Q&A: This Agency Head of Innovation Doesn't Think Much of Most Innovation Labs

Zenith's Tom Goodwin on what the word means and what it doesn't

Tom Goodwin doesn’t believe in most innovation labs, especially agency innovation labs. Which is a bit of a weird point of view for the head of innovation for Zenith Media. Goodwin believes he can understand technology—and people—better by visiting a random city in China to see how folks pay with WeChat or by meeting technology zealots in the Israeli startup community.

“Agency labs can work,” he said, “but they have to be done brilliantly, not the standard 3D printer, collection of old phones gathering dust and a fitbit in a box.”

He

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