This entrepreneur with 700 patents says this is how to fire your imagination
![Jay Walker, Executive Chairman of Patent Properties, Inc., speaks during the Sohn Investment Conference in New York May 4, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid](https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/large_rnhFAN7ChWjYPSA0gb0Iu1bB4ucG34eSqpYBk5qMc40.jpg)
Jay Walker, the 11th most patented inventor alive, talks about how to create imagination in your work. Image: REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
![A hand holding a looking glass by a lake](/uplink.jpg)
Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale
Stay up to date:
Innovation
In all this talk of “innovation,” imagination isn’t getting any love.
That’s according to Jay Walker, the investor-turned-serial entrepreneur who founded Priceline.com in the 1990s.
“Imagination is sort of the great untapped resource,” Walker said at the Fortune Global Forum in Guangzhou, China on Thursday. “We talk about innovation, but there is no innovation without imagination—the moment when we have an original thought.”
Walker is well-qualified to remark on the subject. After creating Priceline in the late 1990s, he left the travel booking site in 2000, shortly after its blockbuster IPO. He went on to launch a weight-loss and nutrition app called foodtweaks and LabTV, an online video platform for medical scientists. His latest venture, Upside Travel, returned him to the travel category; it rewards business travelers with gift cards if they’re flexible in scheduling their flights and hotels. All told, Walker says he’s named on 700 issued or pending U.S. and international patents, which makes him the world’s 11th most patented inventor alive.
So in addition to commenting on the difficulty of harvesting imagination, he also provided insight into how it can—in fact—be fostered.
“What are the characteristics of a society that makes it a fertile place for imagination and innovation?” Alan Murray, chief content officer for Fortune publisher Time Inc, asked Walker in an interview.
It’s about “about rejecting the old,” Walker replied. “It’s about saying, ‘I have a new idea.’ If your idea is, ‘I know everything,’ then you’re not going to innovate. If your idea is, ‘The world has nothing to teach me,’ you’re not going to innovate.”
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on LeadershipSee all
Natalie Pierce and Maria Sol Adaime Gabris
July 11, 2024
Andre Hoffmann, Nolita Thina Mvunelo and Felix Rüdiger
July 10, 2024
Natalie Pierce
July 10, 2024
Ionica Berevoescu, Julie Ballington and Lana Ačkar
June 24, 2024
Gareth Francis
June 21, 2024
Pim Valdre and Nicolas Salomon
June 19, 2024