Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, gave an interesting talk on “Technology, Economic Growth and Open Government” sponsored by the New America Foundation. In the talk he touched upon a number of points on innovation. At its base, the idea is that open systems provide a spur for innovation. On energy he referenced the Google Clean Energy 2030 plan.
What struck me was that a number of the ideas he talked about, energy and other, were not necessarily technological – they were policy, social or organizational. For example, the stimulus package should funnel funds to state and local government to do energy efficiency retrofits. Or pay bonus to car companies to beat the CAFÉ standards. These are but a snippet of the types of new innovations he discussed that will help confront the energy problem.
It was refreshing to hear so much discussion of these types of innovative solutions beyond the standard "technology will save us" rhetoric. This was great example the type of innovative thinking about innovation that we need so much.
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