>Well said. A good example of this in practice is 3M. Every year, 20% of their revenue is generated from products that did not exist 5 years before. One way they accomplish this is by providing employees with work time to persue new projects and technologies. As a company policy, employees can spend 15% of their time learning, experimenting, playing with stuff outside their normal duties. At the same time, 3M still generates significant revenue from adhesives, products it's been producing for years.

That's a good idea. Where I work, you have to go through hoops to formally test anything new (let alone implement it). So what happens is that everyone does it anyway, under the radar, informally, and contrary to rules.

The result is a lack of communication about new-technology learning, and a sort of general disrepect for the regulations and requirements. Adding a better policy to allow for easier "R&D" would be an excellent idea.