Roundtables on Innovation, Disruption and the Power of Platforms

Recently released Navigating Disruption: A report on the 2014 Aspen Institute Roundtable on Institutional Innovation by The Aspen Institute, a Washington based “educational and policy organisation” is exactly at its name confers  – “a white paper”.

Image source: www.wonderfulengineering.com

Inside you will find no eye catching infographic’s  that articulate the main points of the report in easy to digest shareable visual bundles. Instead, you will need to embrace the written word in this 66 page report written by  Richard Adler (@reallyrichard) for The Aspen Institute as part of its Roundtable on Institutional Innovation.

The Roundtable on Institutional Innovation is a series of annual roundtables that address “how organisations can strategize for success in the constantly changing digital environment”.

Adler, a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for the Future, Palo Alto and president of People & Technology, a consulting firm located in Silicon Valley, summarises the observations shared by the “carefully selected” 20 to 25 diverse US business and academic leaders as part of the roundtable in the white paper.

Our attention was especially drawn to the section titled  “The Power of Platforms” (p.25).  Some text especially stands out:

 “…it is the existence of a platform that opens new opportunities for innovation and makes it possible to share resources more efficiently.  These platforms are responsible for creating a new model for business…”

and,”

“…platforms can be useful not just for supporting the development and delivery of innovative products and services; they can also be used to enhance collaboration and accelerate the generation of ideas.”

Some reading for the train journey home.
You can read the full report here.