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By DORIS BENAVIDES - The Orange County Register
Industry News: Five Tips: Creating a culture of innovation
Want to encourage innovation within your company? Robert Price president of PSV Inc., a consortium of consultants in technology commercialization, and former CEO of computer company Control Data Corp., offers these tips on creating a culture of innovation.
1. Remove the fear factor. Seymour Cray is remembered as the "father" of the supercomputer. Yet, every one of Cray's designs was initially a failure and had to be reworked. The development cost was $50 million in 1962 for one computer. His failures made Control Data an industry leader around the world.
2. Outmaneuver giants. When Control Data filed an antitrust lawsuit against IBM, Control Data's small team of lawyers was able to reach a settlement valued at $700,000 that helped fuel Control Data's growth. Control Data also helped its case by developing an information database system for litigation support in antitrust actions.
3. Innovation needs to be another "line item." Policies and budgets for stimulating innovation are needed as much as other corporate planning.
4. Face the ugly facts. Control Data learned that innovation couldn't overcome all obstacles. In the mid-1980s when the company hit a financial and management crisis, CEO Robert Price made the decision to return the company to profitability by 1987, and investors responded with rising stock prices.
5. Innovation can be learned and practiced by everyone in the company in order to provide solutions to everyday problems as well as high-profile ones. Price points out that ultimately innovation is about meeting a variety of human needs.
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