Visiting with Mike Bott, General Manager at The Brandery accelerator in downtown Cincinnati, you actually see what the “Front End of Innovation” looks like — two or three people, over-caffeinated and urgent, clustered around a couple of basic desks working out the details of a business plan, or creating a brand new product.

Due to the training they’ve been given at the accelerator, they know a bit about innovation process, branding and fund raising — and the focus is still entirely on the doing. It’s small, it’s uncomplicated, it’s informal, and yet, wow, things are happening.

In the spirit of expanding the FEI 2012 conversation, I asked Mike what question he would like to pose to the group which will form next week in Orlando. He asked what the focus of the conference was and I said “the front end of innovation” and I also explained that most of the attendees were big companies, or, suppliers who serve them. He paused for a moment and looked a bit quizzical, and simply said:

“Can they really do that?”

It’s so fundamental a question that it took me by surprise, but it bears talking about. He meant, can big companies really do disruptive innovation, and I assume he meant “like a start-up.”

FEI 2012 will be 99% big company oriented. Mike’s been there, he’s former P&G. In our chat, he talked about how big company middle management has no real incentive to create anything new like a disruptive innovation. Of course top management needs to create new products, new lines, but they’re not the hands-on people are they? Your average big company manager works year to year making budget adjustments, i.e. reduce traditional media spend, boost digital spend, and if you don’t understand the new marketing technology, farm it out to agencies or suppliers. If these adjusting managers show profit improvement, they’re good, they keep their $180,000 a year salary — so, why create something totally new?

Innovation managers who take big risks at big companies are as likely to end up with a broken head as a breakthrough.

Reading this morning’s news, clearly the glory days at P&G appear to be in the past. They’re laying off thousands in a massive cost cutting effort. In theory they no longer need 1600 people because of new efficiencies in digital marketing, so maybe they are just adjusting to the new reality, but I’m not sure. P&G did well under A.G. Laughley’s open innovation initiative, but the momentum from that fine work seems to have ground to a halt. It’s been a long time since the big success of the Swiffer. What’s been their most recent breakthrough innovation? I’m not a close P&G watcher, but nothing comes to mind. The news underscores Mike’s salient question — can big companies really do the front end of innovation?

While the big companies fiddle, The Brandery burns — by ramping up to support 10 start-ups at a time under it’s roof, with mentorships and small stipends of cash. The Brandery is doing something I thought was impossible, they’re drawing talent to Cincinnati from all over the world — 32 countries so far — and neighbouring states.  Those people and small companies are renting space, buying homes, and creating a new economy from whole cloth. Some are even setting up shop in the newly revived Over-the-Rhine area which I wrote about last post.

So, FEI speakers and participants — how would you answer Mike’s question, can you really innovate?  And, are you creating breakthrough’s — or breaking your head trying?