Old hands can be disruptors too
Innovation is often associated with bright and determined entrepreneurial types who identify a gap in a market that needs filling or a pain point in a good or service that can be removed and beaver away.
Some of the world’s most innovative and successful companies had such origins. Just think Uber and Amazon.
So it is interesting to see that some of the companies ranked highly in the 2023 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies awards are not start-ups, but companies that have been around for a few decades or more.
Take the overall winner, Sypaq Systems, a 31-year-old Melbourne-based engineering and technology company that has developed a cardboard drone. Sypaq’s other work includes providing consulting, systems integration and support maintenance to companies in areas such as information management and business procurement.
The Best Product Innovation award goes to biotechnology behemoth CSL for Hemgenix, the first gene therapy for haemophilia B.
Formerly known as Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, CSL has been listed on the stock market since 1994 and comes with a market value of $130 billion. Furthermore, it already has a market-leading cure for haemophilia B.
Andrew Nash, CSL’s chief scientific officer, has a useful observation: “What it shows for us is that if you want to remain competitive in our business, you’ve always got to be looking to innovate and disrupt,” he says.
Easier said than done, but the alternative to disrupting your own business doesn’t bear thinking about.
It is perhaps no surprise that another theme this year is companies using predictive data to do everything from improving natural disaster response, managing irrigation networks, enabling the elderly to remain in their homes for longer, and enabling banks to better support their customers’ borrowing needs.
I can’t wait to see how our best minds use AI and data to solve more problems and remove more pain points over the next few years. The future feels exciting.
On that note, I would like to extend my congratulations to all the winners and finalists in the 2023 AFR BOSS Most Innovative Companies list. We depend on you in so many ways.
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