Technological innovation, leadership

Management training curricula should pay more attention to courses designed to sharpen the skills of corporate leadership in the area of technological innovation. 

There is increasing recognition throughout the world that leadership in technological innovation is key to a nation s prosperity and security in a hypercompetitive. 

Technology leaders must pioneer discontinuous/radical changes along with continuous/incremental innovations. Radical innovation estabUshes and periodically renews the competitive advantage incremental innovations sustain it. Pressures on the leaders are to focus on only the near-term incremental efforts. Technology leaders must, however, build the will within the business leadership to recognize that both are necessary (35). 

The innovations described are, however, beyond fulfilling limit values. Reducing waste costs, technology leadership and the image gain related to this are the objectives of the pioneering enterprises, which implement environmentally compatible innovations in this area despite high investments and risks. 

Improved performance and reduced costs of hydrogen technologies, and extension of Canadian leadership through research and development of innovative new applications in strategic areas of the hydrogen value chain and... 

Industrial competitiveness relies on leadership in science. Increasingly, start-up companies exploit scientific discoveries made at universities with federal support. Technology transfer from universities to industry has been facilitated by the Bayh-Dole Act. New companies are continually being started to exploit innovations from biotechnology and nanoscience chemists are often crucial players in these discoveries and new ventures. President Bush s American Competitiveness Initiative proposal, which calls for a large increase in support for research in the physical sciences and for science and math education, could have a major impact on the health of chemistry research in the United States. 

This work was made possible due to the vision of Jack Henion and Tom Kurz, cofounders of Advion BioSciences, Inc. Their leadership enabled the innovation that culminated in the commercialization of the ESI Chip and associated products. I am grateful to them for the opportunity to work on such an exciting technology. I am also grateful to all of my colleagues from Advion who make it all possible. 

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