Thinkers 50 Innovation: Breakthrough Thinking to Take Your Business to the Next Level

CHAPTER9

Where Innovation Meets Society

In addition to meeting the pressing demands of business, innovation is also increasingly valued in other walks of life. There is a growing recognition that innovation and progress are inextricably linked. Many (perhaps all) of the challenges confronting us personally, nationally, and globally require innovative solutions. New ways of looking at the world may yield innovative approaches for tackling so-called wicked problems such as global warming and world poverty. New ideas are coalescing around these challenges. Social innovation—the idea that society itself can be improved through innovation—is a concept that is gaining currency.

At the other extreme, too, there is a growing sense that we as individuals ...