STEM innovation
Why is STEM Innovation Important
While out-of-the-box ideas are great, they don’t count towards STEM and innovation. STEM innovation works differently. You need to have more than just an idea – it needs to translate into value. Here is why STEM and innovation are important – and how they are linked.
With STEM and innovation, things work a little differently. STEM innovation deals with new ideas and methods in the world of STEM. But it has to translate into something that makes a difference: either improves lives, solves a problem, boosts company profitability or improves business performance overall.
It’s not about coming up with an idea. Many labs has the capacity to come up with great ideas and inventions – but fails to transform them into measurable, tangible balue.
STEM and innovation, therefore, work to create new things, but also to take existing products and services, transform or enhance them, and make them better (thereby creating a new form of it).
So in the world of STEM, innovation can only occur (and be measured by) OUTCOMES.
The focus needs to be on innovation and implementation/commercialisation/monetisation, NOT invention. In fact, this is a key problem plaguing Australia today: we lag behind in making innovations profitable.
A research paper or a patent that’s lying on a shelf in a university cannot be considered STEM innovation — it’s an idea that has not been translated into value. (It may be a fantastic idea, but if no one but a chosen few in the academic community see it, it doesn’t count towards STEM and innovation.)
It’s pretty simple: our economy and the world we inhabit is backed by science, technology, engineering, math and medicine (which falls under the purview of science). STEM creates individuals who are critical and analytical thinkers. And when they come up with a great idea, STEM and innovation need to work together to make it a reality.
As the needs of the world change and as we’re faced with new challenges in a post-pandemic world, STEM innovation is becoming increasingly important to find economical, sustainable solutions for the problems we face, whether it’s digital literacy or solving world hunger and creating better food security.
Ideas can only turn into profitable innovation when they are backed by skills. And skills are what MDs offer.
As we move into an increasingly digital world where remote working and hybrid work models are becoming more commonplace, technology is getting more integrated into our daily lives. STEM lies at the core of almost every aspect of how we interact with the world. Science and medicine provide healthcare, agriculture and food solutions, tech powers our working lives and entertainment, engineering helps us build the world we live in and math underscores all of these. STEM, therefore, is extremely important to build a a better future and improve lives.
STEM helps by providing these technologies with people and other tools to power them. STEM and innovation go hand in hand since it STEM subjects steer innovation since it encompasses all aspects of the innovation process, from research to production and distribution.