What Is and What Isn’t Innovation? 2040’s Ideas and Innovations Newsletter, Issue 124

Issue 124, August 31, 2023

Innovation is one of the most hackneyed, misinterpreted, and overused buzzwords in today’s business vocabulary. Ask anyone – including yourself – to define innovation in context of the strategy and operations of doing business in the ever-changing digital economy. You may struggle to define it and asking others will often result in wildly different responses.

We did a straw poll to see what the general consensus was on what innovation means. Here are just a few interpretations:

• Thinking differently

• Thinking outside the box

• Imagination

• Being creative

• Discovery

• Connecting the dots

• Breakthrough

• Holistic vision

• Invention

Practical Innovation

However you define it, innovation requires a blend of ingenuity, timing, and often dumb luck. The closest synonym is transformation (another widely defined term that implies forward progress). But, using transformation still doesn’t quite capture all the nuances of innovation. And without innovation, an organization is doomed to irreleva…