When innovation means sharing..

Last week, I attended a briefing organised by the IDA to discuss their new campaign. With GIEF and the discussion over at Pat’s gaff on TC50 and entrepreneurship, I thought I’d let things settle a little before taking a slice at the topic. They inform each other like a massive Etch-a-Sketch. You might need glasses..

The IDA Campaign - Innovation Ireland

First, a little background. The IDA organised the meeting to showcase their new advertising spots for ‘Innovation Ireland’, their new communications campaign. The spots were simple. A chalk on chalkboard animation that squiggles and moves with script to end on chalk squiggle Ireland. Simple. The idea being that Ireland is a place where the brain can storm.

The brief, they said, was to catch the tech/biotech exec in a hotel room just out of the shower and get him to turn around. The spots will run on international business news channels that jetsetting execs watch – like CNBC.

The online campaign is also peppered with videos from execs like Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Microsoft’s Paul Rellis advocating why Ireland is a great place to do business in – the competitive advantages in basing operations here.

Thoughts

As part of the briefing, we had the opportunity to ask questions on the campaign and generally on the IDA. The Q&A session was excellent. Passion was easy to see on both sides.

Back to the campaign. I really liked its simplicity.  It beat the oh so common set of talking heads style of adverts promoting innovation and HiTek stuffz.

The selection of media outlets seemed interesting.  Running with CNBC, CNN and WSJ spoke volumes about where the campaign saw its audience. Businessmen do watch those channels and occasionally read that paper. I’m kind of interested where blogs like Techcrunch, GigaOm or other younger publishing ports of call in the tech world sit. CEOs, CFOs of tech companies large and small read those blogs too. As do tech professionals. The sorts that build small startups – where 1% or less become tomorrow’s Facebook or Microsoft.

It’s not necessarily a criticism, but if we are trying to push the innovation button to market Ireland on the bleeding edge as a place for international investment, why are we trying to market using the same media points as every other other country hungry for capital?

So, Innovation Ireland sits beside Beautiful Bosnia and Amazing Asia?

Adverts on CNBC and CNN marketing countries usually equate to day-glo holiday catalogues in moving pictures. A smiling workforce, sharply-dressed execs and lasers – you get the idea.

GIEF, Pat Phelan and the Wider Picture

So with the launch of the IDA campaign by the Tanaiste done and in the pocket, eyes of the National media fell on the Global Irish Economic Forum meeting last weekend at Farmleigh. Like a post-modern, monied League of Nations, the rich and powerful Diaspora descended unto our  National house to discuss how to jumpstart the Irish economy and build international connections.

The Department of Foreign Affairs plans to produce a report on the findings of the conference. What will be interesting about this report is not only its contents, but also how much of it is implemented.

Indeed, the idea that the Government needs to convene a conference at all, seems a little preposterous. Look to Israel. Does their Diaspora need a kickstart to engage with enterpreneurs or researchers at home? No. The incentive to see opportunity, build links and drive innovation comes from entrepreneurship.

Reviewing Pat’s excellent post on TC50 and fostering innovation takes me back to GIEF and even, back to the IDA’s campaign with – You Reap What You Sow – in my ears. Pat’s piece is not new. It isn’t shining a light on something that we’ve just stumbled upon.

As a nation we navel-gazed our way through the Nineties. When our costs reached a plateau relative to countries with the same economic, regulatory and educational levels, we priced ourselves outside of our own market. What Pat, Damien and countless other commenters on the piece are saying is that we have to bear responsibility for not getting off our arses and building those business links, for not innovating in our ways, for not selling our own wares, for not opening new avenues when our older ways of doing business withers. Innovate or die.

I don’t have a clue whether the Government’s actions following GIEF will pump momentum into the Irish economy more than those who met at it and decided to take matters into their own hands do build business links organically. State-sanctioned anything in place of organic innovation needs soft step treading.

From Us and No-one Else

Innovation comes from us. Introductions come from us. Defending our ideas and showcasing our implementations come from us. Business comes from us.

Want another example? The Tuesday Push. It’s currently on holidays, but it used to happen once a fortnight. It used to select one company every fortnight and coordinate blog posts from bloggers on their offering.

While it ran fairly successfully for a while, it became clear after a bit, many of the companies that wanted the community spotlight of blog posts highlighting them just didn’t want to commit to paying that back to companies showcased before them or after them in blog posts for other Tuesday Pushes. So, on the heads of a few committed bloggers fell the responsibility of pushing week in and week out. That isn’t sustainable for a community. That’s not sustainable for business either.

Community isn’t a one-way thing. Business relationships are exactly the same. The Tuesday Push, just like the Irish technology scene needs people to give as much as they take. Successive Tuesday Pushes became ineffective as people could not be arsed in being part of a community.

If anything, the single biggest problem that the IDA, GIEF, the Government and Irish technologists have to face is building community. A community where giving and taking are interchangeable. We can sit and dirt and point fingers all we like, nothing is going to change until we pull together.

September 23rd, 2009 at 3:25 pm • Filed in Business, Geekery



Comments

5 Comments to “When innovation means sharing..”

  1. Conor O'Neill Says:
    September 23rd, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    I’m glad you wrote this Alexia. Being completely honest, the behaviour of many businesses towards the Tuesday Push made me despair that we’ll ever create a sustainable community here.

    The relentless self-serving greed has to stop. Businesses must realise that by helping each other in whatever way, we all benefit. Otherwise Ireland will remain an innovation backwater that no amount of conferences or Government intervention will ever fix.



  2. Dermot Says:
    September 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 pm

    Alexia

    Excellent in thought and in execution. Sums up our historical baggage very well. Outside a few shining examples (GAA) we’ve been very poor at community in this country. I think in the past that suited certain sectors. Has to change. One tweet, one blog, one product and one person at a time.



  3. david mc williams Says:
    September 24th, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    Hi Alexia,

    David Mc Williams here. I would like to ask your advice. As you know we hosted the forum at Farmleigh last weekend. I see ur a bit sceptical above, but not to worry.

    How would you create a vibrant network from this initial forum? I believe if we allow a network to flourish generating ideas and opportunities, we might build very strongly on this meeting, but i not sure how to do it!

    I hope you have the time to consider this.

    Thanks and regards, David



  4. Alexia Says:
    September 25th, 2009 at 10:43 am

    Heya David,

    I suppose all I was trying to say in this post, was that everyone of us has some level of input into the solution. If regular entrepreneurs can’t be motivated commit to discuss, dissect or connect with other business people then we have a much bigger puzzle to solve.

    We shouldn’t wait for the Dept of Foreign Affairs to formally enact recommendations. I’m sure the attendees all have their own ideas about the problem and given that they are motivated business people, are probably starting to route their own resources and work on their initiatives.

    Your idea of convening the Forum was useful for a number of reasons but mostly because of visibility.

    Not to be a cynic, it looks like the Government are trying to do something with business people. Well, the press was there. Discussions like these happen all the time behind closed doors (I’m sure). But gathering so many business people in one spot and in front of the press gave international eyes a lights show to say that Ireland is serious and committed about building business connections and kickstarting our entrepreneurial drive.

    I want this Forum to make a difference. I really do. But more than that, I want Irish business to grow a bigger set of entrepreneurial balls. We shouldn’t have to sit and wait for a Forum to happen. If this doesn’t become part of our DNA, then we have bigger problems ahead.



  5. cabbage.ie · Says:
    June 15th, 2010 at 11:13 pm

    [...] campaign also included an extensive PPC campaign managed from Dublin, a special briefing for Irish bloggers about the campaign as well as facilitating discussions about innovation in [...]



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