Abstract
Innovation involves the creation of something "New." Hence the end point of this
pursuit can never be known with certainty at the outset. In essence, innovation
and uncertainty are by definition, intertwined, and approaches to managing
innovation must reflect this reality. In this seminar, we will explore the
challenges that uncertainty presents to innovation. We introduce a
conceptualization of innovation as the search for value creation opportunities
across an "Innovation Landscape," which are exploited through commitments to
specific "Design Spaces." We show how this framing clarifies the challenge of
uncertainty and motivates actions that can be taken to recognize, manage and
ultimately "embrace" it, turning uncertainty from a potential source of
inefficiency into an opportunity to maximize a firm's innovative potential.