What does innovation mean?

Innovation can refer to something new, such as an invention, or the practice of developing and
introducing new things.

An innovation is often a new product, but it can also be a new way of doing something or even a
new way of thinking. Innovation is most commonly associated with business and technology, but
it happens in any field where people introduce change, including the arts, medicine, politics,
cooking, language—even philosophy and religion.

Example: The internet changed society and is often considered the ultimate example of
innovation, but it was built on the backs of many smaller, previous innovations.

The word “innovation” is derived from the Latin verb innovare, which means to renew. In
essence, the word has retained its meaning up until today. Innovation means to improve or to
replace something, for example, a process, a product, or a service. In the context of companies,
however, the term needs a definition. In the complex context of business, a definition is needed.

Innovation is a process by which a domain, a product, or a service is renewed and brought up to

date by applying new processes, introducing new techniques, or establishing successful ideas to
create new value.

NEED OF INNOVATION IN REAL LIFE:

 Innovation drives to find new opportunities
 It encourage for personal growth
 It boosts creativity and confidence
 It work with technology

NEED OF INNOVATION FOR BUSINESS:

 Solve complex problem
 Increase productivity
 Bring uniqueness and nobility to business process
 It gives a competitive advantages
 Reduce cost and increase revenue

TYPES OF INNOVATION:
1. Incremental innovation
Incremental innovation, also known as continuous improvement, refers to improving a product
or service that already exists. It is less ‘spectacular’ and disruptive than other types of
innovation, but incremental innovation is effective when addressing transformation issues within
the company.

Moreover, incremental innovation is especially powerful thanks to its collaborative and

collective nature. Value-creating ideas often come from client-facing employees, those that talk
with customers on a daily basis. In addition, successful human resource development leaders
have made it an asset to building a collective culture of improvement. The iPhone is a good
example of incremental innovation, going from the iPhone 13 to the 14 and beyond.

To unleash the value of incremental innovation, you must have an idea management solution in
place. Our platform helps corporates engage talent, collect and assess ideas in a central hub and
integrates with systems through API.

2. Adjacent innovation
Adjacent innovation is a typical example of a successful expansion. It refers to using existing
capabilities (like technology or knowledge) to appeal to a new audience or enter a new market.
This provides a competitive advantage to the original product or service that allows it to be
differentiated in the market.

Let’s illustrate the concept of adjacent innovation. Big companies want to integrate
groundbreaking products and services into their portfolio. Rather than developing solutions
themselves, they’ll look at their startups ecosystems. They will use startup scouting programs to
identify existing technologies, buy them and integrate it in their own portfolio.

3. Disruptive innovation
Disruptive innovation refers to the actions taken by a smaller company to shake up an industry
by targeting its large, existing competitors’ overlooked segments.

Over time, the disruptive innovation party will accelerate and start taking over the main
segments of the industry. When the adoption of the new innovation by the main segment
happens, we speak of disruptive innovation.

Netflix is a very good example of disruptive innovation. The company started out by targeting a
less essential segment of Blockbuster’s audience with its relatively unpopular offer of mailing
rental DVDs. They then moved on to improve its services while keeping a low price, which
appealed to and conquered Blockbuster’s main audience completely.

4. Radical innovation
Radical innovation is an invention that destroys or supplants an existing business model. Unlike
architectural or incremental innovation, radical innovation blows up the existing system or
process and replaces it with something entirely new.
Radical innovation has been around almost as long as there are people on the planet. Examples
include the invention of the wheel, modern farming equipment in today's farming industry, and
of course the washing machine. All these examples were at one point in time a new technology,
which could change our lives forever.

Meaning of Creativity:

Creativity is about creation. It’s about harnessing the power of the mind to conceive new ideas,
products plans, thought experiments, tastes, sensations or art. Creativity can be a form of
expression or a way of solving problems. Anyone can be creative, and in any context. There’s
creativity in the marketing department, just as there can be creativity on a football pitch.

Creativity has traditionally been left to those ‘wacky’ companies that are deliberately trying to do
things differently, with the majority of businesses tending to favour a traditional and monotone
approach to running their organizations. However, the changing business landscape means that
companies are beginning to consider a more creative approach to working.

Need of creativity

Creativity can help a company manage tasks, improve staff performance and create quality
products. It is also vital in fostering a likeable and aspirational company image. With consumers
now able to get a snapshot of what company life is like, businesses need to be able to depict their
inner culture in a way that makes it seem appealing.

As new technologies continue to develop and become available, companies have to be flexible
and able to keep up to date. Creativity allows them to easily identify new ways in which
technology can be applied to help their businesses. Likewise, with social media and other
interactive forms of marketing now available, it’s never been more important for companies to
be able to be creative.

Allowing employees to be more creative can inspire them to come up with more interesting ideas
as well as improve their overall output. Many of the world’s leading companies have started to
adopt unorthodox methods of encouraging maximum creativity from their employees, such as
sleeping pods and flexible working areas.

Process of Creativity:

Stage One: Preparation

The preparation stage is the brainstorming stage. By letting your mind wander and finding
inspiration, you can plant the seeds for your great ideas. Your inspiration can be as specific as
looking at work from other artists or writers who you admire or as abstract as simply taking in
the world around you. This is where you gather the material to put together your ideas.

Stage Two: Incubation

While it may seem counterproductive at first, the second stage of the creative process is walking
away from all of the brainstorming that you have just done. While you take a break from your
ideas and do something else, your subconscious continues to mold all of the prepared
information into your new idea.

Stage Three: Illumination

This is the stage that everyone likes the most: the “Eureka!” moment. This is the moment where
your solution or idea moves from your subconscious to the forefront of your mind. Contrary to
many stories we hear, this doesn’t have to be anything dramatic. Your idea may come to you
while you are eating breakfast, doing laundry, or even studying for an exam. Suddenly, you
know what the next verse of your song should be, how your book should end, or what the
solution is to your problem.

Stage Four: Evaluation

After the initial idea has been generated, this stage involves thinking critically about the new idea
and weighing it against other solutions. You may seek feedback from peers, conduct marketing
research to test the idea, or compare it to the original problem to see if it really works as a
solution. After this stage, you will either return to stages one and two if the idea does not hold up
or continue ahead with confidence in this idea. Don’t stress though! Not every idea is going to be
great, but that doesn’t mean the next one won’t be.

Stage Five: Verification

The final stage of the process is where you bring your idea to fruition. This is where you actually
write your story, paint your picture, or create your new invention. You are finally ready to share
your new idea with the world.

Types of creativity:

1. Deliberate and Cognitive creativity

People who possess deliberate and cognitive characteristics are purposeful. They have a great
amount of knowledge about a particular subject and combine their skills and capabilities to
prepare a course of action to achieve something. This type of creativity built when people work
for a very long time in a particular area.

People who fall under this type of category of creativity are usually proficient at research,
problem- solving, investigation and experimentation. This type of creativity is located in the
brain’s prefrontal cortex, which is at the front part of the brain. These types of creative people
spend a great deal of time every single day testing to develop new solutions.

Thomas Alva Edison is one prominent example of this type of creative people. He ran
experiment after experiment before inventing electricity, the light bulb, and telecommunication.
Hence, deliberate and cognitive creativity requires a great deal of time, dedication and
abundance of knowledge about a particular subject.

2. Deliberate and Emotional Creativity

People who are categorized as deliberate and emotional let their work influenced by their state of
emotions. These types of creative people are very emotional and sensitive in nature. These
individuals prefer relatively quiet and personal time to reflect and they usually have a habit of
diary writing. However, they are equally logical and rational in decision making.

Their creativity is always a balanced product of deliberate emotional thinking and logical
actions. This type of creativity is found in the amygdala and cingulate cortex parts of the human
brain. Amygdala is responsible for human emotions whereas cingulate cortex helps in learning
and information processing. This type of creativity happens to people at random moments. Those
moments are usually referred to as “a-ha!” moments when someone suddenly thinks of a solution
to some problem or think of some innovative idea.

For example, there are situations when you feel low and emotional which distracts you from your
work. In those kinds of situations, you should take 5 minutes and point out the things which are
making you sad and keep them aside and focus on the work in hand. It will help you to get
improvised results and you will get work done easily. One should seek “quiet time” for
deliberate and emotional creativity to happen to them.

3. Spontaneous and Cognitive creativity

There are times when you spend a long time to crack a problem but can’t think of any solution.
For example, when you want to make a schedule for a month to get a job done, but you can’t
seem to think of any possible way and when you are watching television and having your relaxed
time and suddenly you think of a solution and everything falls in place. The same case happened
with the great scientist Isaac Newton. He got the idea about the law of gravity when an apple hit
his head while he was sitting under a tree and relaxing.
This is the “Eureka!” moments for Newton and an excellent example of a spontaneous and
cognitive person. This type of creativity happens when one has the knowledge to get a particular
job done, but he requires inspiration and a hint to walk towards the right path. This type of
creativity usually happens at the most inconvenient time, such as, when you are in bed with your
partner or having a shower. Spontaneous and cognitive creativity takes place when the conscious
mind stops working and go to relax and unconscious mind gets a chance to work.

Mostly, this type of creative person stops conscious thinking when they need to do “out of the
box” thinking. By indulging in different and unrelated activities, the unconscious mind gets a
chance to connect information in new ways which provide solutions to the problems. Therefore,
to let this type of creativity happen one should take a break from the problem and get away to let
conscious mind overtake.

4. Spontaneous and Emotional Creativity

Spontaneous and emotional creativity takes place in the “amygdala” part of the human brain.
Amygdala is responsible for all emotional type of thinking in the human brain. Spontaneous
ideas and creativity happen when conscious and Prefrontal brain is resting. This type of
creativity is mostly found in a great artist such as musicians, painters, and writers etc. This type
of creativity is also related to “epiphanies”.

Epiphany is a sudden realization of something. Spontaneous and emotional creativity is

responsible for a scientific breakthrough, religious and also philosophical discoveries. This
allows the enlightened person to look at a problem or situation with a different and deeper
viewpoint.

Those moments are defined as rare moments when great discoveries take place. There is no need
to have specific knowledge for “spontaneous and emotional” creativity to happen but there
should be a skill such as writing, musical or artistic. This type of creativity can’t be obtained by
working on it.

Innovation Creativity
Basis of difference

Innovation is the exercise

to create something new
Definition Creativity is the capacity to make or think up something uncommon or original.
which already has a large
value to others.

Innovation acts by putting

Their actions Creativity acts by delivering unique ideas.
those new ideas in reality.

Measurable Easy to measure. Hard to measure.

Innovation can cause

Liability liability as the idea Creativity doesn’t carry liability as it is just a thought or idea.
becomes reality.

Every innovation is a result

Expression Not every creativity conforms to innovation.
of creativity.

Process Productive Imaginative

Quantifiable Yes No

Related to Introducing something new Thinking something new

Money
Yes No
Consumption

Risk Yes No
Role of innovation and creativity Industry and organizations:
 Creativity boosts business reputation.
In competitive market nowadays, entrepreneurs with same feature of product selling need to
find the different and appealing to attract customers. The product and services for certain
business should be able to distinguish. Creative entrepreneurs must be able to value add the
speciality in their product and services. The specialities could attract customer and
remarkable. However, to keep the reputation run for long time creativity need to innovate
from time to time without losing it touch and originality.
 Creativity source of business survival
Competitive market nowadays required entrepreneur to be creative for not left behind. It is
essential for business environment to compete in an increasingly challenging world at the
moment. The values of creativity is vital for competitors who constantly producing
innovative products or services accordance with the current development. As people
nowadays are demand for changing, the pattern of customers to some extent slightly changes.
Take for example, grocery shopping. Some of the enterprise has made it easy and creative for
the customer to do their grocery shopping. One of the ways is through online shopping and
the groceries will deliver right to their home. This kind of creativity lead the entrepreneur to
be known and stay survive in tough competitive.
 Creativity spurs to entrepreneurial quality
The advantage by taking creativity as priority leads the entrepreneurial towards better quality.
Creativity required one’s to solve the problem occur and need to come with relevant and
reliable solution. Entrepreneur need to think out of box to enhance the entrepreneurial
qualities.
 Creating new ideas for competitive advantages
The whole process of entrepreneurship itself rooted in creation and exploration of creating
and explores new ideas. Creative entrepreneur creates new products for existing services and
product.
 Thinking of novel ways to develop your product and improve the business
There is always an opportunity for improvement in the deliverables of an enterprise.
Creativity and innovation helps develop new ways of improving an existing product or
service to optimize the business. This also allows entrepreneurs to think outside the box and
beyond the traditional solutions. Through this opportunity new, interesting, potential yet
versatile idea come up.
 Finding similar patterns in different areas
Creative people would sometime able to connect dissimilar and unrelated subject and make
successful entrepreneurial ideas. Interesting ideas could come from colliding different fields.
 Creativity is problem solving
In developing new strategies to keep the business running competitively, creative problem
solving provides a competitive advantage that every business wants to achieve. The need for
creative problem solving arises because more management needs critical insight to find a
suitable and viable solution whenever it happens.
Dynamics of Creative Thinking
Creative thinking means thinking outside the box. Often, creativity involves lateral thinking,
which is the ability to perceive patterns that are not obvious.

Creative thinking might mean devising new ways to carry out tasks, solve problems, and meet
challenges. It means bringing a fresh, and sometimes unorthodox, perspective to your work. This
way of thinking can help departments and organizations be more productive.

Evolution, synthesis, revolution, reapplication, changing direction. Many classic creative

thinking techniques make use of one or more of these methods. Note in this section that the goal
is to produce a good quantity and a good quality of new ideas and solutions so that the best ones
may be chosen. Exactly how those ideas are generated is less important than the ideas
themselves. Remember, the goal is more important than the path.

Creativity = surprise + originality + beauty + utility

Brainstorming

Alex Osborn, advertising writer of the fifties and sixties, has contributed many very powerful
creative thinking techniques. Brainstorming is probably the best known and certainly one of the
most powerful. For a fuller treatment, see his book, Applied Imagination.

Brainstorming is an idea generating technique. Its main goals are:

(1) to break us out of our habit-bound thinking:

(2) to produce a set of ideas from which we can choose. (No one wants to have a choice of only
one product when buying laundry detergent or cars, so why have a choice of only one solution
when working on a problem?)

Convergent thinking is measured by tests like remote associations test or insight problems. These
problems are solved when you apply one of the methods below:

1. Make a unique association between parts of the problem. This looks again
similar to flexibility or how fluid is your categorisation schema enabling you to
think out of the box and not be limited by typical categories or associations.
2. Take a novel approach (and not the typical approach) to problem-solving. To
me, this again looks similar to originality.
3. See the problem from a different perspective. To me, this looks like how
quickly you can adopt multiple perspectives the speed with which you can take
alternate perspectives and is similar to fluency.
Formal Creative Thinking

It is possible to think creatively all the time. There are some people who simply fizz with new
ideas and seem to see everything slightly differently from those around them.

These are the people who are always asking ‘Why?’, and ‘Why not?’.

They are natural problem-solvers and innovators.

However, for most people, creative thinking requires more effort. They prefer to save their
creative thinking for when it is really necessary.

Typical examples of times when you might take the time to use creative thinking techniques
include:

 When you are facing a major problem or issue, and you cannot see an obvious
way forward.
 At times of change, when it is hard to see what might lie ahead, and you want
to think about possible scenarios.
 When there is a lot of disagreement about what needs to happen next, and no
compromise seems possible without a lot of effort.
 When you need something new, that hasn’t been tried before, but you are not
sure what.

Dynamics of Creative Thinking

Creative thinking is expressed in several ways. Here are some of the types of creative thinking
you might see in the workplace.

Analysis

Before thinking creatively about something, you first have to be able to understand it. This
requires the ability to examine things carefully to know what they mean. Whether you are
looking at a text, a data set, a lesson plan, or an equation, you need to be able to analyze it first.

Open-Mindedness

To think creatively, set aside any assumptions or biases you may have, and look at things in a
completely new way. By coming to a problem with an open mind, you allow yourself the chance
to think creatively.
Problem-Solving

Employers want creative employees who will help them to solve work-related issues. When
faced with a problem, consider ways that you can solve it before asking for help. If you need the
input of a manager, suggest solutions rather than just presenting problems.

Organization

This might seem counterintuitive: Aren’t creative people known for being somewhat
disorganized? Actually, organization is an essential part of creativity. While you might need to
get a bit messy when trying out a new idea, you need to organize your ideas so others will
understand and follow through with your vision.

Communication

People will only appreciate your creative idea or solution if you communicate it effectively. You
need to have strong written and oral communication skills.

Also need to be able to understand a situation fully before thinking creatively about it. That
means you also need to be a good listener. You may come up with a unique solution by asking
the right questions and listening to the answers.

Meaning of design thinking:

Design thinking is an extension of innovation that allows you to design solutions for end users
with a single problem statement in mind. It not only imparts valuable skills but can help advance
your career. It's also a collaborative endeavor that can only be mastered through practice with
peers.

Design thinking is the process of analyzing the problems with a product or service and
developing creative solutions for them. This strategy enables a business to improve its products
and services and enhance operational efficiency.

Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge
assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.
Process of design thinking:

Empathy: Research about your user need

At this stage in the design thinking methodology, designers sit down with real people and absorb
their points of view, world, and introspections without bias.

Without attempting to master empathy, designers face an uphill climb when solving human-
centric problems. When designing a product or service, empathy in design thinking builds a
crucial and necessary bridge between the target user or audience and the product, project, or
service being designed.

Define: State Your Users’ Needs and Problems

It’s time to accumulate the information gathered during the Empathize stage. You then analyze
your observations and synthesize them to define the core problems you and your team have
identified. These definitions are called problem statements. You can create personas to help keep
your efforts human-centered before proceeding to ideation.

Ideation: Challenge assumption and problems create and generate idea

The ideation stage leans heavily on the ability to invent. Designers who have captured the human
experience fully during the empathy stage set out to ideate around creative solutions for solving
the defined problem. Thinking outside the box is the name of the game, as, during this stage,
designers often don’t worry about budget or scalability.

At this point, designers should have a workable understanding of their user base, so this is an
excellent time to get creative and not dwell too much on limitations. An example of a popular
technique in the ideation phase is an exercise called “worst possible idea.” By inverting the
search for a solution into a brainstorm of what would not work, this process sets the design team
up for success by helping build up trust and confidence. Since no idea can technically be
“wrong” in this process, designers build up good practices of sharing their thoughts with
confidence.

Prototype: Start to Create Solutions

This is an experimental phase. The aim is to identify the best possible solution for each problem
found. Your team should produce some inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product (or
specific features found within the product) to investigate the ideas you’ve generated. This could
involve simply paper prototyping.
Test: Try your solution

he testing stage of the design thinking process requires real users to generate real data. However,
the final stage of design thinking is not necessarily the last thing designers will do. Remember,
design thinking is built upon a foundation of iteration, so many designers roll out multiple
prototypes to test different change factors within their idea. Without a comprehensive testing
stage, user experiences and solutions have difficulty scaling.

Testing is often an iterative process. Designers can expect to go through a series of changes,
edits, and refinements during the testing stage. For this reason, it’s not uncommon for the testing
phase to “restart” some other design thinking processes such as ideation or testing, as newfound
ideas might spark additional potential solutions that require an entirely fresh approach.

Importance of design thinking:

1. Human-Centric Approach: Design thinking places the needs and preferences of users at the center
of the problem-solving process. This focus on empathy helps in creating products, services, or
solutions that truly meet user needs and provide a better user experience.
2. Innovation and Creativity: Design thinking encourages a creative and iterative approach to
problem-solving. It emphasizes brainstorming, ideation, and prototyping, which can lead to
innovative and out-of-the-box solutions.
3. Problem Complexity: In today's fast-paced and interconnected world, many problems are
multifaceted and complex. Design thinking helps break down these complex issues into
manageable parts, making it easier to address them systematically.
4. Adaptability: Design thinking is a flexible and adaptable approach that can be applied to a wide
range of challenges, from product design to business strategy. It can be tailored to suit the unique
needs of each project or problem.
5. Collaboration: Design thinking encourages collaboration among multidisciplinary teams. By
bringing together individuals with different skills, backgrounds, and perspectives, it fosters
diverse thinking and cross-functional problem-solving.
6. Iterative Process: The iterative nature of design thinking means that solutions are constantly
refined and improved through feedback and testing. This reduces the risk of investing resources
in solutions that don't work.
7. Customer-Centric Innovation: Design thinking helps organizations create products and services
that resonate with their target audience. This customer-centric approach can lead to increased
customer loyalty and market competitiveness.
8. Reduced Risk: By validating and testing ideas early in the design process, design thinking can
help organizations avoid costly mistakes and reduce the risk of product or project failure.
9. Continuous Improvement: Design thinking promotes a culture of continuous improvement, where
organizations are always seeking ways to enhance their offerings and processes.
10. Problem Identification: Design thinking places a strong emphasis on problem framing and
understanding the root causes of issues. This can prevent organizations from addressing
symptoms rather than the underlying problems.
 11. Enhanced Decision-Making: Design thinking encourages data-driven decision-making and
evidence-based design choices, reducing the reliance on assumptions and gut feelings.
12. Increased Engagement: When teams are engaged in the design thinking process, they often feel
more connected to the work they are doing, leading to higher job satisfaction and motivation

The four phases of innovation:

 Opportunity Identification: Ideation, finding great ideas, concept

development;
 Opportunity Development: Market research, strategy development,
developing, testing and piloting those ideas into the new product, service,
program or business;
 Scaling Up: Launching the innovation, testing and validating that systems and
processes are ready to scale;
 Growth: Delivering the innovation at scale, driving growth so that the
innovation is sustainable and merges successfully into the organisation.

Implementing the process of design thinking in driving innovation:

1. Identifying the challenge and opportunity: Start by selecting a specific challenge
problem and opportunity that you want to address through innovation and ensure that it is
a relevant and meaningful issue.
2. Define the problem: Based on insights gained from identifying the opportunity and
problem , clearly define the problem you are trying to solve. Use problem statements that
are human centric and focus on root causes of issues.
3. Ideate: Encourage creative brainstorming sessions to generate a wide range of ideas for
solving the problem. Avoid judgement and criticism during this phase to foster a free
flow of ideas.
4. Prototype: Create a rough frame of your idea it can be as simple as sketches, paper
models, or digital wireframes.
5. Test: Put your prototype in front of end users to gather feedback. This step helps you
validate or refine your ideas based on real life insights.
6. Implement and scale: Once you have a validated solution work on implementing it in
the market and also scale the difference between desired result from actual result.
7. Evaluate and Learn: After implementing continuously monitor and evaluate the impact
of innovation and learn the mistake, variation between the actual and desired result also
rectify the mistake.
8. Cultivate a Culture of innovation: To drive ongoing innovation, foster a culture that
encourage and rewards creativity experimentation and learning from failures. Develop a
culture of innovation for the growth of company.
9. Share success stories: Communicate the success and lessons learned from your
innovation initiatives throughout your organization. Sharing success story can inspire and
motivate others to embrace this approach.
10. Provide training and resources : Offer training and resources to help employees and
team to develop their design thinking and innovation skills.