Innovation is now driven by demand not dreams

As I walked through the halls Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry listening to stories of  Industrial Revolution, something dawned on me. In the Industrial Age, the dreams and imaginations of visionary inventors drove innovation. Has anyone realized that tables have turned? Innovation is now in demand and there’s simply not enough raw creativity, persistence and motivation – the traits of all those great industrial pioneers.

Take long awaited mobile revolution? After years and years of text messaging being the coolest thing Sony, LG and Samsung “smartphones” could offer, Apple finally invented something that stirred something up. All of a sudden everyone has figured out how to make touch-screens work.

We seriously lack real innovation. There is just too much marketing fluff. Is this a side effect of our version of free market economy that does not have a real solution to the ’short term gains’ issue?