At 07.12 a.m. on Thursday, the BBC Radio 4 Today programme ran an item about the effects of adoption of technology. Sir Victor Blank believes that we communicate less in modern day society. He asked the BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones to investigate whether innovations such as email and social media have hindered, rather than helped, communication.

The Telegraph newspaper reported recently on an intriguing adoption of innovative technology. Programmers inside the Cabinet Office are designing a new app that will bring together all the latest information from across Whitehall. The idea for the app came from a trip by advisers to the US. The software will allow the Prime Minister to see the latest NHS waiting-list figures, crime statistics, unemployment numbers and a wide variety of other data at a glance. It will also include “real time” news information from Google and Twitter, according to the Times. Mr Cameron is known to be an iPad devotee, using it to read newspapers as well as to tune into radio programmes, According to an article in the Huffington Post, the app is due to be unveiled in March. Officials say it may also be made available to the public, meaning it is unlikely the app will contain security sensitive government information.

I strongly believe in the thesis that technology assists innovative research, and that, specifically, the iPad is a godsend for people who engage in academic research like me.

Innovation is central to organisational growth and competitiveness (Tidd et al., 2001). Effective innovation can transform highly-functioning politicians into world leaders and ordinary organisations into stimulating environments for employees. Poor innovation within political parties could lead to poor morale both within H.M. Government and its official opposition, and ultimately stagnation and decline of the entire political process.

Organisations often face an “innovation paradox“; they must innovate in order to compete against one another, but in order to achieve the innovation, they may need to collaborate with organisations they compete against. In David Cameron’s case, this means collaborating with the app designers, sharing some of his ‘secrets’ about how he wishes ‘to do’ government. If Cameron succeeds here, he will have achieved a nirvana of the political process that he is said to be passionate about; including opening up a huge amount of stored information to the general public.

Traditionally organisations have been secretive of their innovations to protect any emerging intellectual property, but in this case also valuable information about how effectively the U.K. is being run. Over the years, such a secretive culture has been reinforced in the minds of other stakeholders, including M.P.s and voters, that the political environment is cut-throat and that innovation is how parties might gain competitive advantage over one other. Thus, the concept of open knowledge exchange with other independent organisations, even within a distributed innovation network, might be difficult for those people working in politics to accept.

This might result in members of the Conservative Party being apprehensive about exchanging knowledge with individuals outside their organisation, both within the Coalition and outside of it, in case of divulging information that was not intended to be exchanged. The presence of trust between individuals from the collaborating organisations is a key determinant in the success of collaboration.  However, a key advantage for the network was a dramatic lowering of cognitive distance and increased collaboration and sense of community within the consortium. The physical separation between the political parties, especially in Portcullis House, is also not that huge.

In summary, I feel that Ed Miliband should embrace David Cameron’s new app, and they should both embrace a collaborative, innovative spirit. Whilst it may not make for a massive competitive advantage for Cameron compared to Miliband, it might make the sharing of ideas and information a more interesting and challing one intellectually.

Reference

Tidd, J, J Blessant and K Pavitt (2001). Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and Organisational Change. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.