We announced Siemens Turkey’s first “Siemens Innovation Contest” on March 11, 2015. With this contest that we plan to organize every year from now on, we aim to encourage the young generation to think innovatively. I think the most distinctive feature of this contest is our aim to share Siemens’ innovation know-how directly with university students and to include these talented young people in Siemens innovation network. The young generation obviously needs to meet with the know-how and become a part of the global networks in this area. But before that, we should offer them certain conditions. The first of these is an unconstrained environment.
Turkey needs to take revolutionary steps in innovation and that’s why I write about this topic so often. We all know our potential, our young population, and the increasing level of education. But for the sake of progress, we should be “innovative” and do it in a “revolutionary” way. In order for the development of Turkey to be completed, we need to make progress in the field of innovation and this should be in “revolutionary innovation”, rather than “evolutionary innovation”. The first requirement to realize this is to encourage innovative thinking by offering the necessary conditions and creating an unconstrained environment. I think the greatest advantage I had in my 12 years in the United States was this unconstrained environment. No wonder that America is known as the ’starting point of innovations”. There is a reason for this: No one is criticized for coming up with an innovative, different idea; on the contrary, it is encouraged. They are always open to different ways of thinking and particularly encourage young people to do so. That’s what we need basically.
As Siemens, we will celebrate our 160th year in Turkey next year. A 160-year history in a country would be bestowed on very few institutions. We are aware of this and we are committed to ensuring the sustainability of our long history in Turkey. This can only be possible by transforming the advantages that Turkey has into values and our greatest advantage is the youth. We will continue to carry out many other initiatives like “Innovation Contest” to reveal their innovative aspects. We will provide young talents with an environment in which they can do more “research” than “development”; we will provide them with our knowledge and encourage them to think freely. I believe that the most significant step to be taken by Turkey towards development will emerge at this point. I will continue to write about innovation. I hope I will have the opportunity to share information about our young talents who participate in the Siemens Innovation Contest and whose ideas have been implemented. I believe in the youth. The future of our country will be designed by young generations who are open to development.
For detailed information about the contest: www.siemens.com.tr/innovationcontest

Innovation brings many key aspects to a country, it contributes to the long-term growth, provides employment and ensures that the country becomes or remains competitive. I believe profoundly, that as long as we have responsible innovation, the world will continue to advance. However the aspect of”The New” brings also culturally a certain skepticism with it. As an example the word”NEW” in English derives from the Latin word” Novitas” which also means”Strange”. It is maybe for this reason not surprising, that many societies feel more comfortable to develop an idea and make it better (evolutionary) vs. nurturing and embracing new innovation (revolutionary).

But what are the key elements or the grammar of evolution to ensure that innovation evolves? Here are 3 hints which are based on a discussion from Dr von Pierer and Dr. von Oetinger in the book ”Das Neue”.

The key elements to nurture innovation are:

1. A free spirit which, when exposed to global perspectives, is creative in producing original and diverse ideas .
2. We need a ” Wood – Barn” which is similar to what jazz musicians used to experiment and express themselves freely without judgment (a virtual Burn).
3. We need to be fully convinced and supportive of the power of creativity.

Here are some key aspects when changing an organization:

To remain competitive, organizations need to change and adapt to specific daily needs. The key criteria for these are:

The new  organization should be: 

1. Faster:Less bureaucracy, simple processes, leaner hierarchy
2. Better:Quality improvements,  close contact with customers and employees, transparency with all stake holders
3. Cheaper:Productive, competitive, profitable