Innovation

The reality is that most consumers aren't excited by incremental changes. To capture consumers' attention and make the market take notice, you need meaningful innovation—something genuinely new.

Each of us needs a space to think deeply. The best space to think combines the comfort of paper and the advantages of digital technology—in a focused, distraction-free environment.

The standard models were formulated through a process that started well before computers were in place, and I would say it's undergone a certain lock-in. Once you start going down that path, it's hard to break out of it to another path. As a result, economics is stuck.

Complexity scientist & founding director of Santa Fe Institute's Complexity Economics program

The miracle of capitalism is that if you have a central government trying to solve something, it will come up with one averagely optimal solution for everybody. And capitalism will come up with 10 different solutions to the same problem.

Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & advertising strategist and behavioral economist

The average is the enemy of the marketer, because it actually disguises what you really need to know, which is the outliers, the unusual use cases, the anecdotal eccentricity, where most of the really valuable information lies.

Vice Chairman of Ogilvy & advertising strategist and behavioral economist

The factory isn't something to hide away or outsource to the cheapest option. It's something to cherish, to be proud of. We can be trendy, we can be a brand, but it means nothing if the product that goes out the door isn't exceptional.

What is especially compelling for us at Nissan with Formula E is that developing these cars generates a wealth of technical insights that benefit the future of electric vehicles—and vice versa. The flexibility inherent in electrification technology allows for a robust exchange of learnings between the sport and our core business.

For many years, motorsport resembled a pyramid—a well-established, widely recognized structure with Formula 1 at its pinnacle. When Formula E emerged, it occupied a completely different position. It remains somewhat set apart, and only in recent years has it begun to be recognized as established motorsport by the broader community.

It's been a high-speed laboratory for the most advanced electric cars in the world, which Formula E cars are.

Let's stay true to Jaguar's philosophy: let's be a copy of nothing, let's lead and not follow, let's be the first. At the time, we were the first brand to fully commit to Formula E.

Long ago, I attended an Anthony Robbins seminar where he spoke of CANI—constant and never-ending improvement—which I adapted into constant and never-ending innovation. Nothing is entirely new, but innovation has defined my journey, despite its ups and downs.

I wanted passersby to wonder, 'Have you seen that? What's going on there?' I understood that excellent food would ensure repeat customers, but initially, my primary goal was simply to astonish and differentiate myself radically enough to draw attention.

A lot of entrepreneurs don't make that switch. They cling to that brand identity of 'I'm an innovator,' still tinkering with the product while everyone else is saying, 'Hey, it's good enough — let's hire our first salesperson.'

It's the ultimate invention—the last one we'll ever need to make—because once we have AI that is generally intelligent and then superintelligent, it will do the inventing far better than we can. In that sense, it's a handing over of the baton.

Philosopher & Director of Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford

There is an honest trade-off between labour market protection and learning. If you have an extremely static labour market—like the high protection laws in France or Spain—you get stability, but you sacrifice learning. You pay a 'learning cost' for that 'stability dividend.'

Physicist & Director of MIT Media Lab Connection Science group

When it comes to the growth of knowledge, you need to double down on the capacities you already have; you want to build on cities that possess a foundation. When you build in a remote location, costs skyrocket, attractiveness is hard to engineer, and the complementarities that help knowledge stick to a place simply aren't there.

Physicist & Director of MIT Media Lab Connection Science group