Executive Thought Leadership

In the early 90s, the Internet introduced a new wave of innovation that drove productivity, business models, and entertainment for more than a decade. Today, we’re in the second phase of innovation. The network will become the platform, delivering all forms of communications, and will usher in new innovation that our children invented—collaboration and social networking powered by Web 2.0 technologies. We believe that this second phase will be dramatically bigger than the first. It will be the most powerful change in IT, allowing IT to truly enable business goals.

This issue of Thoughtleaders will explore innovation in several different environments and examine what makes those environments innovative. Countries form geographical and socio-economic environments. Networks comprise their own environments, and unique environments develop within businesses based on their culture, leadership, and other factors.

When we looked at countries around the world, Japan topped the list of the world's most innovative countries based on recent research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and sponsored by Cisco. Switzerland, the United States, and Sweden followed. EIU first studied the importance of innovation, then ranked a total of 82 countries based on their ability to innovate—turn to page 5 to learn more and view the complete list. It’s interesting to note that there is no single formula for encouraging innovation; those at the top of the list include both large and small countries, with contrasting cultures and characteristics, all of which foster innovation in unique ways.

At Cisco, we’re constantly evolving our innovation model, which involves not only acquiring companies for their innovation and talent, but also collaborating with our strategic partners on joint innovation. In addition, we place a strong focus on internal innovation. I have often said that you can do it yourself, acquire, or partner in order to be first to market. This issue includes a discussion around internal innovation and technology incubation with Cisco's Dave Rossetti and Greg Pelton. Additionally, Cisco CIO Rebecca Jacoby will highlight how IT departments can support innovation by aligning business and technology architectures as well as how businesses can embrace and implement emerging collaborative tools.

I can't emphasize enough the importance of collaboration as we look to the future of innovation. I believe the next phase of the Internet, which is being driven by increased collaboration and emerging Web 2.0 technologies, will spur an entirely new generation of innovation. Back in 2000, we said that businesses would lead the first wave of the Internet and consumers would lead the second. This has clearly become the reality of our world today. A recent BusinessWeek article entitled "The Future of Work," states that, "new tools are going to change where we work, how we work, and even the nature of work itself." I believe it, and I see consumers driving innovation and bringing it with them into the workplace.

This second phase of Internet innovation will truly drive a new era of productivity that I believe will last a decade or more. At Cisco, we're focused on fostering an environment that emphasizes collaboration and encourages innovation to ultimately help us get even closer to our customers and anticipate their needs. I hope you find this issue of Thoughtleaders valuable in your quest for innovation.