We Asked The Experts Why Innovation Thrives In Times Of Crisis

It seems like everything fell apart this year. Our social lives were shut down and most of our workplaces, too. And then, all of a sudden, it seemed like all our long-term plans were gone.

How do you figure out what comes next in your life, career, or education when you can’t even confidently plan an interstate holiday?

It’s a big question! But don’t they always say that good things can come out of a crisis? When everything falls apart, sometimes new things – maybe better things – are built in their place.

We asked a couple of experts to explain why innovation thrives in times like this, and what it means for all of us going forward.

How A Crisis Creates Change 

“People are more innovative during crises,” says Caroline Sanz, an Industry Teaching Fellow in the Entrepreneurship Portfolio at Monash Business School. “The challenges that we maybe weren’t thinking about – or the opportunities we weren’t thinking about – innovating in are much more in our faces during a crisis.”

“[Crises] elevate everything … Suddenly, we’re not doing things for fun or because we can, we’re doing them because we need to.”

Andrew Moshirnia, a senior lecturer at Monash Business School, agrees. “Crisis, by definition, disturbs the system,” he says. Suddenly everyone’s looking at one problem and urgently finding different solutions to it. Those solutions then ripple out and create further change.

“There’s direct innovation like ‘I’ve made a better wheel’, but that’s not always the case,” he says. “[Innovation] can also look like a change of social understanding or a change of conceptual innovation.”

During WW2, he notes, there were mass medical advancements to lower battle deaths. This led to more surviving but wounded soldiers, which led to further innovations in the disability field, which led to changing social views on accessibility.

These are good changes that came from an awful time. And the same kind of thing is happening right now.

The Big Innovations So Far

The pandemic has forced innovations in so many fields. There have obviously been huge advancements in the field of epidemiology as we control the virus and search for a vaccine, but we’ve also seen changes in the way we work, learn, and relate to one another. Both experts point to the rise of remote work and education, and the wide adoption of telemedicine, as examples of positive innovation.

“This is a great example of what can happen in a crisis,” Moshirnia says, “we can have a more egalitarian, just outcome because we have addressed this focused problem, and then that solution allows us to fix more systemic problems.”

The result: people now have increased access to essential services.

Of course, these are technologies that already existed. The crisis has just rapidly changed our behaviour, our understanding, and our systems. Remember this time last year when you didn’t even know what Zoom was?

Moshirnia reckons Zoom is here to stay. “When an innovation brings about other positive externalities, it’s going to continue,” he says. But it’s generally hard to speculate on long-term trends or changes. “The idea of predicting what the dominant industry will be in five or ten years is a very tough thing.”

As Caroline Sanz says, the only constant in the world is change, and our success depends on how we respond to that. “It’s not just a matter of transforming once and saying ‘I’m ready for the future’. It’s a process of constant innovation.”

What This Means For You 

Even before 2020, young people were already accustomed to constant change. “This is a generation that knows things are going to be different,” Moshirnia says. “Whatever the jobs are 15 years from now haven’t been invented yet. This further hammers that home.”

It’s okay to be worried about that, he says. “Be forgiving of yourself for being stressed. These are difficult times, the world’s in flux. It’s ok to be a little bit unmoored … [But] as long as you stay excited about learning new things, you’re going to be fine.”

He also says that universities like Monash will help prepare you for this. “We want to give you the tools so you can change with [your job or industry]. Maybe we can give you the tools so you can help change it!”

Sanz completely agrees. She also says that one of the best things you can do, in the face of all this change, is “really take the time to consider what you like, and what you’re good at”. “I think more people need to be leaning into things that they’re passionate about – rather than just going with things they’re told they should do.

“There’s so many different ways of being successful and impactful. The people who are doing really well are the ones who are passionate about what they do and find their niche.”

“Obviously having time to think about these things is a luxury,” she says. So many people are just doing what they have to do to get by right now – and that’s fine! Sanz encourages anyone struggling right now, or not sure of where to go, to keep exploring their passions and developing new skills over time.

“Then, when you do have to make decisions about your next steps, you’re ready.”

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Lead image: Jacob Lund / Shutterstock

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