Again fancy talk about innovation? Always cool, always true, always with little effect… We need innovation; for image, turnover, profit, survival, society, health, employment – innovation as all-in-one-solution for every problem (in German we would call this “eierlegende Wollmilchsau”). No fear – I will not be recycling these arguments here.

Hey guys, wake up! Acknowledge what has happened: Innovation has become an all-in-one-marketing-proposition, especially in the sports industry. Titan-damped lady save wellform mechanism – a world of claims for, likely, a piece of foam. I am already testing the hypothesis that the more I hear and see about innovation, the less innovation I find. Result pending – I will let you know in a later edition of this blog.

What is wrong about this? We are destroying the image, and thus possibly the potentials, of innovation. A lot of the objectives lined up above could really be achieved by innovation – if we started to mean it. Where are the really health-supporting lifestyle sports products for Best Agers? Where are fitness devices offering efficient training and cool entertainment at the same time? Where are the stylish bicycles, clothes and accessories which I could use to cycle to the office – maintaining health, contributing to environment, combating traffic jams and car noise? All of these products would not only be extremely useful for mankind; they mean business!

There are enough fields in which we could, and should, innovate. Let´s put our efforts, thoughts, knowledge and ideas together: This platform has been devised, and will continuously be improved, to serve exactly this purpose. Let´s devote a touch less efforts on marketing, and transfer this to joint vision building and real innovation work. Time will come when customers will much more than today care for quality and contents, and not for promises and fancy packaging!