The Awesome Power of Knowledge Networks

by Zulma Acevedo

Aristotle imagined a “Tree of Knowledge”, Darwin saw a “Tree of Life”, and Warren Weaver – the great scientist and mathematician – gave us his vision of organized complexity. But none of these revered thinkers were ever able to witness the awesome power of today’s web-based knowledge networks that stretch around the globe, pulsing 24/7 with new thinking, and growing organically every day.

Like galaxies in a night sky, these networks resemble giant communities of stars and planets that are somehow organized yet independent, part of a system that shares the same center of gravity. And so it is with Innovation Excellence – a network that brings together people from over 175 countries who share a common interest in the world of innovation. A network that would have been a sheer impossibility before the advent of the Internet.

A little over a year since Innovation Excellence was launched, we sit and ponder: 14000, 3500, 4000. It looks like a mathematical formula, but applied mathematics in this case; these are the numbers of members we have exceeded on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

In our community, we have members from all kinds of backgrounds and industries: from innovation professionals who serve as process champions in multinational companies, to company owners who are seeking and finding answers on how to grow their businesses, to researchers, consultants, managers, supervisors, writers, and a multitude of others. Through our knowledge network on Innovation Excellence, people have not only enhanced their understanding of how innovation can be put to work for their organizations, leading to new revenue-growing breakthroughs, but some have used this network to close agreements between companies that have been able to exchange views and over time have become real businesses.

Innovation Excellence was born from a tiny network of three thinkers whose vision was to create a web-based platform – and a global community – for sharing innovation knowledge. Today, it has truly grown into a “tree” or web of knowledge that each day opens up a shared space for research, discussion, study, writing, and new business opportunities. Thanks to everyone involved in building this wonderful network. With your support our community was born and has grown, and continues to grow from strength to strength. We are proud to be a part of this global knowledge network that believes in innovation excellence!

image credit: orbitalrpm.com

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Zulma Acevedo G. is the Latin America Editor, and provides Program Development and Innovation Consulting Services, for Innovation Excellence.  Formerly with GBM Corporation and IBM de Colombia, she specializes in CRM, data analysis,  competitive strategies & pricing, marketing and business partners management.