The University of Cambridge and IBM have released a report challenging governments, businesses and universities to drive increased support and funding for service innovation. Service innovation aims to improve the numerous service systems that we encounter every day, through changes in the way that technology, people, organization and information work.
The report, based on an international symposium sponsored by IBM and BAE Systems and held at Cambridge last summer, calls for a doubling of the funding for service education and research to ensure future economic prosperity and global competitiveness. More than 100 international academics and business leaders contributed to the report.
Service systems such as transport, communications and healthcare now form the major part of the modern economy, but suffer from a lack of support compared to manufacturing and technology research, an imbalance that needs to be rectified, the report said.
According to the UN's International Labor Organization, service jobs outnumbered agricultural and manufacturing jobs worldwide for the first time in 2007. In Britain, 75 per cent of the labor force works in the services sector; in the US, the sector accounts for more than 80 per cent of GDP. For Thailand, service sector accounts for more than 50 per cent of GDP according to Office of the NESDB's report of 2004.
Business models are changing and there are enormous opportunities for companies and economies that are able to integrate science, technology, production and service, said Cambridge University Professor Mike Gregory.
The report captures the latest international thinking in the field and provides a rich resource for policy makers, industrialists and academics to drive their policies on service innovation.
"The service sector is now rapidly growing in Thailand. It makes high profit and offers employment opportunities to Thai people as well. As a result, each organization needs to adjust itself and increase potential to address demands in this market. Governments and businesses must play their part by developing and implementing service innovation roadmaps, said Thanwa Laohasiriwong, Country General Manager, IBM Thailand.
The report recommends:
Universities should offer courses in the emerging field of Service Science, Management and Engineering (SSME)--teaching graduates to become adaptive innovators, capable of working entrepreneurially across traditional boundaries.
Researchers should embrace an interdisciplinary approach to address business and societal grand challenges.
Governments should fund SSME education and research and collaborate with industry and academia to develop service innovation roadmaps.
Businesses should establish employment policies and career paths that support service research and education.
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