What types of “innovation” should markets and society value?
What types of products, services, and businesses can justifiably be labeled as “innovation”?
I mindlessly use the word “innovation” tens of times every single day without pausing enough to ponder these fundamental questions. Heck, I’ve helped architect a product called i3 for “insight into innovation”, regularly assist clients build “innovation sourcing” teams, and help host a conference with an “innovation showcase” (don’t forget to join us in San Francisco on March 26-28th!). I really should have a thoughtful opinion here.
On one hand, having spent most of my career as an entrepreneur, I think that there is a fair argument to be made that the answer to the question, “what is innovation?” should be “who cares about semantics!” Let’s go out and build new stuff. If it replaces the old stuff, makes for a profitable business, and nets a good return for investors, we can call it whatever we want.
On the other hand, I think we, especially in some corners of the U.S. entrepreneurial community, have forgotten what innovation truly looks like. Jon Gertner presents his case for a definition of “innovation” in this …
