Andy Wu, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, told a panel on day one of the forum: “Success in the global economy, whether in terms of profit or of impact, is not about what you do, but rather about what you enable others to do.”

The panel discussed strategies to spur innovation in organizations and companies around the world.

Wu stressed the need to build innovative cultures and ecosystems that empower people to do their best work and provide them the freedom to be creative.

Professors and experts from around the world joined the discussion virtually during the panel.

Wu has spent the last 10 years teaching and advising technology companies at the forefront of innovation. These companies now lead the global economy and shape education, science and culture globally, he said.

The assistant professor noted three crucial aspects in enabling others to have a global impact: Standards, tools and forums.

“First, you need to take the lead and set standards for your industry. This is both about technology standards for how information is moved around, as well as cultural standards about how to do business,” he said.

Wu added: “Second, you need to build tools that let others do their job effectively. Third, you need to gather people together in forums much like this one.”

Aline Gatignon, assistant professor of management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, told the panel that cross-sector partnerships could tackle systemic social issues.

The value of cross-sector partnerships lies in their ability to bring together a range of actors, pooling complementary resources and generating innovative outcomes, Gatignon added.

“This is imperative if we’re going to solve problems or grand challenges like achieving the Sustainable Development Goals that are beyond what a single organization sector or industry can tackle alone,” she said.

Cross-sector partnerships should involve different types of expertise but come at the cost of higher expenses and time investment, Gatignon added. “These differences that are really necessary to generate innovate outcomes also create huge coordination costs,” she said.

Tina Ambos, professor of international management at the University of Geneva, told the panel: “There’s an overall agreement that the Sustainable Development Goals will not be achieved without the rapid pace of innovation through cross-sector efforts.”

Innovation can only effect change if it is adequately scaled, she added. “Hence, we looked deeper into the processes of how this innovation scales and found it deeply embedded in ecosystems, particularly when we look at those digital types of innovations,” she said.

Ambos stressed the need to create deeper systems of innovation in the global marketplace, warning that international organizations are unable to tackle the world’s most pressing issues alone.