Guerrilla innovation, ten ideas

This is not an article about Artificial Intelligence (AI). It's not a pipe either. This is an article about the intersection between technology and the business fabric, about the collective challenge of maintaining a dynamic economy and some shared progress in a context where too many things are changing too rapidly.

Over the last thirty years, since the late '80s and early '90s, digitization and globalization have triggered an economic and social change process that Catalonia successfully navigated. Tourism, export industries, the attraction of international firms, and the prestige of the Barcelona brand—those challenges were met with flying colors. Now, as globalization recedes and technological change diversifies and accelerates even further, things are getting more complex. Genetics, renewables, sustainability, circular economy, nanotechnology, Industry 4.0, blockchain, Internet of Things, drones, Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence—all these changes, and more, pose a first-order scale jump. The way we move, buy, eat, work, manufacture, travel, heal, and produce/consume energy might change more in the next ten years than it has in the past hundred.

From our corner in Europe, the moment evokes a certain anxiety. The European Union has lagged behind the levels of research, innovation, and economic growth seen in the United States and China. Meanwhile, Southern Europe maintains a significant dynamism gap with the center and north of the continent. With tourism halted and industries undergoing transformation (from automotive to chemicals to energy production), the foundations of Catalan prosperity are under threat. There's confusion and a lack of confidence.

For each of the emerging technologies mentioned earlier, governments rush to draft strategic plans and drive revitalization initiatives. Universities, research centers, large companies, some startups, and various economic development agencies outline curricula and necessary infrastructure to move forward. Hubs, clusters, and other initiatives are born. All of this is necessary and should not be omitted, but more needs to be done.

Artificial Intelligence is a good testing ground because it's in a more advanced stage of maturity than many other recent technologies. It sets a precedent. Today, AI is already a technology within reach, almost without barriers. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and others offer Artificial Intelligence services (AI as a service) at an affordable price, making tools previously exclusive to large multinationals accessible to small and medium-sized enterprises. And it's not just about the price; the professional qualification and technical knowledge required to use them have also been simplified, removing barriers. The same goes for Big Data—they are two interdependent technologies. Telecom and financial giants allow SMEs to access vast amounts of information at affordable prices, providing insights into the market and customers in ways unimaginable just five years ago.

The Catalan economy must seize the opportunities presented by AI and other emerging technologies. It's already doing so, but more needs to be done, and faster. Here are ten necessary and urgent transitions:

1. From war strategy to guerrilla tactics: Creating ecosystems, attracting investments, and introducing new university degrees are strategic formations, war strategy. In Catalonia, the urgency of the moment, lack of support from a central state, and an economic fabric without many large companies make it necessary to add a complementary strategy—the guerrilla war.
2. From planning to experimentation: The pandemic has made it clear that planning is as indispensable as it is useless. Governments and companies, especially regarding emerging technologies, must embrace experimentation. Trying diverse solutions in parallel, easily and economically, to quickly accept failures and focus on replicating successes. The Lean Startup model as a path.
3. From leading Barcelona to the potential of the Catalan industrial fabric: Barcelona is Catalonia's best card to attract talent and large companies, yes, but the entire country and its diversified, industrial, and mature economic fabric are necessary to let the impact of emerging technologies be felt and create jobs.
4. From large companies to SMEs: Large companies generate a third of the country's GDP, and due to their capacity and potential, they should lead the technological change process. However, SMEs constitute the bulk of the country's wealth, competitiveness, and potential. Much of the innovation around AI and other emerging technologies will happen in SMEs.
5. From entrepreneurship to intrapreneurship: Creating new technology-based companies with high growth potential is essential to embed emerging technologies in our economy. Equally important is for existing companies to create new business models around these technologies, which can have faster and more robust effects. Innovating on what already exists, creating new lines of business (intrapreneurship), works better and with less failure than innovation from scratch.
6. From university to non-formal education: Many professional skills needed for companies to innovate using AI (and increasingly other emerging technologies) do not depend on a university degree. There are training programs in specific tools and technologies, often online and even free, allowing workers to acquire the necessary resources quickly, easily, and at more affordable prices.
7. From engineering to business schools: We need more technological vocations, inside and outside the university. Still, adding a minimal base of technological training in business and entrepreneurship schools can be an intelligent way to address the deficit of scientific vocations that has been endemic for too long.
8. From research to market-oriented innovation: Research is important; there is a direct relationship between investment in research and practical innovation. However, focusing on market-oriented innovation can be a way to compensate for some deficiencies in research investment. Bringing research, whether one's own or others', to market better and faster than others is a competitiveness tool.
9. From technology diffusion to translation into opportunities: It's urgent to demystify emerging technologies and present them as real generators of opportunities within reach of diverse economic sectors. Focus on translating technology into practical applications that companies and entrepreneurs can understand and develop.
10. From opportunity to necessity: The adoption of emerging technologies, especially those like AI that are more mature, is no longer an opportunity for pioneers but a necessity to maintain competitiveness. Economic actors must embrace a certain sense of urgency and necessity in their innovation and technological change strategies.

Change happens by doing, and the foolproof heuristic of innovation is the one of error—paradoxes. Think and execute innovation to make mistakes as quickly as possible and with minimal cost. Make the necessary changes, iterate as it's now called, and bring a new proposal back to the market. Don't wait for more resources; work with what's available right now, for companies and the entire country. Repeat and adjust. Speak less and do more.