Is Innovation Reaching the Tipping Point to Next Level

In Pursuit of Innovative Perspective of Innovation. 

We all know innovation is important because it is the lifeblood of any business. But compare upcoming digital era to previous industrial era, is innovation becoming more important or less, does the content or context of innovation stay the same or be different, is innovation trying to reach the next level, but what is the tipping point?

Innovation has more enriched context today than ever: Innovation is the process that transforms novel idea or knowledge into business value. The output from the process is the innovation. The exercise of deciding  just what innovation is within each organization IS the single most critical activity of an innovation effort. Because how an organization orchestrates to generate ideas, manages the activities, measures the results, etc. is determined by how that organization has decided to craft the innovation effort. There are many areas within a company where the innovation process can be applied to create value, from communication innovation to culture innovation, from process innovation to business model innovation; from product innovation to service innovation, the innovation context goes beyond the traditional scope, and innovation is not just your R&D department's business anymore. 

Digital organizations reach the tipping point of the new level of innovation flow. Companies have always had a flow of innovation, a flow sufficient for the needs of the company at that time. What has happened is that the flow from "before" is no longer sufficient to address the business challenges of today. Hence, the importance of innovation has increased as business has the pressure to get more and better innovation. At the tipping point, the processes for innovation will catch up to the business need. By then the flow of innovation will have reached a new level, a level that can address the business challenges.

Innovation becomes simply "creating value by solving simple or complex problems." Opportunities for innovation tend to present itself when people are struggling with something. The luggage example provides a great example of a situation where people were struggling with their luggage while traveling; the new design of luggage with wheels is an innovation to solve such problems. Another example would be geared on a bicycle. In the past,  there was one gear, and it’s hard to get going uphill in the one gear. The innovative business person took that opportunity to develop additional gears, which made it easier to go uphill in lower or higher gear. As we can see, innovation can address both simple and complex problems we face today.

Why is innovation important or even more important whereas technology becomes more advanced? Because innovation is the core activity of human evolution to changing of the environment to reach performance for profit, for saving of resources, for the satisfaction of users, etc. The speed of change is expedited, so does the speed of innovation.

The relevant concept comparison: 

Research is the ability to transform any information into knowledge. The invention is the ability to transform any knowledge into technical performance. Innovation is the ability to transform any knowledge into society performance.

Today, innovation can happen anywhere, anytime; it expands both horizontally and vertically. It’s the state of mind to think and do things from a new angle, it’s business’s unique capabilities to gain a competitive advantage in the face of fierce competition and business dynamic. 

Posted in: Innovation