We need to very urgently grow a culture of innovative futures thinking between private, public and academic sectors by contextualising ‘What, So What, Now What’. South Africans are very innovative by nature, yet as a country we are not doing too well and we need to look at ways to increase our ability to innovate to overcome problems such as poverty, unemployment, education, health and environmental challenges. But innovation does not just happen – it needs to be designed with a purpose and in context!