Innovation needs more coverage

T-Systems, the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) and Media Tenor have called for more coverage of innovation in the public and private sectors by the mainstream media to bring about positive change in SA.

Desmond Seeley, T-Systems SA GM of strategy and business development, says while innovation is critical to companies` ability to adapt dynamically to marketplace changes and meet customer needs on the fly, it hardly makes it into the mainstream media.

"There are three reasons for this. Companies play to the media and give them want they think they want to hear. IT companies in particular are coming out of a slump and therefore don`t want to talk about innovation because of a fear of the competition. Thirdly, if companies are in crises mode, they tell things to the media that are of little importance and innovation falls by the way side," he says.

Glenda White, executive director of the CPSI - a section 21 company that reports to the Minister of Public Service and Administration - says just as innovation is important in business, it needs to be promoted in government to get its 1.3 million employees to work efficiently as well as creatively tackling the issue of poverty. "Innovation needs to be utilised in government to streamline the efficiency of government, reduce red-tape and increase capacity in order to improve service delivery," she says.

To try and promote innovation, T-systems has partnered with the CPSI to hold the Innovation & Sustainability Awards in August. These awards identify initiatives, undertakings, projects, and products in the public and private sectors that are innovative and have long-term sustainability.

Roland Schatz, CEO of Media Tenor International, says such awards are vitally important because if innovation is not promoted, society becomes ignorant about it and this directly impacts companies` bottom line by hampering of sales and acquisition of talented employees.

"If innovation is not reported on in the general media and is reduced to special interest sections, then society won`t change and the status quo will remain the same," he says.

Media Tenor SA conducted a survey in 2003 to examine mainstream media reports on innovation. Wadim Schreiner, Media Tenor SA MD, says the results of the survey clearly lay out the need for an increasing focus on innovation as well as highlighting a strong need for companies to re-examine the manner in which they report innovation issues to the media.

The survey gathered all news reports on companies in 2003 and calculated the percentage that included news on innovation.

Schreiner says the survey found the top sector to communicate the most with the media was mining, followed by banking and retail. IT only came in fourth. "However, as a percentage, only 3% of mining articles covered innovation while only 1% of reports in the media on IT and banking covered innovation," he says.

Innovation reporting also needs to focus more strongly on the bottom line link between innovation and R&D drives and the overall company strategy, Schreiner says. "Businesses need to clearly define why the company has invested in innovation and the expected return for the company, suppliers, distributors, clients and customers," he says.

The survey also shows that mainstream media reports more on innovation in competitive environments like mining, banking and the automotive industry.

"Innovation is a clear point of competitive advantage for our economy. However, over 75% of reports in the media relate to finance and business policy. Smart organisations, who have a clear and definitive approach to innovation, will certainly achieve a considerable secondary return on their investment through their engagement with the media around the topic," Schreiner says.