By: Peter Josty
It is well recognized that innovations have been the main driver of economic progress and that items such as the internet, artificial intelligence and social media have transformed our lives.
We celebrate unicorns, make lists of the fastest growing companies and give awards to the entrepreneur of the year. But we usually don’t think much about the innovations that don’t make it – the failures. An exhibit called the Museum of Failure makes up for this. The idea was started in 2017 by Samuel West, who is a Swedish psychologist. The exhibit has toured world-wide — in Asia (Shanghai and Taiwan), Europe (Paris and Helsingborg), and the US (Washington, Los Angeles and Minneapolis). It is in Calgary — its first stop in Canada — until the end of September, and then possibly in Toronto and Montreal.
The Museum exhibits about 160 failures over quite a time span. The oldest exhibit shows the Vasa, a Swedish warship that sank spectacularly on its maiden voyage in 1628. More recently it highlights the Boeing 737 MAX.
Some of the exhibits will be well known, such as the Ford Edsel and New Coke. Some are quite hilarious — Harley Davidson Cologne and Colgate Frozen Dinner. (Talk about mixed messages!)
The exhibits are organized according to a variety of themes such as Medical Mishaps, Bad Taste, Digital Disasters, and Failure in Motion. There is even a section on Donald Trump’s innovations, such as Trump University, Trump steaks, Trump Shuttle, and Trump resorts, all of which ended in failure, usually accompanied by illegal business practices and lawsuits.
Each exhibit come with a handy app, so you can scan a QR code to get more information.
There are also inspiring quotations about failure:
Here are some of the more notable failures in the exhibit:
Conclusion
The exhibit is a timely reminder that failures are an unavoidable part of innovation. Perhaps we should pay more attention to the failures and see what can be learned from them.
Peter Josty is Executive Director of The Centre for Innovation Studies (THECIS), a Calgary-based not-for-profit research company specializing in innovation and entrepreneurship. In addition to working in private research and business development, he holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of London and an MBA from the International Institute for Management Development in Geneva.