IAN BENTLEY UBUNTU … AND HOW THE POWER OF THE CROWD IS CHANGING THE SHAPE OF BUSINESS
There is the vast and perpetually-growing gulf between the super-rich and the population in general.
Greed, I believe, is a fundamental reason for the prevailing global economic turmoil. I will demonstrate why current business models are no longer relevant in the post-industrial era ... and discuss how my search to find the real meaning of the term ‘UBUNTU’ led to the development of a truly democratic business model that is neither ‘capitalist’ nor ‘socialist’, but rather ‘collaborationist’. It is about: • Harnessing social media to unlock the Wisdom of Crowds; • Unconventional networking methods to source and tap into disruptive innovation; • Transcending market boundaries and ‘connecting the unconnected’ to find outside-the-box answers to perplexing technical problems; • A modified version of ‘Crowdsourcing’ to source collaboration partners with unique skills and attributes; • Crowdfunding to unlock financial resources … and activists for the cause; • ‘Extreme manufacturing’ to revolutionise production methodology.
This type of thinking is being applied in SENSORICA, a collaborative business venture involving a synergistic group of pioneers from around the world. The SENSORICA team have applied commons-based peer production to develop advanced sensor technologies that will ultimately revolutionise the health and wellness industry.
These evolving technologies are now being adapted and applied to change the management and recycling of wastewater via a project called CAPRICORN.
W
ikispeed is a automobile that does 100 miles to the gallon and went from the drawing board to commercial production in less than 6 months. Our friend and associate, Joe Justice, the
creator of Wikispeed, is a software guru, not a mechanical engineer. Adapting concepts and techniques borrowed from the software industry, Joe’s global team of 43 collaborators developed a modular concept that allows them to customise every single vehicle they produce, whereas mainstream automobile manufacturers, still locked into an Industrial Age paradigm, require a run-in period of seven years to change the mould of a door panel. Joe calls it ‘extreme manufacturing’.
Open Innovation completely changes ALL the
rules. For example, we forego patents, preferring to ensure strategic advantage via speed to market rather than intellectual property protection.
Our own project, SENSORICA, is an example
of commons-based peer production that shakes the very foundations of conventionality. Its tenets are open
6 Management Today | September 2012
knowledge and standards, transparent processes and low barriers to entry. It is the New Economy.
The ‘establishment’ inherently resists change
and because disruptive innovation is often a threat to the hugely profitable status quo, countless initiatives are being effectively ‘nipped in the bud’ by corporations and other major players.
In the past thirty years the concept of classic ‘free-enterprise’ Capitalism has been manipulated and twisted to serve the needs of the corporate sector, to the detriment of the small entrepreneur who struggles to compete on a far from level playing field. The global economy is stagnating. In the past five years, 450 000 SMMEs have shut up shop in South Africa, contributing in no small way to the burgeoning unemployment calamity.
The corporation, essentially a feudal, tyrannical power structure, totally miss-aligned with our democratic values, factually responsible for wars, environmental disasters, depleting our natural resources, destroying social cohesion,
The Innovation Journal
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