In corporate world, it’s innovate or die

“It will be the end of the world as we know it.”

Such ominous words were uttered to a room of corporate executives—to “scare” them into making innovation their top strategic priority, especially in the face of digital disruption.

As part of its Integrated Learning Program on Innovation, Ayala Corp., in partnership with global innovation consulting firm IXL Center and the Global Innovation Management Institute, recently hosted a oneday forum titled “Demystifying Innovation and Making It Real” for select group executives.

The highlight of the forum was a talk by IXL Center founding partner and GIM Institute board member Hitendra Patel, who discussed four key innovation trends: Greenovate, Healthovate, Connectivate, and Robovate.

The emergence of each trend, he said, could result in the demise of some industries, should they fail to think and plan ahead.

Under the Greenovate trend, for example, Patel said the world could see the end of traditional farming and even the oil industry.

“Most of the food that we eat come from chicken, pigs, and cows. But the amount of water, energy we use, the time for these animals to become full-size—that’s a lot of carbon footprint,” Patel said. “There are insects we can grow in half the time, and produce twice the protein, with less carbon footprint. Today’s farmers are learning about microlivestock.”

He added: “Would we even need oil anymore? There’s the beautiful thing called the sun that shines on us all the time. We are approaching a time when we won’t need coal or oil anymore.”

Under the Healthovate trend, Patel said that the creation of wearable devices such as Fitbit poses a question—is this the end of doctors?

“Our devices are going to be able to tell you that you are low on salt, on wa-