In the January New York Times Education supplement, there was a piece on student innovation around the country. The editors raved about a solar-powered purse, a video game for the visually impaired, and a movie listing application for the iPhone. I wasn’t particularly surprised—because I’d seen similar or better solutions in my own classes.  And while most of the items in the Times were created by design students, the ones in my classes were created by MBA students.

Last fall, the students in our Design Management class created a purse with solar powered chargers for phones and iPods (plus fast pass charging to speed checkout without fumbling for a wallet). Another team created a communication system, complete with emotional shading, for a colleague who could only move an eyelid.
And last year a student team created a killer app for finding any location on our often difficult to navigate campus.

In our Topics in Strategic Innovation class, one team invented a system to help curb childhood obesity—and won second place in the business plan competition with it.

The point here is not simply bragging about the creative abilities of our business students. It’s that good ideas will flourish wherever there is a climate that encourages them—even among people who aren’t in the R&D department.  The challenge for companies today is to take those great innovative ideas and get them to the market, so that our companies, and our country, can sustain a competitive advantage.