In the past I’ve talked about the importance of hybrid phases in innovation and innovation diffusion. Rarely (and perhaps never) does a technology jump from one phase to another without first working through a hybrid phase (or series of hybrid phases). One could even argue that each innovation cycle is simply the process of stepping through periods of hybrid development. Look at tablet computing for example. We couldn’t jump from large mainframe computers to tablets without cycling through a series of innovations that spanned decades and were essentially hybrid innovations. While companies would often love to compress the hybrid cycles between different innovation states, it is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to do.
Yesterday, I caught news that Toyota is increasing their hybrid development, while cutting back on their all-electric vehicle program. Toyota plans to unveil 21 gas-electric hybrids by 2016. You’ll often see this type of behavior. Companies want to accelerate the time between states of innovation, but often realize (reluctantly) that a strong hybrid period is necessary to move from one innovation state to the next.
