Innovation in Research and Development

I am participating in the Technology Futures Summit meeting in Banff, AB. 28-30 August.  This is meeting is different from research meetings, in that we are discussing innovation in science.  How to cultivate it, nurture it and "deploy" it.  The terminology and the goals are new, but very important in bringing the results of science to the people who pay for it.  While keeping a valuable place for curiousity, hypothesis driven science, there is a greater demand to make discoveries useful.  No formula exists yet, but common sense and hard work are key elements, as well as keeping the "consumer" at the forefront of new ideas.  The speakers are excellent and all are "innovators".  As one of them rightly said, "I'd rather be in the mountains thinking about science, than in the laboratory thinking about mountains."