The Markets Institute

You might note that I haven’t posted for a while. While I would like to say that I’ve been busy at the Winter Olympics, the truth is I’ve been heads-down on the launch of a new non-profit, non-partisan research unit, The Markets Institute.

The idea for the Institute came from the incredible amount of data continually collected by Moddition. While we focus on clients, to do what we do, we literally have to track virtually every industry, every sector, from their ideas to the final sales of their products and services.

With all that incoming information and analysis that goes into extracting useful understanding, there was a great deal of value that could come from looking at the big picture, rather than just at solutions for a specific client.

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Dubai World vs. Innovation?

Let’s get past the credit issues of Dubai, which will get cleared up, and look at what the Emirate can do to create a long-term, viable future of providing real  value. Up front, it won’t be about tall buildings or unique landscaping — it’s about global problem solving. These ideas apply to any company, anywhere.

As background Dubai has been working for years now to create a global center of trade motivated primarily by its diminishing oil deposits. Rather than wait for its oil to dry up, the monarchy determined to turn Dubai into something unusual — a cross between a trading and shipping port and a theme park. The purpose was to create an area so attractive to global businesses that Dubai would become the place to transact business and enjoy a premium lifestyle.

When Dubai’s incredible ambitions were publicized the reaction was frenetic and near frantic: Dubai was the new “It. ” And if you weren’t a part of It you would be left behind. Dubai, viewing the nearly insane response, borrowed and built to keep up with what appeared to be a global onslaught of demand.

Unfortunately the truth was that the hype being generated for Dubai (not by Dubai) was self-feeding and not solidly connected to reality. Like a snake eating its own tail, eventually the hype could not sustain itself and died.

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