News
 |
20 Nov 2008 - Launch of (re)innovate postponedAfter consulting with sponsors, partners and interested businesses, the launch of (re)innovate challenge has been postponed until 2009 – potentially in May to coincide with the Australian Innovation Festival.
Confidence is a crucial ingredient for business investment in innovation. The October 2008 NAB business confidence survey reported “Business confidence fell 21 points to a new record low of -29 index points”. This falling level of confidence is being felt across the board and is affecting the many organisations who registered their interest in (re)innovate challenge.
The clear feedback we are receiving is that despite a strong desire to participate in (re)innovate challenge, most companies are not able to commit to innovation activities at this time. Their economic situation has changed significantly from when they first became excited by the concept of the challenge. The predictable reaction is to shelve all but absolutely crucial investment for the time being (we can understand this even though we strongly believe innovative thinking should not be tied to economic cycles).
Without a critical mass of teams who are confident they can stay the course, we have decided to postpone the start date until the economic circumstances become clearer.
Naturally, we share the disappointment of the teams who were “ready to go.” We have all the challenge educational materials in place and look forward to releasing them to eager teams as soon as business confidence improves. We have spoken with our sponsors and they fully agree with the reasons for the delay. They have all expressed continuing support and have committed to being involved when we re-launch. We will continue to monitor the situation and listen to sponsors, partners and participants to arrive at the new launch date.
Successful innovation is as much about timing as it is about ideas. The right time for (re)innovate challenge and your own innovations will come. The most successful businesses will act decisively when this happens… we hope you are among them!
|
|
 |
24 Oct 2008 - Quote for the Day
"Innovation has nothing to do with downturns. A hot product will sell just as well in a recession as it will in a non-recession. The strong companies understand this, and during a recession, they invest."
Eric Schmidt CEO Google.
|
|
 |
22 Oct 2008 - We want you (as a sponsor)There's just over a month to go until entries are due into (re)innovate challenge. The excitement is building, as are the registrations of interest...
If your business wants to make a mark on Australian innovation, now's the time to get involved as a sponsor. What have we got to offer you might ask...?
Check out the Sponsors page for more info and then give us a call.
|
|
 |
08 Oct 2008 - New Sponsor!A huge thanks to CitiPower and Powercor who have just come on board as a (re)innovate sponsor!!
CitiPower and Powercor have been leaders of Australian innovation since establishing the eighthgate innovation program in 2002. eighthgate is a conduit for unlocking and fostering innovative thinking, and converting that thinking into value for CitiPower and Powercor.
For more info head to the Sponsors page or http://www.powercor.com.au
Thanks again to CitiPower and Powercor for supporting innovation in Australian businesses!
|
|
|
|
22 Sep 2008 - Innovating in a DownturnWith more than a few people crying “economic downturn”, some companies are sure to start reducing their investment in innovation. We don’t think that’s a good idea because:
1) Innovation can help reduce costs and streamline operations 2) Without market growth how else will you increase sales? 3) Innovation takes time. You want to start working on those new products and services in time for the next upturn (leave it too late and they’ll be hitting the shelves just as everything starts going south again)
Here are a couple of articles that provide hints to ensure your business doesn’t abandon all innovation initiatives because of economic pressure:
|
|
 |
10 Sep 2008 - National Innovation ReviewThe Green Paper from Australia's National Innovation Review has been released! We're extremely happy to see that the report emphasises the responsibility of firms to drive innovation in Australia. It also proposes that the 'new' innovation system should focus on equiping businesses with the skills and capabilities to innovate. All good stuff.
What we're not so happy about is the absense of any tangible initiatives to help businesses get better at innovation. Most businesses understand why innovation is a good thing... what they lack are the skills to harvest, develop and implement great ideas. The Green Paper addresses this issue at an extremely high level. It provides little new thinking about how to get more Australian businesses innovating, let alone propose concrete strategies for building capability.
Guess it's going to be up to (re)innovate challenge to address those issues :-)
|
|
 |
24 Aug 2008 - We love traffic :-)Great news, traffic to this site is steadily increasing, indicating we've hit on something Australian businesses want to know more about. Thanks to everyone who has already registered their interest... and for those that haven't yet, remember you get access to heaps of resources as well as regular updates.
|
|
 |
05 Aug 2008 - So many partners...Wow, the number of companies interested in partnering with (re)innovation challenge has just soared past 60! Now comes the hard part... sorting through them to determine who can offer the most valuable assistance to participants. If you think your company should be involved as well, send us an email at partners@reinnovate.com.au
|
|
More than 220 registered teams
