Mahka you have been studying the emergence of industries since you were a doctoral student.  Recently she published a paper on all the different actors involved.  Anita asked Mahka about this heterogeneity.  What does it take to orchestrate the emergence of an industry?

When we match the movies or read books, we often focus on stories of historical entrepreneurs like the Wright Brothers as our heroes.   But the truth is that many people are involved in the emergence of industries.  Makha has been focusing on a four part model that emphasizes technology, demand, ecosystems, and institutions as the basic elements of structure.  What’s really important is their interaction.  It’s when all four are aligned that we see industries coming into fruition.

At a recent keynote, Mahka talked about the early history of the car industry.  What has she learned about how the four dimensions get integrated from that example?

Our friend, David Kirsch, often shows a photo of an early auto prototype that had a figure of a horse out in front!   We need to borrow from the past as we build the future.  Once you bring in demand and technology, the next question becomes:  Do actors have the right mindset?  The right cognition?  We need to dimensionalize understandings so that they can be integrated.  This is what the model is about.

Think about Tesla.  The narratives and stories about the company may be aligned with the past to help people make sense of what is possible in the future.  

The core mechanisms of industry emergence are the four outlined above, however.  What we need to move forward their integration is shared knowledge and experience.   This is what we’re about cultivating when we want to encourage an industry’s evolution.  

It’s also important to highlight the role of government and non profits.  Think about penicillin and about radar.   The role of these types of institutions was critical to the success of these industries.

Anita asked Mahka about the beginning of the beginning of an industry.  Where are the earliest signs of what might emerge?

Makha focused on science and discovery and knowledge production more generally as critical to the early development of an industry structure.   This might emerge from unmet needs such as in the delivery by drones of critical blood supplies.  Tech was ported in from outside the industry as emergence occurred in this context.

What makes Makha optimistic?

What makes her optimistic is the history of overcoming obstacles.  Maybe we can do it again!  Problems arise, solutions are formed, and the process goes through a creative cycle that ultimately improves lives.