Challenge 2005 and Beyond: Recognition, Transformation, And Profitable Use of Innovative Thinking (2004 Mattiello Memorial Lecture‪)‬

In the opening years of the new millennium, we are witnessing the creation of a "cult of innovation." The word is on everyone's lips, and nowhere more so than in board rooms and executive offices of the world's great business enterprises. Innovation is something that every business values and wishes to create; yet it is a concept that often defies definition. It is not uncommon for a group of knowledgeable individuals to disagree not only about the value of innovation, but also about the meaning of innovation. One person's "innovation" can be another's "product or process improvement" (e.g., Gillette's new M3Power[TM] vibrating blade razor--innovation or product improvement?) and the ensuing dialogue frequently raises questions not only about the nature and definition of innovation, but also about the way in which innovation is used to create something useful and market-friendly. The perceived value of new concepts and inventions quite often colors whether they are seen as innovations, or whether they are seen as intellectual and/or laboratory curiosities. Moreover, concepts and inventions that might be deemed to be "innovative" (i.e., having value) at "Point Y" in history may not have been seen that way at "Point X" 20 years earlier. Innovations, consequently, are often declared retrospectively--many years may pass between the initial cognitive output and the recognition that it either represented, or was transformed into, an innovation. There are periods of time, however, when the process of "innovative thinking" is much more important than the actual creation of true innovations, and we are in such a period. It is this broad concept--the recognition, transformation, and profitable use of innovative thinking--which is discussed in this article. Keywords: UV, EB radiation cure, coil coatings, biofouling/antifouling, service life prediction, weatherability, cool roofing, coil, solvent-free, super-critical, aluminum, galvanized steel, alloy coated steel