Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy | 
| Author: Judy Estrin
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 9658
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0071499873
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.4063
EAN: 9780071499873
ASIN: 0071499873
Publication Date: August 13, 2008
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Product Description
Does innovation come about by luck or hard work? Is it a flash of inspiration or the result of careful management? Are innovators born or taught? In Closing the Innovation Gap, Judith Estrin provides the answers to these and other questions critical to our future. A technology pioneer and business leader, Estrin describes what will be required to reignite the spark of innovation in business, education, and government--ensuring our long-term success in the global economy. Innovation does not occur in a vacuum. It grows from the interplay of three drivers of creative change--research, development, and application. Estrin calls this dynamic the “Innovation Ecosystem,” explaining how these communities work together to create sustainable innovation. Closing the Innovation Gap covers: - America's role as the primary driver of global innovation after World War II--explaining what worked, the subsequent decline, and how to regain traction
- The fundamentals required to nurture innovation, including five simple but important values for transforming your organization into a force for productive change
- How you can ensure that your business benefits from a thriving “Innovation Ecosystem”
- Examples from both established companies, start-ups, and research labs that illustrate the power of innovation in providing a decisive business advantage and foundation for growth
Leaders in business and public service “must think beyond short-term financial results and understand the impact of globalization and an accelerated pace of change on future economic growth,” says Estrin. With Closing the Innovation Gap as your guide, business leaders will gain key insights into identifying their needs, asking the right questions, testing new ideas, and successfully leading their organization to the frontiers of twenty-first-century innovation.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Describes the policy issues well with little innovation in the solutions. November 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Closing the innovation gap intends to influence and shape our approach to science and technology policy more than provide a guide for the practitioner. Judy Estrin is an accomplished innovator, founder, and executive leader, and this book expresses her concerns regarding the current state of scientific research, education, and innovation.
This is not a book about how to make yourself, your team, or your company more innovative. If you are looking for tools and techniques to be more innovative, then you are better off looking elsewhere and I have some recommendations at the end of the review. This is a public policy book; one of many that have come out recently given the change in government with the 2008 elections. Its helpful, but for the policy analyst rather than the practitioner.
A Silicon Valley exec recommended this book to me as an answer to the issues facing our economy in the future. It is a good book at describing the issues we face and the history of how we got to where we are. It's a recommended read from a policy perspective. This book is good, particularly if you want to understand the West Coast view on issues of economic development and scientific policy.
Analysis below.
Estrin's primary argument is that since the 1980's US policy, economics, and responses to crisis have eroded the scientific edge that we enjoyed following the 1940's. The innovation gap she discusses exists when she compares today to the types of basic research and breakthroughs that happened in the 1950's and 1960's.
As a policy book, Estrin does a good job of highlighting the legislative, economic and other changes that have eroded the country's focus on science and basic scientific research. That is strength of the book in terms of highlighting laws and policy changes that most people are not aware of. Changes in accounting laws, Sarbanes Oxley, government accountability, changes in grants have all reshaped the scientific research ecosystem.
As a policy book, Estrin's solutions are vague and organized more around unwinding legislation and developments rather than moving forward. More money for education, teaching people to be innovative, more support for basic scientific research, less immediate accountability are among the book's policy prescriptions. Estrin is right that basic research is different and cannot be done on a schedule. I had hoped for a more innovative set of policies, ones that recognized where we are, the context we face and how do more in a different direction, rather than undoing what has been done.
The book reflects a decidedly west coast/silicon valley view of the world. Most of the examples are silicon valley based and reflect Estrin's position as a member of the boards of several major companies and here past positions at CISCO and as a founder of other high tech companies. This perspective gives Estrin the standing and experience to comment on the issues of science and innovation.
Estrin's position in the west coast high tech world colors the book's analysis and policy recommendations. Chapters 4 and 5 offer a good review of the changes that have undermined the US investment in basic science and innovation. However, Estrin does not take into consideration that the legislative and management changes happened for a reason. This gives the reader that she is dismissive of developments outside of her interest in basic science or the context facing the country at large.
This is unfortunate as it undermines the support of conscientious readers who are looking for a path forward. The book can give a reader the view that Estrin believes that we should suborned society's needs to the scientific community, their interests and pursuits as they are more important and above the rest of society. They should play by different rules, be less accountable for their actions and the resources allocated to them in the belief that they will do the right thing.
While Estrin lays out four major challenges "moon shots" as goals for scientific investment, she provides limited specific recommendations. By the way the moon shots are healthcare, climate change, security, and energy.
It would have been more helpful if Estrin would have talked about the types of investment in technology and science would help address illiteracy, poverty, inequality, etc.
This is particularly important for policy makers as the west coast/silicon valley innovation ecosystem creates significant inequality in the distribution of wealth where society invests in basic research, but the applied sciences/ business/VCs reap the rewards. I would have been very interested in understanding how Estrin looks to address those issues but the book does not go into that detail.
Recommended reading for people who are having conversations about public policy and the issues we face. If you were looking to make your company more innovative I would strongly recommend the following books:
Mastering the Hype Cycle from Raskino and Fenn - the book provided detailed frameworks and processes for managing technology led innovation.
What's Next by Clayton Christensen - the book talks about how to look at future innovations.
Game Changer which tells the story of P&G's open innovation process.
 Where's the beef? October 14, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
At best, Judy Estrin could have consolidated her 254 page book into a 3-4 page Harvard Business Review article. Ms. Estrin certainly has significant experience and insight to offer. However, she relies heavy on other people's quotes and opinions, but does not provide critical analysis and discussion of her own.
 Now more than ever October 6, 2008
At last, a business book with new, insightful and thought-provoking ideas in each and every chapter. What a refreshing change from the current norm among business books; single ideas that make very good articles but very long, painfully repetitive books.
The timing of The Innovation Gap is extraordinary. With the US banking system in a tailspin, it is impossible to deny that this nation has spent too much time this decade investing for the short-term wins from quick flips and half-baked paper-shuffling schemes, rather than focusing on the more difficult, more fundamental, but much slower-to-pay-off business of scientific innovation. If the US has any hope of returning to the status of global economic leader, a position no nation of massive debts can long sustain, we must discover and invent solutions to major problems, be they medical, environmental or logistical, that others will want to purchase, license or use. Scientific and technological leadership and creativity will eventually lead to sustainable economic recovery. With that in mind, everyone from pre-career college students to long-term policy makers should think long and hard about the questions Ms Estrin sets forth in this clearly written, hard-hitting wake up call of a book.
As chapter 7 states " Innovation is not important just to the business community. The quality of life that we're accustomed to, financially and socially, is dependent on growth." Those looking for suggestions as to how we could emerge from the current economic mess as a stronger, more durable economy, would do well to read this book from cover to cover, to think and to act on the ideas. One can only hope that the camps of both Presidential candidates have already done so.
A clear, passionate prescription for curing small minded thinking October 6, 2008
This world is full of so much short term thinking that we've devolved into a society reduced to expediency and bottom lines. In this powerful and clear book, Judy Estrin lifts our eyes and shows us a vision of how we can get back to the ingenuity, creativity, and fresh thinking that has propelled true progress. It's a really brilliant book filled with clear thinking that is sure to inspire anyone who reads it. Estrin mercifully avoids the kind of "insider" jargon that often obscures the meaning in books written by brilliant people. Instead, in approachable language, she lays out a path that all our leaders would be wise to follow. Whether you are a solo operator or you manage a huge enterprise, this book has so many "aha" moments you can't help but take away game-changing ideas. You finish the book knowing you have been in the presence of someone terribly wise whose advice you should follow. I have recommended this book to just about everyone I know because it is guaranteed to give the reader a fresh perspective and a wonderful sense of hope for our future.
Take the time to read this book September 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Judy Estrin's book is like her - thoughtful, direct and authentic. The message is hard - that America has lost its innovation edge, and that it will take the careful balancing of many factors in the Innovation Ecosystem to regain it - but well worth reading and understanding. I like the fact that this book works at many levels and can be read in different combinations of chapters depending on if you are a businessperson, policymaker, educator, or simple citizen. It is an easy read about deep topics and well worth the time.
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