We have put “innovation” on a pedestal and we have mythologised it to the extent that we either fear it, or believe it is something beyond our means.
Innovation is a simple concept, and yet we make it unnecessarily difficult - describing it in overly complicated terms.
To understand innovation the following definitions are a useful.
The first is from the OECD (1994), an organization that includes both technical and organizational aspects in its definition – this is the definition reflected in most national frameworks. Thus, innovation is defined as: “any new products or processes and significant technological change in products and processes. An innovation has been implemented if it has been introduced to the market (product innovation) or used within a production process (process innovation). Innovations therefore involve a series of scientific, technological, organizational, financial and commercial activities.”
Richards (1985) defines innovation as the process through which new and valuable ideas are put into practice.
The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management (Dodgson, et. al. 2014) have a range of definitions, best described collectively as “Ideas, successfully applied ”.
INNOVATION = ideas SUCCESSFULLY applied.
Innovation would appear a simple concept. Nothing to be feared in that. We will benefit from getting back to understanding the concept.
Useful reading: Dodgson, Gann, and Phillips (2014) The Oxford Handbook of Innovation Management Oxford: ISBN: 9780199694945
OECD (1994), The Measurement of Scientific and Technological Activities (‘Frascati Manual’), OECD, Paris.