What is Not Innovation
There is an etymological and terminological significant difference between innovation, creativity, invention, discovery, research and development (R&D). They have an area of intersection, but their expected results are different.
We should look at these terms closer to understand better. ‘Discovery’ means the act of finding something that had not been known before. ‘Invention’ means that something that has never been made before. ‘Creativity’ means produce concepts, forms, original ideas which are fed by imagination. ‘R&D’ means an organization that produce information which is used for improving a new service, technology, product, or system. Inventions may appear as a result of the R&D activities but, inventions do not have to only target. It? needs to explain innovation which is more than R&D and invention’s process. It means a transformation of the new inventions and ideas to products and services. If there is no product which delivered to the customer and earns income, then there is no innovation. Throughout the human history, thousands of inventions could not transform to innovation.
The most resembling two terms are R&D and innovation. R&D is not done just to improve a product; but they are also for producing a social benefit. Innovations are fed from R&D, but R&D never guarantees innovation. R&D is part of innovation journey, even if it is not the part of it.
We should evaluate the innovation in the context of the business and market. The purpose is to generate value thus yield profit and produce growth wave. R&D involves range of practices which needs high engineering and generally focus on technical competence and output. Innovation focuses on the value offered to the consumer and income after this value is delivered which is the most important performance criteria.
Innovation is possible not only by creating a new product, but also by making little touches on it. We can release the same product with only changing its business model. We can do innovation sometimes by changing the business process, improving the business model or marketing activities. Today especially, experience design, unique experience and experience marketing are the most critical areas of innovation.
What is the starting point of our article? What is not innovation?
Invention is not an innovation. To be an innovation, invention must transform a product and customers must pay for it. Creativity is not an innovation. Creativity is a factor of triggering the innovation. Discovery is not an innovation, but they can cause an innovation. For instance, killing bacteria by fungus is a discovery, on the other hand, developing antibiotics and sealing our brand is an innovation. R&D is not an innovation. There is an important difference between them. The definition of effective innovation is the value offered to the customer rather than the functionality of the product.
After comprehending ‘what is not an innovation’, we can properly evaluate the innovation decision. Thus, companies can go through this transformation.