Venture without frontiers.
The World is shaken as never before, in an unprecedented way, many businesses have been swept away, regardless of the moment where forced digitization has accelerated many sectors, either new or pre-existing. Some (maybe) will be able to regain momentum after the pandemics, because some of the hardest-hit industries will pick up; others, just created, will live a long and bright tail. Thank goodness.
We can already imagine a post-pandemic world. Different.
Remote working, unpreparedness and difficulties notwithstanding, has turned out functional enough, many have left their spaces and reduced the size of workplaces, highlighting, luckily, the human side of working time.
The use of EdTech platforms has increased; they have the merit of strengthening the participants’ onboarding, and their upskilling.
From schools to scientists, from universities to big businesses. All, none excluded.
Even public bodies.
Adapting to market needs has been indispensable.
Implementations as an answer to the situation.
Demand for contactless solutions has also accelerated the adoption of fintech services, facilitated by regulation across Europe.
The same goes for the insurance and real estate sectors.
Many services for health and wellbeing are online too, maybe we’ve been understanding better the importance of prevention, of self care and of a healthy and efficient lifestyle.
The enormous consumption of online games is not a new trend, but some are, rightly, focusing on the next generation of game culture; the same holds for OTT platforms (Over The Top, such as Amazon Prime, Netflix and others), for the next generation of purchase behaviour. It’s no surprise that our purchasing habits can be influenced also long term. The travel industry is going to frame its new road; electric mobility progresses. Cinema and entertainment, online shopping, home deliveries, sanification, virtual board games … all with a new World sauce, not old style, pay attention … even sex and drugs have and are finding new dimensions, only a State that does not want to find them, does not find them …
And so on.
Adapting to market needs has been indispensable.
Implementations as an answer to the situation.
These are just a few examples. Let’s go on.
Why is an idea smart regardless of a recession?
Does it have a competitive advantage? A clear value proposition? Does it meet a need? Does it have excellent qualities? Does it cost more but last longer? The one who proposes it is super competent, is he capable of making it and bringing it to market?
Fear of the virus pushed many towards deliberately conservative choices, even the cheekiest have had to stay home, this forced all (at least most) to find (more) sense for purposes to realize under their roof.
But now (hopefully) the cavalry’s coming with plans of revival for new generations.
The next decade (at least) will see modern innovations, even production and sale of modern masks may have new levels of creativity, if opportunities will be better assessed and we’ll prepare for the unforeseen.
Just to make an apparently basic example.
The innovation industry has emerged in front of the masses as a key factor for growth and job creation, because it contributes to aggregated growth.
Speed, flexibility, low fixed costs.
Yet, the crisis and the current configuration of the system are stifling the creation of new businesses, and a missing generation of new companies will significantly affect the economy, especially employment.
Or …
During the months of lockdown and in the following weeks, the way people consume changed, acceleration of the digital culture came, another aspect asserted itself.
Many companies too searched for new solutions for their particular needs.
Innovation got centralized, work got decentralized, e-commerce thrived, digital positioning became a new religion. Technical solutions, logistics, supply chains took new unexpected shapes. R&D investment reached peaks never seen before, digital transformation became the cornerstone of the system, excellent projects were successfully launched since they focused on market demand. Public administration became efficient, effective, transparent and collaborative, banks restarted being banks because they were disrupted by the digital revolution, we learned to protect the environment and hunger was defeated …
We may read a story like this one or even better, if all players started adopting a systemic approach and abandoned selfishness, egonanism, greed, and their willingness to be always right even when totally unaware of what they’re working on.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the World, alive as far as the innovation industry is concerned, venture capitalists, having recorded their operating model, make fast and solid operations, with credible and adult teams, with ideas not always for unicorns (thank goodness), but such as to change the geography of localities networked by a shared purpose.
Will a new wind blow also across our peninsula, including the islands? Future will tell.
Meanwhile we work and make goods and services, this way we’ll be at least responsible for something.
It is appropriate to reason from a service learning perspective, as an educational approach combining learning goals with serving the community, in order to provide a pragmatic and progressive learning experience, while meeting the needs of society.
As usual, ready to debate.
A smile, Nicola
