Howard Wright - 100 Great Innovation Ideas

Copyright 2012 Howard Wright

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Weekly innovation activity list

Theres a way to do it better, find it.

There are many different theories that explain what innovation really is: radical, breakthrough, disruptive, incremental, open, hybrid are just a few that are discussed in the numerous books, websites and academic journals available today. There are arguments stating that an innovation has to have a disruptive effect to qualify as innovative; others argue that any change, as long as it is measurable, can be considered an innovation.

These different interpretations of innovation are typically based on perception as there is no definitive definition of the word which has become synonymous with new and change, although it can just as easily be applied to incremental and evolution. It is an inspirational word with many connotations and associations, and companies around the world include it in their marketing materials as well as in their reports and accounts. How individuals and companies define innovation can have a dramatic affect on how they measure success.

When every new product or service claims to be innovative, it becomes difficult to say what innovation really is. Simply stating that a new product/service/business model is innovative without a definitive definition makes it difficult to assess whether the assertion is true or merely a rehash of the old.

A quick search on Amazon (UK) brings up over 45,000 titles in hardcover, and more than 112,000 titles overall, that contain the word innovation. A Google search reveals 70 million websites that refer to the definition of innovation. Clearly, everyone seems to be talking about it but there seems to be a high degree of ambiguity and misunderstanding about the topic.

To try to make things a little clearer, I have put together six approaches that seem to be in common usage around the world.

Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.

For many, innovation is about invention and this is reflected in the Oxford English Dictionarys definition:

The introduction of novelties; the alteration of what is established by the introduction of new elements or forms. A change made in the nature or fashion of anything; something newly introduced; a novel practice, method, etc. The action of introducing a new product into the market; a product newly brought on to the market.

Although invention is clearly an element of innovation, it is only a part of it and the real benefits from innovation activities come from implementation making something real and deriving some form of value from the idea.

There is however, some confusion about the difference between innovation and creativity. Are they the same or fundamentally different? I like to use the Attitude Skill and Knowledge (ASK) Diagram, which attempts to identify the dimensions of these two areas.

The diagram shows that to be creative you do not need a huge amount of knowledge, just the skill to understand and apply the various techniques, and an attitude that allows you to do so. Anyone can come up with a new design for a car or a stamp, but without applying it, it would be just an idea.

Alternatively, it can be argued that innovativeness requires some knowledge about the industry, as it is the different applications of this knowledge that can make the breakthrough innovative.

To me, innovation is not a skill; it cannot be taught the way creativity techniques can. Instead it is more a state of mind, an attitude that allows people to use the knowledge and experience they have in new ways. The ability to find new ways of doing things is present in all of us, but it is the confidence to do something about it that sets true innovators apart from the rest.

Future economic prosperity depends on building a new, stronger foundation and recapturing the spirit of innovation.

It is sometimes argued that innovation is not radical but instead denotes incremental improvements that can be capitalised on and turned into significant change for the organisation a bottom up approach. An example of this is Apple Inc. instead of inventing new things, Apple took a completely different view towards what was already there. For instance, it took the MP3 player and used its flair for design to create the iPod; similarly the iPad built on the existing tablet computers.

Innovation is one of those activities that seems to go in and out of fashion, with companies investing and de-investing on a regular basis. When in vogue everything and everyone claims to be innovative.