Nairobi, Aug. 18 -- We often assume innovation needs freedom. Remove the barriers, reduce the rules and let creative people build. It sounds logical. Yet some of the most interesting innovations emerge when the opposite happens: someone is told there is a boundary they cannot cross, and that limitation forces them to find a better route.

That is the counterintuitive power of constraints, the boundary that appears to restrict innovation can sometimes create the conditions for it. Regulation can create a clearly defined problem that did not previously have an obvious owner. It can force organisations to rethink inefficient processes, develop new technologies and discover opportunities hidden inside compliance requirements.

The important d...