R. David Lankes

I’ve been invited to a symposium at the University of Washington to discuss faster economic transfer of research and innovation in information, computer, and management science.

From the invitation:

We write to invite you to join us at the University of Washington on September 13 and 14,
2005, in launching a unique series of research symposia investigating the creation of new billion
dollar market segments in the 21st Century. By bringing together and building a network of multi-
disciplined leaders in the study of innovation, we believe that we, collectively, can reduce the
time to transfer new innovation into economic value.

For the past year, a number of us have been researching and meeting to discuss the
innovation process that leads to new billion dollar market segments like 3Com in Networking,
Adobe in graphics, Google in search, Real Networks in Internet video, and Amazon in e-retailing.
Nineteen new billion dollar market segments came out of Internet1 research and innovations, each
segment seemingly arose from a unique and rather messy innovation process taking 10 to 15
years.

We are now at the cusp of a second surge of emerging billion dollar market segments as
the Internet has reached ubiquity and deep penetration into business and the home, our work and
play. As this phenomenon is occurring, however, its speed and efficiency is slowed by limited
understanding of the innovation process that enables new market segments and companies to
emerge. All too often, innovation is undermined by reliance on out-dated management practices
and communications breakdowns between creators and managers.

The organizers of the symposium are: Mike Eisenberg, Dean, UW Information School; Ed Lazowska. UW Computer Sciences; Dick Nolan, UW Business School; and Rob Austin Harvard Business School