How to Encourage a Society of Firsts in Innovation

This month, LinkedIn asked users to delve into the concept of "being the first" -- specifically, what does it take to be first and how can you ensure that you aren't the last to do something?

As a leader in the aerospace and defense industry, it's hard to write about this topic without remembering the late John Glenn, who passed away earlier this month. Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth and a genuine hero who helped the nation soar into the future.

Glenn embarked on his mission to space at a time of great anxiety in America. It was during the Cold War. The United States was behind in the Space Race. And the American people desperately needed a boost of confidence.

Thankfully, the entire nation had renewed its focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and reignited its commitment to innovation. So when Glenn arrived safely back to the earth, he not only brought back a new sense of hope, his journey signaled a new era of national cooperation that eventually led to Neil Armstrong's moonwalk and U.S. leadership in space the decades that followed. 

Today as we look forward to the 21st century, the world is very different from when Glenn took off from Cape Canaveral. Now more than ever, there is an urgent need to understand the nature of innovation and how we can continue to encourage it in future generations.

As the global population continues to grow to an estimated nine billion people by 2040, we see challenges like ensuring reliable access to food, water, and energy while protecting the environment. This is also a historic moment for advancing scientific knowledge and pursuing new, cooperative technological ventures, like manned missions to Mars.

I am delighted that influential people are thinking about such challenges. I recently had the opportunity to speak to the Global Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament -- the first time it was held in the Middle East.

The opportunity came at the invitation of an inspiring and visionary leader, Her Excellency Dr. Amal Al Qubaisi.

Dr. Qubaisi is the first woman speaker of Federal National Council in the United Arab Emirates. In hosting the Summit, she was seeking to identify actions that leaders could take to encourage the creation of transformative technologies in their nations.

In my address to the Summit, I shared three key actions that the public and private sectors can take to spur innovation. Those actions included:

• Equipping citizens, especially children, with the education, skills and abilities they need to thrive in today's knowledge-based economy. To meet the challenges of the 21st century, we will need more STEM professionals. In the U.S. alone, economists project there could be 2.4 million unfilled STEM jobs by 2018. That's why it's important to promote positive attitudes toward the STEM fields. Earlier this year, we launched a program I hope would make John Glenn proud. It's called Generation Beyond and uses space travel to excite and inspire kids about STEM. One of the components of Generation Beyond is the first immersive, virtual reality vehicle ever built. We redesigned a school bus to allow kids to take a virtual trip to Mars so they can see where STEM skills can lead.
• Cultivating an inclusive environment that welcomes research and entrepreneurship. Once a student is ready to apply their knowledge in a profession of their choosing, there must be an environment and business climate that supports them. One way to do this in the private sector is to support entrepreneurs. For instance, Lockheed Martin invested in a remarkable young woman named Chekema Prince. By backing her and technology, she has gone on to scale up her research and launch a company called Pression.
• Establishing sound and stable policies that lay the groundwork for consistent and sustained investment. Leaders and policymakers in government are uniquely positioned to enable the investment, trade, and open markets for innovation to flourish. There is evidence from all over the world that the most competitive nations have a predictable tax and regulatory environment, as well as a commitment to transparency and ethical business practices; a legal system that is geared towards protecting intellectual property; and modern infrastructure to facilitate commerce. 

By working together at every level of society to spur innovation, we can unleash the full potential of human ingenuity. Such cooperation will help every nation create the transformative technologies that lead to the "firsts" that increase hope and lift all our lives.

Do you have ideas on how we can better encourage innovation? Share them in the comments section below.