As any regular reader will know, two of my most popular topics or themes are entrepreneurship and congruent with that, innovation.  Well, I want to share a theory of mine regarding innovation.  I don’t know if “theory” is the right word but it works for me.  It is a concept that I think a fair amount about.  It is the solution to many of our society’s and planet’s problems. And, guess what… it includes innovation!!

Common discussions in today’s society include efficiency, uses of limited resources, care of the environment, and related topics.  This are concerning and critical issues but one piece of the discussion that is often missing is the opportunities that lie ahead.  This includes innovation, technology, and more.  Many of the discussions are in a closed box as though we will never innovate or improve again and are left to find improved efficiency with what we have.  The result is always lackluster performance with incremental influence and essentially no solution to today’s issues.  Take examples such as cap & trade.  Scientific evidence suggests little, if any, measurable improvement by such enacted measures.  So why do we, as a society, interest ourselves in the wasted resources (in this case, increased economic costs), for little result? Again, the discussion and solution are discovered within the closed box and the supporting groups and individuals feel doing something is better than nothing, even without favorable result.  So what happens when we up top the box? Welcome to the key of societal development.

Since the beginning of mankind, we have always be faced with limited possibilities until innovation opens the current sphere of existence revealing much higher possibilities.  A common example is the Malthusian dilemma.  Groups for centuries have discussed the limited availability of land for food production, leading to overpopulation.  These fears and predictions have been trumped time and again thanks to innovation.  Today, crop density and production is higher than ever.  Crop resilience is also improving.  Some places have even begun “stacking” land, that is growing crops on multiple floors or levels within a given space, yielding 100 times the yield of the floor space alone.  These simple innovations have allowed the world to surpass 6 billion in population, a number thought impossible only 50 years ago!  So are resources really limited? well, Yes… and no… Resources are limited within any given sphere of influence.  We will discuss this over the remainder of the article.  At any given time, we as individuals and humanity have a specific space that we have access to, lets say our scope of access.  Within that space, we have a specific capability set and capacity that allows us to utilize the space productively, including all resources there in.  We will call this the scope of utility.  Within these spheres, resources are limited at any given point.  But is there a limited to the expansion of these spheres? No sir, the universe is a big place and we still have a lot to learn.  So lets look at some hypothetical examples and explanations.

We will start with a given time period, say the 1800s.  Now, during that time, the scope of access was pretty high.  With horses and ships, the world was being explored (albeit slowly). Most natural resources were available to humanity.  The scope of utility was much lower, however.  Take petroleum as an example. During the 1800′s, there were limited uses for it.  By the early 1900s and beyond, the utility of this resource exploded with air travel, automobiles, industry and more.

This illustration graphically demonstrates the differences thanks to innovation and advancement.  The Scope of Access as expanded due to improvements in travel including ocean and space exploration.  The expanded scope of utility is due to improvements in utilization of resources available within the scope of access.  Improvement here is seen on two levels. The first is more efficient and effective use of resources previously used. The second is new found uses of resources previously known but not used.  Energy solutions is a great example.  We are now exploring energy from the sun, algae, thorium nuclear, hydrogen bonds, and more.  These resources have been known for years but not utilized as the utility was not understood.  We still don’t understand them.  Innovation and advancement is the only way to expand the scope of utility.

Government policy, conservation, and many other discussions have no effect on the scope of utility, only on how much we utilize.  Sometimes, these discussions add to efficiency but typically revolve around simply limiting and managing consumption.  If at any time, we were to freeze the scope of either access or utility, we would eventually deteriorate as a society as the limitations are introduced, then consumed.  If you stave off consumption, you may slow down this deterioration but consumption is critical not only to improved society but survival. Ultimately, we would destroy ourselves.  The only strategy to survive and thrive is innovation.  It is still vital to speak of conservation, only not alone and not within typical constraints.  The solutions will not only be more effective but cheaper and better for all if it includes innovation.

Now lets think to scales of infinity.  If we consider the points mentioned.  We are faced with infinite possibility.  Think beyond our current capabilities and see what waits for us with the scope of utility. Every day, we are finding newer and better ways to use the resources we have access to. Think beyond the bounds of Earth and imagine the vastness of space and resources of other planets, the scope of accessibility is just as infinite.  What if we had vast mining establishments on Mars? A planet with no life, what if it contained vast amounts of useful mineral? Many resources we may not know how to utilize yet.   The exciting part about innovation is the ability to imagine and then make it happen.  This is the key to survive, the key to thrive!