How Can We Drive Innovation?

Change is no longer an exceptional event, let alone an episode affecting a specific sector at a given time. Change is everywhere and has become a constant in social and economic lives. While it is difficult to predict the future and identify, “at first glance”, the right answers to the new problems we are facing, it is also true that change brings with it as many opportunities, which are also widespread. The challenge for real estate operators, therefore, is to recognise these scenarios and develop the mindset and abilities needed to identify and seize the opportunities that will arise. To take full advantage of these opportunities, it is necessary to experiment, accept failures, challenge beliefs and consolidated business models, rather than trying to avoid the consequences of change while remaining anchored to the logic of the past. The real estate sector, like many other traditional industrial sectors, is based on well-established business models based on basic principles, logics and beliefs that have remained substantially unchanged over the past decades. In this scenario, operators have focused on improving the efficiency and productivity of the supply chains and the quality of the products and services offered. Today, and increasingly so in the future, operators will have to commit themselves to fostering innovation both of their business models and of their products and services in order to remain competitive and not be excluded from the market. In fact, the ability to innovate is, and will be, the main source of differentiation and the main driver of business competitiveness. How can we recognise and drive good innovation? In this chapter we explore some of the fundamental principles and try to understand the opportunities for the urban regeneration and real estate development sector. First and foremost, innovation can happen everywhere, from day-to-day operational tasks to the overall business model of an organisation. Second, innovation requires experimentation, openness, flexibility and ambition. Third, good innovation puts people at the centre and strives to deliver tangible benefits. Fourth, intercepting and adopting good innovation can be hard and technology can facilitate the process. Finally, urban areas can be a fertile ground for innovation, and innovation can be an extraordinary driver of sustainable social and economic progress for local communities.