I have a hunch that technological innovation and change is going to be a key area of focus for business teachers and students this year. So this resource from the Economist - which contains some great quotes on the nature and purpose of innovation - is a handy addition.

Particularly like the definition of innovation from Peter Drucker:

“Innovation is the specific instrument of entrepreneurship. The act that endows resources with a new capacity to create wealth.”

Students could link this with the quote from the Dilbert cartoon strip…

“Large corporations welcome innovation and individualism in the same way the dinosaurs welcomed large meteors.”

...and then consider the question of whether large corporations (in general) have a culture that embraces and encourages innovation? I can think of a few examples of large firms that do - but many that do not.

Financial Times video (Jan 2013)

Airbus - continuous innovation in action

Innovation in the Drugs industry