F eat ure
I n n o vat i o n C r i t i c a l f o r D e f e n c e Gregor Ferguson Why is innovation important to a defence force? Because a small country deploying a small defence force won’t derive either an operational advantage or an economic advantage from trying to do the same thing as everybody else, only cheaper. Innovation – in equipment, organisation and process – is the difference between being ordinary and vulnerable, on the one hand, and strong, resilient and prosperous on the other. Defence must be the leader in innovation – as well as being innovative in what it does and how it does it, Defence must also create an environment in which its external partners and suppliers can innovate successfully, too. Why? Because Defence is a monopsony market. That means the defence customer has a disproportionate shaping effect on the market: its size, its behaviour and the barriers to entry. If he is the launch (and possibly sole) customer for a new piece of equipment, or service, then its success depends to
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a significant degree on how Defence addresses both the operational need and the opportunity to be innovative in meeting it. Operational success also depends on the partners and suppliers Defence chooses to deliver this new capability – and making a wise choice is a pre-condition (one of many) for innovation success. So, what are the pre-conditions for Defence’s innovation success and the establishment of an innovationfriendly broader defence business environment? There are a dozen, in my view, and regardless of whether the innovation in question is a new piece of equipment or some sort of Enterprise Innovation that changes Defence’s nature or behaviour, they shape key attributes and behaviours on the part of Defence and the ADF. Boiled down to their essentials, and in no particular order, this is what I think they are:
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Maintain your situational awareness: keep abreast of emerging threats as well as emerging technologies and their potential effects on your own capabilities and operations
4. Understand your capability needs and articulate them properly 5. Be methodical in conducting research & development and capability development: this will help you understand your needs, as well as helping you identify solutions and assess the contributions of others 6. Seek opportunities for Enterprise Innovation – for innovation in your organisational practices, processes and procedures as well as in your equipment inventory (innovation in the latter is usually wasted without innovation in the former as well)
1. Nurture and grow your technical 7. Take every opportunity to engage expertise with and inform your industry and 2. Nurture and grow your professional research base – the more they know about what you do, how you expertise
