MIT Sloan Management Review

A new study suggests that laws that make it more complicated to fire or lay off employees are good for innovation.

Mick McManus, CEO of a company called MAYA Design, offers some interesting reflections on the state of product innovation during the current downturn.

What does it take to create a successful radical innovation within a big company? New research offers some insights.

Two innovation experts see great potential in “creation networks” that include companies from a variety of regions with specialized technical expertise.

A new study suggests that the effect of institutional investors on innovation in public companies is positive.

The new issue of Science magazine features an editorial by MIT President Susan Hockfield titled “The Next Innovation Revolution.”

A new report declares Singapore the nation best positioned to compete on the basis of technological innovation.

Michael Schrage of the MIT Center for Digital Business sees inexpensive digital business experiments as a form of “innovation risk management.”

Need to lower costs? Think about “re-featuring” your product, suggests Scott D. Anthony of Innosight.

Bhaskar Chakravorti of Harvard Business School offers insights about entrepreneurship and innovation during a downturn,

Countries are adopting a variety of innovation strategies and policies — and that’s something executives should keep in mind, according to John Kao.

Innovating  in difficult economic times can be discouraging. With that in mind, here's an upbeat video clip from Tom Kelley, general manager of IDEO, the well-known design firm. Kelley spoke at Stanford a few months ago on the topic of "how to be an innovator for life."

The CEO of W. L. Gore & Associates offers insights into how the company has built a culture that fosters innovation.

As the downturn continues, some technology start-up companies are closing or being acquired at low prices, The Wall Street Journal reports. That, along with a reported decrease in angel investing, raise questions about the environment for innovation.

But the news isn't all bad.

Looking for ideas about how to help your organization thrive during the downturn? Andrew Razeghi, a lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, has posted a thoughtful essay on innovating in a recession.  Razeghi combines useful tips with examples of companies that prospered during past downturns, including the Great Depression.

It's a fairly gloomy week on the world economic stage, with International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn declaring a number of leading economies in depression and U.S. President Obama warning of the possibility of financial catastrophe if a stimulus bill is not passed.

Innovations that span more than one industry discipline or technology domain often face commercialization challenges -- in part because of a dearth of venture capitalists with the background to evaluate them. So argues Silicon Valley strategist (and MIT alumna) Sramana Mitra in a recent Forbes.com column about obstacles to cross-disciplinary innovation. Mitra calls such cross-disiplinary business models "cusp businesses."

Last week, I blogged about a Knowledge@Wharton article containing advice about innovating in difficult times. This week, a visitor to our site added her own insights on that topic: Laura Weiss, an innovation consultant, pointed out her own recent San Francisco Chronicle column on innovating during a downturn.

New research offers insights into the factors that affect how much an organization learns from its innovation activities.

It can be a formidable challenge to make sure your innovation projects continue to prosper at a time when many company budgets are shrinking. A recent article from Knowledge@Wharton summarizes recommendations from a panel of experts who spoke at Wharton -- on the topic of how to sustain technology innovation, specifically, during tough times.