovation, regardless of the business you're in, involves expertise and a personal commitment different from the usual operations of a company. Innovation is a thing unto itself, a skill set and attitude of its own.
Innovation, in fact, is a service that you can build a company around. As a specialty of its own, an innovation services firm helps its clients, usually startups or large firms, to design and create innovative new products and services. The employees of innovation services firms are experts in their own speciality, as well as experts in the process of innovation.
Outsourced innovation is an under-appreciated specialty, one that can contribute positively to Michigan's economy in two ways. First, both our established and our startup companies can tap these skills, and second, it can be a valuable training ground and source of employment for people with 21st century job skills.
If you're a product, marketing, or engineering manager in an established firm you should be aware of the advantages of working with an innovation services firm.
If you're a founder of a startup firm you should consider the tradeoff between hiring new product development expertise versus the difficulty of building your own team.
If you're somebody with skills to offer in the area of innovation then you should be considering starting your own innovation services firm.
The more capacity Michigan builds in this important field, the better off we'll all be as we transition to a 21st century economy.
Innovation, in fact, is a service that you can build a company around. As a specialty of its own, an innovation services firm helps its clients, usually startups or large firms, to design and create innovative new products and services. The employees of innovation services firms are experts in their own speciality, as well as experts in the process of innovation.
Outsourced innovation is an under-appreciated specialty, one that can contribute positively to Michigan's economy in two ways. First, both our established and our startup companies can tap these skills, and second, it can be a valuable training ground and source of employment for people with 21st century job skills.
If you're a product, marketing, or engineering manager in an established firm you should be aware of the advantages of working with an innovation services firm.
If you're a founder of a startup firm you should consider the tradeoff between hiring new product development expertise versus the difficulty of building your own team.
If you're somebody with skills to offer in the area of innovation then you should be considering starting your own innovation services firm.
The more capacity Michigan builds in this important field, the better off we'll all be as we transition to a 21st century economy.
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