Idea Commodities
I’m having a hard time deciding whether I think this quote from Thomas Friedman is total crap or brilliant:
In today’s wired world, the most important economic competition is no longer between countries or companies. The most important economic competition is actually between you and your own imagination. Because what your kids imagine, they can now act on farther, faster, cheaper than ever before — as individuals. Today, just about everything is becoming a commodity, except imagination, except the ability to spark new ideas.
I think it’s actually somewhere in the middle of the two. Sure ideas/imagination are worth something and you can’t get anything done without them, but if they’re not acted on, they don’t matter. And while it may be easier and cheaper than ever to act on them, the vast majority of the universe doesn’t get around to it. While I certainly believe in encouraging this kind of behavior in children (and adults) as much as possible, I think it’s the bringing an idea to life piece that’s not been commoditized.
Hi, I'm 
idea generation is basically a free, simple, approachable process for everyone now. take 5 smart people, give them a problem to solve, some beer, and a big room.. and you’ll end up with 20 viable solutions to the problem.
bringing the idea to life is *beginning* to be commoditized. through cheap fabrication overseas, 3d printing, tons of DIY sites and info at search away, and almost any component available to be shipped next day. it’s just takes some effort to actually put one into motion.
the real vacuum here, is the ability to look at those 20 ideas, and know that #17 is the one that will work, and why. thoughtful reduction of viable ideas is a missing art is almost every business sector.
Two things:
1. I’d argue that while the methods of production are being commoditized … actually getting it done has not been and probably will not be (aka being the person who finds a factory in China to make your thing and getting it to them).
2. I’d argue more than the business editor it’s the entrepreneur you’re talking about (in the pure sense of the word). I went back and read some Joseph Schumpeter recently and he described an entrepreneur as someone who adapted a new idea/product to the market.
Yeah – I think it’s worded in an unfortunate way that make it sounds like he thinks we’re in some kind of freak battle with our *own* imaginations…
God, I can’t think of anything clever to say – obviously, you need both.
Fully agree with Aaron: Filtering ideas is the missing holy grail of innovation.
Why? Simply because the scarce resource in innovation is not ideas, but the resources needed to take them to market. There’s recent research that suggests that about half of all companies do not have a systematic approach to filtering ideas – which inevitably leads them to kill the high-potential ideas in favour of me-too incremental stuff.
If you are interested, I wrote a longer piece on this issue a while ago: http://goo.gl/IUxd