The future of innovation

Amongst the many attractions at the Senator John Heinz History Center, the topic of this month’s Uniquely Pittsburgh, is a virtual House of Today that provides a sneak peak into future Pittsburgh innovations that will improve lives over the next 250 years.
I can’t even imagine what’s in store — flying cars, robotic houses that clean themselves, digital money carried in microchips, gene therapies, crops that don’t need fertilizers to feed the world and who knows what else.
Sweeping changes
When you think back 250 years — that takes you back to 1764 — it’s amazing how much has changed. America hadn’t even been formed yet. The city of St. Louis, Missouri, was being founded as a French trading post, and the first views on taxation without representation were published.
My grandfather is 101 years old, and even for him the world has changed so much. I love asking him about what it was like when his father came home their first Model-T, or when electricity was brought down their road.
Innovation made America what it is today. It’s the reason why people come from all over the world to live here, learn at our universities and colleges, and stay.
We might not be able to keep up with the lower cost of labor in other countries, but because of our innovation we are still on the forefront of major advances.
The rate of innovation
Over the decades, innovation has appeared to come faster and faster, with new models and technologies unveiled at an accelerating pace. But some economists have posed the idea that the rate of innovation has topped out.
An interesting article on this very topic — Economists debate: Has all the important stuff been invented? — appeared in the Wall Street Journal this past June.
Two big names at Northwestern University — Robert Gordon and Joel Mokyr — debated the future of the 21st century economy: “rapid innovation driven by robotic manufacturing, 3-D printing and cloud computing, versus years of job losses, stagnant wages and rising income inequality.”
Gordon believes the low-hanging fruit has been picked. He shows images of a flush toilet and iPhone, asking in his speeches, “Which one would you give up?” according to the article.
Mokyr, on the other hand, thinks that fast computing will bring about another age of innovation.
Personally, I think I’m more in Mokyr’s camp. I do, however, agree with one point of Gordon’s that some of the new innovations like technology to clean air and water pollution will solve problems created by past economic growth. This isn’t the same as breakthroughs that add to output.

But whether future innovations are going to help us clean up past messes or move society forward, I look forward to seeing what’s ahead.