March 2015
Innovation – A Destination and a Journey
Valeria Mihalache
© Copyright 2015 Xilinx

Innovation Through the Ages
Innovation is Necessary
Creativity, Invention, Innovation
Fostering Innovation
Delivering Innovation
Page 2
Overview

It all started because humans wanted to survive
Survival nowadays: not only as individual, but also as
organization / corporation
More than 300,000 issued by USPTO in 2014
We have been designed to innovate. It’s in our DNA
Page 3
Innovation Through the Ages

Today more than ever
Society has higher expectations nowadays
– Globalization is forcing invention at an unprecedented rate
– Modernization & access to technology and to higher living standards are
fueling more demand from customers
– Competition is a steadfast driver for innovation
Necessity is the mother of invention
Innovation has never been a luxury
Page 4
Innovation is Necessary

Companies must invent to thrive
Companies must frame and reframe their business purpose, the
value they add to customers
Page 5
Without Innovation

Innovation is Fun
Page 6
Examples: Chindogu

Marketing Myopia, Ted Levitt, 1960
– Pointed out that companies had focused too much on making products &
too little on customer satisfaction
– “The reason [the railroads] defined their industry wrong was because they
were railroad-oriented instead of transportation-oriented; they were
product-oriented instead of customer-oriented”
– Companies should look towards the market & redefine themselves & their
products accordingly, rather than looking inwards, at their potential
“WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU REALLY IN?”
Page 7
Innovation for the Customer

“If I had asked people what they wanted,
they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford
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Visionary Innovation

Creativity: the ability to make new things or think of new ideas
– Artists, chefs, improvisers, engineers
– Not constrained by reality
Invention: a product of the imagination
– Requires creativity, but it’s constrained by reality
– Patentable
Innovation: a new idea, device, or method
– Every invention is an innovation
– Implementation of an invention, or new process, method, business model
“We are all inventors of our own futures. And creativity is the heart of
invention.” -- Tina Seeling: inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity
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Creativity, Invention, Innovation

Process innovation
Product innovation
Page 10
Innovation Classification

Page 11
Innovation Classification
DISRUPTIVE
BREAKTHROUGH
INCREMENTAL
Internet
Transistor
FPGA

OPEN
PROPRIETARY
Page 12
Innovation Classification

An organization can’t just expect innovation. It has to allow for it.
It has to sponsor it.
Innovation is not just a destination. It’s a journey that employees
and companies have to make together.
Page 13
Fostering Innovation

Innovation Infrastructure
– Innovation Centers, Research Labs
– Innovation Catalysis Mentors
– Innovation sounding boards; ex. What If Board
– Startup-like groups, even in large company/organization
– Request new ideas as part of the review process
Time
– Unstructured Time
– Sponsor brainstorming
Award Innovation: Bonus, Award Dinner, Offsite, Time Off
Provide opportunities for learning, networking, getting inspired
Page 14
Fostering Innovation: Examples

“Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’m possible.” –
Audrey Hepburn
Innovation is a mindset
Be courageous
Make innovation your priority
Innovate with respect to the problem / scope
– Identify problems you want to solve. Identify the why’s and what if’s
– Brainstorm the problem relentlessly
– What’s stopping you from solving the problem? What do you need?
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Delivering Innovation

Know your customer!
Apply problem solving techniques
– Divide and Conquer
– Abstraction
– Analogies and symmetries
Improvise
– If you can’t solve the problem, change it
– Use approximations, probabilities, heuristics
– Brainstorming
Persevere
– When hitting a closed door, find a window
Page 16
Delivering Innovation

Innovation Through the Ages
Innovation is Necessary
Creativity, Invention, Innovation
Fostering Innovation
Delivering Innovation
Page 17
Summary

May 5, 1809: Mary Kies becomes the first woman to receive a U.S.
patent for her method of weaving straw with silk
1845: Sarah Mather patented a submarine telescope and lamp
that allowed submarines to survey the depths of the ocean
1984, patent no. 4,428,085 granted to France Gabe for self-
cleaning house
Marie Curie, 2 Nobel awards,
refused to file any patents
Page 18
Patents by Women
1760:
Declaration of
Independence
1780: First
U.S. President
1788: U.S.
Constitution
Ratified
1790: The
Patent Act

Page 19
Q & A
“The power of imagination makes us infinite.” – John Muir