by: Tomoaki Watanabe Former Executive Director, Creative Commons Japan Associate Professor, Keio University

1. Promoting Innovation
Economy
Tomoaki Watanabe (Keio University)
2017.01.25.
Slingshot Philippines 2017 Maker Edition
Jan 25-27, 2017, Cebu, Philippines

2. About me
- Broadband Policies/ Wikipedia/ Creative Commons/ Open
Education/ Open Data/ Digital Fabrication/ …
- http://innovation-nippon.jp
- Openness, ICT policies, Information society studies
- Keio University/ GLOCOM/ Creative Commons Japan/ Open
Knowledge Japan

3. Today’s talk
1. Concept of Innovation
2. Patterns of Innovation (a general theoretical view)
3. Common bottlenecks for innovation and possible responses

4. 1. Concept of Innovation

5. Why Innovation Economy?
- A source of competitiveness
- Not wealth of natural resources
- Not wealth of low-cost labor
A common option for economic growth and wealth
A major option for high value-added economy
An approach to remain competitive globally (national economy
sas well as corporate values)

6. Broader view of innovation & economy
- Innovation is not limited to global competitiveness
- Innovation in a broad sense can improve the economy, any
firms or sectors

7. Major characteristics
- Newness
- Goodness
 A way to improve productivity, which is new to its adopter
Implications:
* A practice, product is NOT necessarily effective for everyone
* It is NOT necessarily new to everyone
* It could be innovation just for one person or a small group

8. Optional characteristics
- Non-obviousness
v. known method to productivity gain
(e.g. investment into a better well-known machinaries)
- Novelty to the society
v. immitation of others
(cf. diffusion of innovation)
- Relation with new technology/ R&D
(i.e. innovation via invention)
v. productivity gains via branding or division of labor
- Disruption
v. marginal/ incremental improvement

9. Productivity
Productivity = Output/ Input
Productivity gains:
Efficient production (less waste, lower error rates, fewer
people, faster process)
More value-added with the same input (time, materials, labor,
etc.)
Different set of input, different output with higher mkt value

10. Could FabLabs help innovation?
Yes.
A FabLab can..
1. bring productivity gains for its users.
e.g. mold for candies, package designs (Bohol)
2. help its users innovate for themselves or their customers
e.g. hold workshops and training classes
users create coin case, souvenir robots (Bohol)

11. Local conditions matter
- Availability of low-cost products
(i.e. imported items on the dollar stores)
- Level of local users/ businesses in using technologies
(can the Lab and Lab users help them?)
- Transportation and information infrastructure
(level of competition with non-local players)
Difficulty of labs in major cities in developed countries

12. 2. Patterns of Innovation
(a general theoretical view)

13. Digital Fab Technologies and Innovation
The digital fabrication technologies are
- More affordable than conventional (industry-grade)
counterparts
- Easier to use than analogue
- Made accessible via FabLabs
Broader range of people enabled to get involved into making
 With the new people come new ideas, expertise, knowledge
from the ground

14. FabLab’s contributions
- Make the techonlogies accessible
- Physically and skill-wise
- Connect people with different backgrounds
- Fostering users to Learn, Make, Share
 Bring in new elements and foster connections

15. Specific types of innovation
- Open innovation (Chesbrough)
- User innovation (Hippel)
Highly relevant to FabLabs and digital fabrication technologies

16. Open innovation
- Corporations may turn to outside parties and resources for
innovation.
- Crowdsoursing, strategic partnership, M&A, consortium, open
licensing of internal resources, etc...
- FabLab can foster collaboration & networking through make-
a-thons and other events
 Local needs can meet local makers

17. User innovation
- Users often innovate by themselves (by alone, by a group)
* Users include corporate as well as individual users.
- FabLab can let companies to meet and interact with users.
- A company can host a FabLab for interaction; a hack-a-thon around
their products; a project to develop a new product with users

18. Peer-based innovation
(cf. peer-based social production, by Yochai Benkler)
- Innovation can happen without corporate element
- Some through collaboration (e.g. Wikipedia)
- Some through remixing of existing elements (e.g. CC-
licensed photos)

19. 3. Common bottlenecks for innovation
and possible responses

20. Common bottlenecks
FabLabs
- Resourceful people
- Sufficient revenue
Business users
- Passionate leader
- Skilled participants - business development & product design
- Initial funding

21. Make-a-thon
Inviting diverse people
Foster collaboration
Mutual learning, better design ideas, networking, supplying
skilled participants

22. Prototyping as a business
FabLabs (esp. with advanced-level staffs) provide
prototyping and small-quantity making
- Versatality and breadth of technological options
- Proximity to local businesses
- A variety of financial scheme: leasing, revenue-share, retain rights
and sell to different clients, pay-by-equity etc.
Revenue stream for the lab
Initial boost to business users/ businesses

23. Resource sharing
- Business mentoring
- Open data
- Discount on rent, telecom, utils. etc.
in exchange for name recognition& networking opportunity

24. Crowdfunding and micro-financing
Fab projects:
small-scale, high-diversity, medium-risk investment
= high-cost of reviewing, low-return
 Lab staff as the first reviewer
Government (financial) support + microfinance org + lab staff
= financing scheme for fab projects
Microfinance org may turn to crowdfunding

25. Recommended for FabLabs
- Longer-term make-a-thon
- Prototyping
- Investment-type revenue model

26. Recommendations for policy makers
- Explore financing schemes
(possibly a broader issue than just fab/ maker domain)
- Open data
- Facilitate resource sharing