Catalysing disruption

A sustainable world doesn’t just need innovation – it needs disruption…

If we’re to rise to the huge challenges facing us, then business as usual, done a bit more efficiently, simply won’t cut it. We  need truly game-changing, disruptive innovations.

This novel use of the term ‘disruptive’ was coined by innovation guru Clayton Christensen to refer to products and services that change markets dramatically in ways that customers didn’t ask for or incumbents expect. Unsurprisingly, they often come from outside established players.

We’ll need exactly these kinds of disruptions to build the sustainable world at the speed and scale we need. The first signs of this are just beginning to emerge. Examples include Google teaming up with General Electric on its Clean Energy partnership, to accelerate the take up of renewables and smart grid solutions; and Shai Agassi’s Better Place [see Sparking a green revolution] catalysing the transition to electric transport. In terms of their impact on markets and lifestyles, these are the iPods of the future.

Here at Forum, we’re keen to kickstart these disruptions for sustainability, too. As a first step, we’ve just produced a series of 12 cards, each capturing a method of thinking ‘out of the box’ – and so encouraging disruptive innovation. We have started to use these with our partners in our own innovation work, and initial feedback suggests we’ve hit on something rather exciting!

Chris Sherwin is Head of Innovation at Forum for the Future.

27 November 2009

Chris Sherwin