Forbes asks: Why is Productivity Down When Innovation is Way Up—And What Do We Do About it?

Contributing writer Henry Chesbrough wrote an interesting piece in Forbes this week asking the question above. He validates, in almost as many words, what we’ve been talking about since the launch of my first book, Exponential Organizations back in 2014; that we’re living in a golden era of technological innovation that will bring about abundance:

“It is an exciting time to be alive in Silicon Valley. Digital technologies, blockchain, AI, dancing robots, private space companies and autonomous vehicles abound around here. Technologies are advancing at an increasing rate, which some call “exponential technology”. This augurs well for our future, because an accelerating rate of advance promises to usher in an era of abundance.”

But, he observes, our economic productivity growth—output—is going down; the US has been at just over one percent growth, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to 3.7 percent growth from 1947 to 2007. He calls this inequality—accelerating technological advances, with declining economic productivity--the “Exponential Paradox.” 

Chesbrough has a few theories on why this is, and you can read the first two in the story linked above, but his third point is that 

 “as a society, we are living with the failure to renew our investments in innovation infrastructure. Our innovation infrastructure consists of the hard and soft assets in the society to generate, disseminate, and absorb new innovative knowledge. This requires investments in hard assets, like 5G connectivity or up-to-date airports, road and train stations, as well as investments in soft assets, like training, skills, universities and other forms of human capital development.” 

He’s right on all these points but goes on to say that the best way to resolve the Exponential Paradox is to make the necessary investments in the innovation infrastructure required to disseminate and absorb new knowledge in new platforms, systems, business models and worker skills. 

To which I’d say, ‘we invite you to have a look around the ExO Community,’ which has been purpose-built for generating the type of infrastructure elements and human capital assets Mr. Chesbrough is looking for.  

New technologies—and the new business models they enable—allow organizations to rapidly transform the economic landscape. But until now, there hasn’t been a successful, consistent blueprint for delivering digital transformation. For that, we curated the ExO Community, which provides an easy way to locate and work with the world’s top innovation talent. And we’ve created an entire marketplace devoted to using exponential technologies to generate abundance. 

The ExO Community and marketplace are now available to organizations, institutions, and people looking to unlock their potential to change the world. The OpenExO Platform provides on-demand access to a growing global pool of more than 2,600 coaches, investors, consultants, and innovation experts in over 102 countries. These community members help organizations achieve exponential goals within their industry. 

EXOS, the native digital asset of the ExO Community, provides a low friction global value exchange for services sourced in the community. Doing business across borders can be tricky when it comes to payment, especially in terms of transaction fees and payment settlement time. To overcome the issues that come with a decentralized community, the OpenExO team created a blockchain-based crypto token called EXOS. EXOS is the native digital asset operating as a means of value exchange within the global ExO Community.

Payments that take place over the EXOS Blockchain network are peer-to-peer in nature. Such transactions do not require a financial intermediary to facilitate the transfer of funds from point A to point B. It also means that the cross-border transaction and service fees that the intermediary charges are not part of the equation usually. The result is a low-cost payment network owned by the community that empowers every individual within the community. Members can quickly pay one another when it comes to acquiring talent and paying for services on our platform or off. The blockchain and token empower our community members.

The ExO Community and Economy solve innovation and community growth problems and provide a path for scalable global growth. The ExO community leverages exponential technologies. It gives organizations access to a worldwide pool of innovators, futurists, and disruptors. OpenExO offers businesses and governments with the resources, processes, and tools they need to thrive in today's rapidly evolving world.

The ExO Community is constantly signing up innovators to be part of its solutions providers. To become an ExO-certified consultant, go to openexo.com and register for one of the upcoming certification courses or start by joining the community and checking out the platform.