Here is an excerpt from an article by Brian Solis for LinkedIn Pulse. To read the complete article and check out others, please click here.

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This year, I was invited to present at the annual LeWeb conference in Paris where entrepreneurs, geeks, investors, and brands assemble to discuss the state and future of tech. Having celebrated its 10th anniversary, I was asked to focus my presentation on “The Next 10 Years.” The ability to see the future is a gift. Rather than predict it, I decided to consider what it should be.

I believe that the next 10 years is a decade that must be willed instead of unveiled. I believe that the next 10 years will be fueled by innovation that disrupts thinking, behavior and markets.

As a digital analyst, my work focuses on studying disruptive technology and its impact on business. I also study disruptive technology’s affect on consumer behavior. I live in Silicon Valley but I spend most of my time visiting hubs of innovation around the world. And, I’m happy to see that innovation and the spirit of entrepreneurialism is wildly spreading. While in Paris for Le Web as an example, I spent time with Fleur Pellerin, Minister Delegate with responsibility for Small and Medium Enterprises, Innovation, and the Digital Economy. Her mission is to make France the epicenter for innovation in Europe. Indeed there are now many other champions for innovation globally and specifically in Europe that will give France a good race. But it is this race that is important.

This is a time for global innovation and disruptive ideas, but they need a supporting and nurturing ecosystem.

Every day, I am pitched by startups hoping to change the world and some actually do. Lately however, it seems that many entrepreneurs are confusing creativity with innovation. Now more than ever, I see apps, services, and companies that are uninspired or uninspiring. While this itself is not a problem, the fact that many of these ideas are funded creates a benchmark for mediocrity.

While clever or interesting, more than a fair share of ideas are not original, unusual, experimental or grand enough to will the next 10 years in a direction that fulfills its true potential. In the grand ecosystem of innovation, most ideas are infrequently innovative and as a result, waves of potential disruption are erratic or fleeting. Ideas are a commodity these days. The next 10 years will be defined by those who do more than innovate. The future lies in the hands of those who disrupt markets and industries. But, often innovation and disruption are not linked together.

Our world and the way we live in it is in desperate need of either an upgrade, reboot or complete refresh. This is a time to think bigger. This is a time to not just create but innovate. The future takes architecture and for that we need architects who see the world for what it has the potential to be.

This is a time when anything and everything can be re-imagined. The way things are doesn’t necessarily reflect the way things ought to be. We have an opportunity to change the world and it starts with the way we see it for what it is and what we can make of it.

The Dilemma’s Innovator

I think back to Clay Christensen’s landmark book, The Innovator’s Dilemma. In it, Christensen shared his framework for helping companies build a process around internal disruption to stay competitive and survive digital Darwinism. Lately, I’ve found myself aligning disruption with problem solving or opportunity creation. The journey to innovation here begins differently than it might if I started simply with a great idea.

I think back to Le Web 2008. It was cold and it snowed, not heavily but enough to disrupt the normal flow of traffic. The city practically shut down. As a result, getting a taxi from Les Docks where the event is hosted back into Paris proper was almost impossible. It was then that the idea for Uber was born as its CEO Travis Kalanick explains. Born out of necessity, Uber would solve a common problem. But it was more than the ability to order a car on demand. Uber’s true value proposition was that it created a platform where available drivers could easily connect with passengers via smart phones integrating payments, ratings, and commerce on one screen.

Uber was innovative indeed. But more so, Uber would go on to disrupt every market it entered. The cold winter day in Paris several years ago would eventually unfold into political battles in cities where governments or regulated unions were threatened by Uber’s digital competition. Could any of those industries have innovated in their own right? Absolutely. But they didn’t and therefore their world is being disrupted as a result. Now Uber’s model will serve as a foundation for additional “on demand” services. Disrupt or be disrupted!

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Here’s a direct link to the complete article.

Brian Solis is Principal Analyst, Altimeter Group, and author of What’s the Future of Business: Changing the Way Businesses Create Experiences.