Unleashing Innovation through the Power of Participation

Unleashing Innovation through the Power of
Participation

By Damien Wong, Vice
President and General Manager, ASEAN, Red Hat

Participation drives innovation.

Today, the most innovative ideas do not come
from the boardroom; they come from ideas built from the synergy of people
working together. Leaders of all countries and industries see this trend. It’s
no longer a question of if, but essentially a matter of how.

We’re in a constant state of disruption and
change. Asia Pacific is a great example, where sleepy towns and fishing
villages have been transformed into cosmopolitan cities. But success amidst
this sea of change demands both fresh and creative thinking. The answer is a
confluence of open innovation, and the Power of Participation –
a key theme in our series of Red Hat Forum events across Asia Pacific late last
year.

With countries in Asia Pacific demonstrating a
strong emphasis on innovation, enterprises can leverage open source options as
a more open and flexible path forward. In fact, a recent Red Hat commissioned Forrester study found
that six in ten key technology decision-makers now turn to open source as a new
way of engaging and fostering collaborative innovation.

In other words, innovation happens through
collaboration, with the best outcomes being a mix of innovation – not just
within, but with others as well. With that in mind, what are the best
strategies to fully harness the power of innovation?

Synergy and empowerment

When you bring people from different
organizations and disciplines together, and empower them with the freedom to
collaborate, the likelihood of innovation instantly multiplies. Just like the
underlying principle of open source, it’s not about finding the best solution
from thousands of individuals, rather, it’s harnessing the synergy and
collective talent that’s available when we participate as a community.

Now let’s consider an orchestra, which consists
of various musicians, each with his/her own unique talents. The greatest
conductors recognized that, in order to produce beautiful music, they not only
need to bring these individuals together coherently, but also create all the
right conditions (which might include relinquishing control) to achieve the
best creative output from their team.

“The worst damage I can do to my orchestra is to
give them a clear instruction. Since it would have prevented the ensemble from
listening to each other,” Itay Talgam, renowned Israeli conductor.

Embracing diversity

That same lesson applies to how we work. We
can’t merely order people to “innovate”. As leaders, we need to create an
environment where the seeds of innovation can flourish through participation.
Diversity matters too, especially in a multicultural region like Asia Pacific.
The truth is, there will always be talents with new perspectives and experience
outside our organizations and geographies. By breaking down these barriers, we
can all accomplish so much more together.

We, at Red Hat, witness this amazing power of
participation every day in the world of open source, where user-driven
innovation powers advancements in cloud, big data, and emerging technologies
such as the Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence.

It is this participative movement that is
accelerating the pace of innovation, and also making open source the default
choice for organizations across the region. These include GovTech and Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), which both received the 2016 Red Hat Innovation
Award, in recognition of their innovative applications of open source
technology.

An inspiration for all

The benefits of participation and open source
for organizations go far beyond technology. Both serve as an inspiration for a
better future, changing what was previously impossible. What’s more, our
ability to harness and stoke the creative capacity of billions around the world
will open new doors, contributing to the betterment of the society well into
the next century – that’s the real payoff from participation.