Abstract: Google engineers are encouraged to take 20 percent of their time to work on something company-related that interests them personally. This means that „if you have a great idea, you always have time to run with it.”

Driver 

Social

Growing need to stimulate sense of auto-achievement and creativity on working spaces

Economic / Industrial

Related to similar tentatives to stimulate innovation in all departments of the company. This is actually empowering talented people, in order to bring their own best ideas to test and sometimes turn them into reality.

Design / Art

Current tendency to look for talented people outside innovation sectors. Design and creativity where you are not excepting them.

Obstacle

Social

The chance that engineers feel like “the company owns me” exists.

Economic / Industrial

What about the intellectual property of these “un-official projects”?

Indication

Change in current innovation patterns

Innovation may come from employees of a company; in this case, it’s strongly institutionalized by the company itself.

Sector specifics / cultural specifics

This weak signal is specific to any company with a high number of employees.

Source

Internet

www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/jobs/21pre.html