Innovation usually has the aim to disrupt markets and industries. When thinking of innovation, it may not always be a completely new product or service. There are various types of innovation, and each of them has a very specific purpose and effect. Market-creating innovation probably has the greatest potential to disrupt markets and grow the economy. This was the view of Professor Clayton Christensen and Research Fellow, Efosa Ojomo, on the role of disruptive innovation at the 9^th Discovery Leadership Summit on Thursday at the Sandton Convention Centre.

Affordability and accessibility – key to innovation that drives growth

“Innovation always comes before development that has the potential to create prosperity. This prosperity does not come from resources, but is rooted in market-creating innovation. Taking a product that is often, at the outset, only available to a selected and affluent market, such as the first car, personal computer and cellphones, and making it affordable and accessible for every person, changes the world. This is the main characteristic of market-creating innovation – it is affordable and accessible to the majority of people.” says Professor Christensen.

Prosperous countries know the power of market-leading innovation

“When we looked at the United States, Europe and Japan, market-creating innovation was a standard catalyst for growth in the economy and in prosperity of people. There are many great examples all around us of such market-creating innovation,” added Ojomo. Using the example of Singer, he continued to explain how, before the introduction of the sewing machine, it was rare for Americans to have many different outfits. However, following the development of the sewing machine, the affordability and shortened time to make clothes, created a great, new demand. This meant that more machines had to be manufactured. People had to be trained to make them, sell them, and distribute them, and in doing so, creating thousands of jobs.

A market-creating innovation is, therefore, a chain of actions that lead to growth in new industries and jobs. It broadens consumption and even has the potential to help other businesses do better, says Professor Christensen. Here he cited the example of a refrigerator company in India that found a way to build refrigerators at a more affordable price so that it was also possible for street vendors to afford them and keep their beverages cold. Looking at the needs of people, and giving them affordable access to an innovation that meets their needs, increases consumption – another benefit of market-creating innovation.

Another type of innovation is sustaining innovation, which Professor Christensen says usually means making good products even better. “However, this type of innovation creates very little net growth. For example, when you look at cars, each model is better. But, you may not be able to sustainably sell the older models,” he says. Efficiency innovation, he continued, can create jobs and has the main purpose to drive down the cost of manufacturing a product to create free cash flow for a business.

Creating prosperity In Africa

For Africa to grow and create prosperity, Ojomo gave the audience the advice to change the thinking around development and to “remember the power of the pull”. Referring here specifically to not simply pushing solutions at problems, but pulling solutions in, to sustain the prosperity. A market-creating innovation is often just such a solution. Ending their session, Professor Christensen said he remains driven by a personal goal to help individuals become better. He also challenged every person in the audience to take on the responsibility of developing people and helping them realise their potential. 

Olympic Gold medalist, Commonwealth Games champion, and Discovery Vitality Ambassador, Caster Semenya, talks about women taking their place in sport – and in life – at the Discovery Leadership Summit 2018 in Sandton today.

Caster Semenya, in an interview with media personality Redi Tlhabi, said the empowerment of young people and women was close to her heart because of the obstacles she has had to overcome to achieve every dream she had for herself. “We as women, we need to stand together. Men get a lot of things done together, but as women, we lack support. We must be more organised, to make it easier for each other. Instead of complaining about transformation, we must be transformative.”

Semenya said, “I knew from age four that I was going to be great, especially in sport. I never knew I would be where I am today, being able to touch the lives of young girls and boys. It is a process, and it starts with how you're being raised. My parents knew I was a special case, and I was loved. I accepted myself because of that love. Then I had to work hard. Young people first, they need to know their motto. What do they stand for, what do they want to do with their lives? You can do anything, especially if you are educated. Knowledge is very, very important.”

Semenya highlighted the importance of knowing one’s goals and working towards achieving them. “There is no way men will do this for us... they want to lead. We need to gather and fight together, for each other. We, as women need to know how to build ourselves up. What is it that you want? Do we know what a contract is, what is licensing, how to build a brand, how to be marketable? If we don't understand and help each other to understand, we will fall apart,” she said.

Despite recently completing her sports science degree, Semenya said the track was easy to navigate, but university was not. “For being a fighter, I was prepared. I know how people have looked at me, that they talk about my deep voice. I am who I am. Those words can never hurt me. It's very simple. If you know who you are and what you want in life, you appreciate yourself and love yourself. But at university level, I was not prepared,” she laughed. “The education system in the village and going to university with Model C students... I didn't want to speak English in case they laughed at me. But you learn, for me, every day is a learning curve and I want to learn, to be knowledgeable.”

Tlhabi commented on the Nike advert in which Semenya affirms her space as an athlete despite scandals around her eligibility to compete, which ends in her saying: “Would you have preferred if I stopped at my first steps? That's too bad. I was born for this.”

Semenya concluded, "Build your brand, first, then know your worth. Be patient, Rome was not built in a day. I know I am a talented athlete. Show the world what you are made of. Know where you're coming from and your destination, where you want to be. I know that nothing can disturb me, no matter how hard it is."

Will antimicrobial resistance (AMR) be the greatest societal leveller of our time? “It doesn’t distinguish between colour, economic status or political systems. It affects all seven billion of us and we need to do something about it.” This is the view of esteemed British Economist, Lord Jim O’Neill, who was a speaker at the 9^th Discovery Leadership Summit held on Thursday in Sandton, Johannesburg.

O’Neill (the creator of the “BRIC” acronym) was, in 2014, tasked by UK Prime Minister David Cameron to establish and chair a Review into AMR to analyse the global problem of rising drug resistance. The purpose was also to propose concrete actions to tackle what the World Health Organization has called one of the three major threats to global healthcare.

“In the absence of a solution, AMR could, by 2050, cause 10 million deaths a year – which is far more deaths than cancer causes today,” added Lord O’Neill. “The BRICS countries share a considerable vulnerability. One third of global AMR-linked deaths could stem from drug-resistant tuberculosis alone. Very worrying signs show that the rise of drug resistance is only set to worsen with time. We need to do something about this urgently, otherwise the BRICS countries - even China and India - will never reach their potential.”

Lord O’Neill hastened to add: ”South Africa has played a key leadership role in giving a voice to this global threat. If not for South Africa’s leadership around AMR within the BRICS countries, this theme would not have been on the G20 agenda.”

The Review sets out 10 key focus areas to guide global action on the efforts required to tackle AMR. “I call them ‘The 10 commandments of AMR’,” adds Lord O’Neill:

1. We need a global public awareness campaign.
2. We must improve sanitation as polluted environments fuel illness and the overuse of antibiotics. Strong preventive health systems are key.
3. We must reduce unnecessary use of antimicrobials in agriculture and their dissemination into the environments. For 10 years the EU has banned use of antibiotics for growth promotion in animals. Last week, the EU introduced a law that will come into effect in 2022 and ban last-in-line antibiotics (intended for humans) in animals.
4. We must improve global surveillance of drug resistance and antimicrobial consumption in human and animals. “Leading surveillance research on AMR is being done in South Africa by institutions like the University of Cape Town and others,” added Lord O’Neill.
5. We must promote new, rapid forms of diagnosis to reduce the unnecessary use of antimicrobials. “Mobile technologies could assist doctors greatly,” he added.
6. We must promote the development and use of vaccines and alternatives to antimicrobials.
7. We must improve the number, pay and recognition of people working on infectious disease.
8. We must increase the supply of new antimicrobials effective against drug‑resistant bugs.
9. We need a global innovation fund for the supply of new antimicrobials effective against drug resistance bugs.
10. We need better incentives to promote investment for new drugs and improving existing ones.

The Review estimates that interventions require $42-billion of finance and Lord O’Neill has formerly said, “$42-billion over 10 years is less than one quarter of a tenth of a percent (0.025%) of global GDP. Yet, if we do nothing about it, the world would lose approximately $100-trillion of accumulated GDP over the next 35 years.”

Lord O’Neill added that there has been progress on several of the ’10 Commandment’ recommendations but emphasised that global, collaborative efforts towards overcoming AMR remain paramount. “We are intricately connected on this planet. This is evidenced by the overuse of Colistin – a last-in-line antimicrobial – which is used on animals in China, and which has recently been detected in Denmark – a country that has, in my judgment, led global efforts to stop the use of antimicrobials in animals. International cooperation is therefore critical to overcoming this challenge.”

“I plead with you to make sure South Africa continues to keep AMR on the BRICS agenda, as well as when using its own voice in the G20. To my mind, the efforts South Africa has made, more than justify the small ‘s’ in the BRICs acronym, used before South Africa joined the initiative, being capitalised to represent a country doing much to keep AMR top of mind.”