Innovation Factory

The Innovation Factory takes a fresh look at the fine art of breakthrough innovation. What makes it unique is that it brings together an experienced scholar and a serial entrepreneur who share the same passion for understanding the processes and theories needed to innovate over and over again. The book marries theory with practical examples focusing on the Concept-Knowledge (C-K) Theory developed by the prestigious school Mines ParisTech.

For the first time, you will discover the unknown story of the Swatch watch told by Elmar Mock, the creative engineering force behind the Swatch. In this book, he passionately tells how he helped to create this breakthrough innovation that saved the Swiss watch industry in the 1980s. Gilles Garel, a professor of management, relates this tale of epic innovation to C-K theory and both convincingly argue that organizations can channel creativity to develop breakthrough innovations that disrupt markets.

Innovation is not just a case of acquiring aptitude. It is also a question of attitude: Innovators strive to remain creative and active. The book provides an overview of the characteristics and essential strengths of the successful Innovation Factory, Creaholic, based in Switzerland. The example of Creaholic helps readers grasp what breakthrough innovation is truly all about.

The book’s use of vibrant metaphors helps readers easily digest the ideas and concepts presented. The book concludes with thoughts about future directions for the watch industry.

Gilles Garel is a professor at the National Academy of Arts and Trades (Cnam), Paris, France, and at the Polytechnic School of France At Cnam. He is the chair of Innovation Management and has been collaborating with companies on innovation and project management since the 1990s. He is also director of Cnam’s Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Scientific Action research (LISRA).

Elmar Mock is an engineer of chronometers and plastic material. At the age of 26, he, along with Jacques Müller, invented the Swatch. He subsequently conceived the Rockwatch for Tissot before leaving the watch industry. In 1986 he founded his own company, Creaholic, in Biennes, Switzerland. He is cited as an inventor in more than 150 patents. In 2010 he won the Gaïa Prize.