What is Innovation?

From http://dsinghtaru.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/levels-of-innovation/
by TARU Innovations, Davinder Singh Principal TARU Innovations


What is Innovation?

Is Innovation – ‘new to world’ or is it ‘anything new to business’ (and could be re application of an idea/concept used by some one else). Purists want to call it as ‘new to world’; something that no one else has done before; really original. Pragmatists tend to see differently- ‘reapplication is good’; do not re invent the wheel; find more uses; new to world is restrictive. The debate continues.

Many companies would want to have purists certify that they are truly innovative, but the business pragmatism require them not to lose an opportunity to reapply and gain.

Let me present a different perspective. It is probably more important to evaluate and classify ‘Ideas’ not on basis of new to world or company but on the basis of impact that they would have on the business and as a corollary the resources needed and the associated risk/reward equation.

The ‘Innovation Ideas’ can be

Incremental : they would lead to some gains albeit small ones. These are like small improvements that companies do to their products/services basis the small shifts in consumer needs or due to a better technology available to do the same work or just to bring a sense of ‘newness’ or change to address consumer fatgue. Things like new flavor, new shape of soap bar etc. would be typical examples of this. These require very little resources, no change in any process – sourcing, manufacturing, selling or marketing, has low risk and also less likely to have great rewards.

Substantial : in these the company would be making significant changes to its offering. Like moving from soap bars to shower gels; adding portfolio of still water drinks to carbonated drinks. The company needs to commit resources in devloping these. Add on technology for the new products is required. There would be changes required which could span not only production but also sourcing, selling and marketing. These changes would require organisation to make efforts but would largely be congruent with existing business. the risks would be there, due to new product category and changes mentioned. But the success would have the potential of great rewards – both top line and profits.

Transformational : This is pretty much like changing the skin. The company adds not just a new kind of product but also moves into new business. The move requires a BIG change across entire organisation. Like cosmetic company launching retail saloon via frianchising. The business model of new idea is entirely different from the existing business. The risk level is high. The resources needed are large and expensive. And success could take longer but when successful it can open a completely new revenue and profit stream. The company could also undergo transformation.

Now many companies and more importantly their senior managers would have to decide what they want, and how much can they do – i.e can they manage only those ideas which are ‘incremental’ or would they want to go for ’substantial’ and maybe even ‘transformational’.

This is where the Balancing the Innovaiton Portfolio comes into play. It makes sense to have enough incremental level ideas – to capture the low fruits and remain constantly relevant to consumers. Then it is as well required to have some ideas of the substantial level. These ensure that big opportunities in the existing business are captured and company can build/retain its competiitve advantage. It also allows company to secure its medium to long range business growth. If this is done and company still has the resources to pursue more innovation, have the risk appetite then they can look at transformational ideas. It is essential that company does not take on too many of these. The high resource requirement, high risk, high degree of change entailed and long time required for completion are the obvious reasons for this.

It is always more desirable to have a balance portfolio where in enough numbers of all levels of innovation ideas are pursued. This allows for better overall success and growth through Innovation.

Short Mindset Exercise from Ashley Mahaffey

This short video shows a fun exercise on how our mindset reacts in relation to the actions of others.



Source: http://ashleymahaffey.com/

Summery from the EU Commissions "Reviewing Community innovation policy in a changing world"

‘Innovation is the ability to take new ideas and translate them into commercial outcomes by using new processes, products or services in a way that is better and faster than the competition’

Innovation cannot be organised by decree. It comes from people, and only people, scientists, researchers, entrepreneurs and their employees, investors, consumers and public authorities — will make Europe more innovative. But they do not act in a vacuum. They act with a mindset and in a framework which either discourages or incites them to enter unknown territories.

Innovation is the precondition for the creation of a knowledge-based, low-carbon economy. Mastering this transformation is crucial to remain competitive in the globalised world and to achieve wider societal goals in a sustainable way under the pressure of demographic changes, the climate challenge, scarce resources and new security threats.

Innovation enables European industries to position themselves at the upper end of the global value chain, making Europe the world market leader in energy and resource efficient products and technologies and equipping us with the means needed for global action. Moreover, only in an environment that supports innovation can R&D efforts result in real gains.

That is why the re-launched Lisbon Partnership for growth and jobs has put innovation and entrepreneurship at the centre and called for decisive and more coherent action by the Community and the Member States. On this basis, an ambitious European innovation policy has been launched and the Small Business Act (SBA) has been agreed2. Thanks to this partnership approach, progress can today be reported. Almost all Member States have improved their innovation performance. The innovation gap between the EU and its key competitors, the US and Japan, has narrowed.

As new competitors are emerging and challenges are getting bigger, the EU must not only sustain the recent positive trend, but further improve it. While the economic crisis risks reducing available resources, from previous recessions, such as in the case of Finland, we know that prioritising investment in research and innovation is possible and can play a key role to enable a sustainable economic recovery.

The aim of this communication is to identify remaining gaps and propose policy orientations on how to fill them.

Institutional blindness

By Futurist conference keynote speaker Patrick Dixon




Institutional blindness thinking outside the box, radical innovation or just benchmarking against competitors. Reducing risk and issues in the credit crunch / sub-prime crisis. Convergence v divergence. Business strategy development and leadership insight. How to bring fresh perspectives into the organisation. Secrets of successful business and winning competitive advantage. Finding new approaches in marketing, banking and financial services. Innovative teams and new products, processes and services.

Innovate or DIE

Innovation is fundamental source of competitive advantage in business and is critical to organisations of all sizes and in all sectors. It changes our thinking and products, is a dynamic, complex and open process, and involves many players and parts of an organisation. Managing innovation requires a sound understanding of the nature of the innovation process, which has changed radically over recent years.

Entrepreneurial Mindset

by Dr. William LaCourse, Kauffman Fellow of Entrepreneurship

Bedre Innovation

Indlæg på bloggen Bedre Innovation:
(http://bedreinnovation.dk/indsatsomraade/uddannelse-l%C3%A6ring-og-kompetenceudvikling#comment-229)

Innovationshøjskolen

Målet med etablering af en højskole med fagligt fokus på innovation er, at fremme innovationskulturen.

I forbindelse med regeringens bestræbelser på at blive førende vækstiværksætternation i 2015 arbejder Videnskabsministeriet på at styrke den nuværende innovationsindsats med en ny strategi for uddannelse i iværksætteri, innovation og entreprenørskab.

Samtidig arbejder Økonomi- og Erhvervsministeriet med også med 3 vigtige områder for at skabe vækst, nemlig: kompetencer, kapital og kultur.

Ved at forbedre disse 3 områder vil regeringen skabe bedre muligheder for vækstiværksættere, som netop spiller en særlig rolle for væksten i økonomien. Det forholder sig således, at Vækstiværksættere har en produktivitet, der er 30-40 procent højere end gennemsnittet for alle virksomheder.

Innovationshøjskolens styrke er at påvirke kulturen, der er kendetegnet ved viljen og evnen til at tænke nyt, dvs. få en god idé, koble ideen sammen med en god forretningside og føre ideerne ud i livet og turde tage en risiko.

Målet for elevens ophold på Innovationshøjskolen er, at eleven kan indholdsudfylde Innovationshøjskolens fortolkning af innovation.

Det vil sige, at eleven skal forstå og omsætte i praksis de tre elementer, som Innovationshøjskolen definerer som innovation, nemlig:
· En god ide
· God forretningsforståelse og
· Igangsættende (at være proaktiv)

Innovationshøjskolen adskiller sig dermed fra den klassisk højskole, ved at satse målrettet på vidensformidling indenfor innovation samtidig med, at eleverne i deres videre forløb og virke får indarbejdet innovation som en naturlig del af sin forståelsesverden og almene dannelse.

Innovationshøjskolen henvender sig til unge og ældre, studerende, selvstændige, private- og offentlige ansatte som ønsker at lære mere om emnet innovation og ønsker at opbygge kompetencer til brug ’i den virkelige verden’.

Det nye og skelsættende ved Innovationshøjskolen er således den målrettet fokus på innovation i kombination med den klassiske højskoles mulighed for mangfoldighed og fordybelse, hvor eleven får mulighed for læring i et alsidigt og stærkt fagligt læringsmiljø, der sigter på at give eleven en almen forståelse og indsigt for og i innovation, således at eleven i sit videre forløb og virke har indarbejdet innovation som en naturlig del af sin forståelsesverden.

Innovationshøjskolen skal tilbyde lange og korte kurser samt undervisningstilbud af kortere varighed. Innovationshøjskolen skal samtidig være opsøgende både nationalt og internationalt og herigennem få ideer, kræfter og viden tilført.

Innovationshøjskolen vil fungere som en vidensbank indenfor innovation og vil dermed også være en informationskilde for andre undervisningsinstitutioner, organisationer og virksomheder.

Innovationshøjskolen skal ses som et instrument til at gøre Danmark til førende vækstiværksætternation. Derfor skal Innovationshøjskolen være et ’epicenter’, hvorfra viden om innovation spredes ud over landet og som samtidig er nemt for alle at lokalisere.