To begin with, hats off to the 700+ readers who nominated Australian innovations over the holiday period!
At a time when most people are at the beach, you came out in force, unearthing some seriously hot innovations from Australian organisations both big and small.
This is an astonishingly good start for a new initiative.
However…!
With less than a week to go before submissions close (19 January 2009), only 71 of the nominated organisations have spent the 45 minutes required to complete the submission form.
When you consider that the program was developed to recognise 100 innovations… well… entrants who have completed the submission form must be feeling pretty cocky right now.
To a certain degree, I can understand why we have a high number of nominations and a low number of entries.
Firstly, innovators are often too busy innovating to promote their achievements and market the spoils of their toils. This is a sad state of affairs, when you consider that the most successful innovations are often the ones that are coupled with equally dedicated marketing efforts.
Secondly, I get the impression that many of the nominated organisations may only be learning this week that one or more of their clients, customers, staff, family, friends or fans has nominated them. (Sorry, poor timing on our behalf.)
If this sounds like you, click here to start your submission. (The odds are in your favour!)
Thirdly, I have a faint suspicion that Australians might be feeling a bit ‘innovation fatigued’, tired of the rhetoric that surrounds the ‘i’ word (which is why we called this program the SMART 100 and not the Anthill Innovation Index or something equally banal and obvious).
But this is also why initiatives like this one that promote and push the borders of innovation are so important (in my not-so-humble opinion).
Am I deluded? Am I preaching to the converted? Are we simply embarking on a good initiative at a bad time? Or should we just all return to the beach and worry about this another day? 😉
Welcome back Anthillians! Game on!