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SA execs more likely to encourage innovation than global counterparts – GE study

16th September 2014

By: Leandi Kolver

Creamer Media Deputy Editor

  

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South African business leaders were more likely than their global counterparts to encourage creative behaviours and “disruptive processes” to drive innovation, the South African results of the GE Global Innovation Barometer, released on Tuesday, have shown.

The 2014 results of the GE study indicated that local executives had an overwhelmingly positive perception of the role innovation played in society with more than three-quarters of respondents having agreed that people in the country lived better than ten years ago because of the impact of innovation.

“A renewed focus has been placed on inspiring and supporting innovation across the country. New programmes and forums have been established by government, such as the Square Kilometre Array, and private sector companies have invested in local innovation centres and organisations, such as The Silicon Cape Initiative, which have cropped up to support budding entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The drive for innovation across South Africa has never been greater,” GE South Africa president and CEO Tim Schweikert said.

The company added that the majority of South African executives surveyed said smaller businesses and start-ups, were the key drivers of innovation in the country – more so than their peers in other parts of the world – while 88% of South Africans agreed that collaboration with start-ups and entrepreneurs would drive innovation success in the future, compared with 85% globally.

“This study is exciting as it clearly demonstrates a willingness among the private sector, not only to identify new processes, but also to build new partnerships with SMEs and entrepreneurs to drive innovation in South Africa,” Science and Technology Minster Naledi Pandor commented, adding that the Department of Science and Technology was committed to bringing together individuals and organisations with a passion for innovation.

Meanwhile, the GE study showed that 96% of executives in South Africa agreed that innovation was increasingly becoming a global game, with merging and combining talents, ideas, insights and resources across the world becoming the only way to be successfully innovative.

According to the report, 78% of executives said collaborating with external business partners was a risk worth taking to innovate successfully, while 65% of respondents said revenue generated by collaborative innovation activities had been growing over the past year.

Further, 81% of South African executives thought the collaboration of private companies with State-owned enterprises had to be encouraged, while 82% felt that South Africa had to reinforce intellectual property to encourage stronger collaboration between companies.

Meanwhile, the GE barometer also showed that local executives demonstrated a greater appetite for creativity and spontaneity compared with their global counterparts.

However, executives were divided on how to inspire innovation – 51% believed that the most successful innovations are planned and driven through a structured process, while 49% felt that innovation emerged spontaneously through the interactions of creative individuals.

This differed from the global average that saw 62% of executives looking to structured programmes to provide innovation.

Further, 69% of executives in South Africa recognised the need for companies to encourage creative behaviours and disruptive processes in the business to be able to innovate successfully, while 76% said it was best to position innovative teams and activities inside the existing lines of businesses and structured teams.

“[However], while South African executives are exceedingly positive about the role of innovation in moving the country forward, they also highlight challenges. In addition to regulatory hurdles, business leaders highlight a lack of talent, global scale-up and investment as key issues that are limiting innovation,” GE added.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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