Future-Oriented Innovations

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Future-oriented innovations include progressive products, firms and technologies which can enhance the lives of individuals. They can boost sectors like healthcare and space technology, or increase the competitiveness of a company. To develop them, it requires lots of effort from a variety of high tech stakeholders. It also requires a paradigm shift and an epistemic consciousness. It is also important that a company’s command line and staff to be willing to learn from long term trends and be able to hear them.

Fear of the unknown, resistance to change and a focus only on short-term benefits are the most frequent obstacles that block future-oriented innovations. In an workplace, these obstacles are overcome by having a growth mindset and an environment of innovation. Employees will also be inspired to work towards an end-point in the future. This is often called phronesis, which is the belief that individuals require an incentive to take difficult decisions in their work and could result in greater retention rates of employees for businesses that are geared towards the future.

There is increasing evidence that innovation ecosystems could benefit from a greater understanding of the future possibilities. This could be achieved by integrating foresight in innovation ecosystems, strengthening the structural connections between strategy building processes and research programs, and increasing awareness of possible future options through dialog. The foresight-wheel model is a methodological structure that can be used to address these needs in an effective and flexible manner. This article describes this innovative approach for developing future-oriented innovations.