Innovation Skill

Innovation Skill

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  21stCenturySkills 87 88 INNOVATION 08. Innovation
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  21stCenturySkills 89 90 INNOVATION What isInnovation? Innovation is the specific function of entrepre- neurship, whether in an existing business, a pub- lic service institution, or a new venture started by a lone individual in the family kitchen. It is the means by which the entrepreneur either creates new wealth-producing resources or endows exist- ing resources with enhanced potential for creating wealth. – Peter Drucker (Wiki) The words innovation and invention overlap semantically but are really quite distinct. • Invention can refer to a type of musical composition, a falsehood, a discovery, or any product of the imagination. The sense of invention most likely to be confused with innovation is “a device, contrivance, or process originated after study and experiment,” usually something which has not previously been in existence. 1. Description of Innovation What is it about? Innovation often takes place through the devel- opment of more- effective products, process- es, services, technologies, art works or business models that innovators make available to mar- kets, governments, and society. Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. – Wikipedia Which are the benefits? Why is it important? The importance of innovation in entrepreneur- ship is another key value for the longevity of a business. Entrepreneurs and businesses be- gan with a need. They saw the need within the community and they came up with a solution. Seizing the opportunity to innovate to make lives more comfortable. And these solutions kept evolving to make it better, easier and more useful. Entrepreneurs must keep themselves abreast with the current trends and demands. Small businesses see the importance of innovation in entrepreneurship. They were able to compete with large industries and see their value in the economy. Small businesses are important as they are directly involved in the community and therefore, contribute to their financial and eco- nomic gain. These small businesses know exact- ly what the community needs and fulfill them. All things start small. Innovation is important not just in entrepre- neurship. As individuals, we are innovators by adapting well to our needs and creating our own solutions. Entrepreneurs are the same. The innovation in entrepreneurship helped the coun- try by changing with the times and producing new products and services from ones that al- ready existed. And, being innovative has helped us become successful in all our endeavors. - The importance of innovation There are several benefits of innovation, main- ly continuous innovation. Without innovation, there would not be progress, without progress there is no sustainability. “Innovation enables problem-solving and pro- vides creative insight that allows you to look at things from a different perspective, regardless of whether you are developing a new product, refreshing strategy or finding an original way to stay ahead of the competition.” - Advantages of innovation As we grow, we learn something new every day. During the time we face new approach- es, new challenges, new technologies … and new experiences. We tend to make our life easier and more comfortable; we feel that previous approaches are slow, and we want everything fast. That is the engine for inno- vation. • Innovation, for its part, can refer to something new or to a change made to an existing product, idea, or field. One might say that the first telephone was an invention, the first cellular telephone either an invention or an innovation, and the first smartphone an innovation. – Merriam Webster definition Innovation is related to, but not the same as, invention: innovation is more apt to involve the practical implementation of an invention (i.e. new / improved ability) to make a meaningful impact in a market or society, and not all innovations require a new invention. But we have to bear in mind also another part of innovation called disruption: “Disruption” describes a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses.” from Harvard Business Review article: What Is Disruptive Innovation? Some of the key practical benefits of innova- tion are: • improved productivity • reduced costs • increased competitiveness • improved brand recognition and value • new partnerships and relationships • increased turnover and improved profit- ability “Innovation is the multi-stage process where- by organizations transform ideas into new/im- proved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete and differentiate them- selves successfully in their marketplace” – Wikipedia
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  21stCenturySkills 91 92 INNOVATION Step bystep guide 2. Toolkit For any kind of innovation there are several steps to follow to get innovative results. 2. 3. Work out the solution. Draw a full picture first. Do not focus on details. The goal is to have a rough solution. So, ignore any problems in the way, ex- cept showstoppers. If there is a showstopper, ask yourself what would be a crazy thing to do here? This is again mentioned to help you not to be attached to one journey. 4. Employ agile methods. Try to save as many resources as possible, but at the same time iterate solutions often and as much as needed. Brain- storm, execute and again. 1. You have to understand what you are going to innovate, and why you want to do that. That means complete under- standing of what problems you are trying to solve. Be careful, making sure to understand the difference between innova- tion and invention. (Explained in the definition, but basically innovation can be applied to inventions). For any kind of understanding you need to do your research, whether it is a technology research, process research or market research. Focus on the solution and try to think of its influence 10x bigger (much bigger) than the existing methods have. For example, something will take only 10% of previous time. Or it will allow us to bear 10x bigger objects, with the same size. Or it will be able to generate 10x bigger revenue. If you can easily visualize 10x try 100x or more. The goal is to unattach yourself from fixed ideas. There are many ways to innovate. Either you try to come up with new solutions, with implementing inventions or you just change the process. Also, a lot of times the innovation is a pure combi- nation of existing products/services/methods. According to the Harvard Business Review article: Stop sabotag- ing your ability to innovate, you should do as follows: Consult your future self. People are hardwired to avoid risky choices by magnifying the negative consequences that might ensue. An especially po- tent magnifier is what’s called future regret: We imagine the self-recrimination we’ll feel if our venture turns out badly. The desire to avoid that feeling encourages conservatism—but you can counteract it. Instead of focusing on the pain that would accompany a failed ef- fort, imagine how you’ll feel years hence if you play it safe and shelve your idea. Dissect your failure. The trouble with failure, be- yond the obvious, is that it generates negative emotions that impede learning: denial, anger, despair, and self-blame. Innovators are especially prone to those feelings because they identify so closely with their projects. To avoid that pitfall, start by dissecting your failure. Exactly what went wrong, and why? Which premises were false? Which ones held true?
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  21stCenturySkills 93 94 INNOVATION Case study Cronut Mixingcroissant with donut One technique for innovating a solution to an identified problem is to actu- ally attempt an experiment with many possible solutions. This technique was famously used by Thomas Edison’s laboratory to find a version of the incan- descent light bulb economically viable for home use, which involved searching through thousands of possible filament designs before settling on carbonized bamboo. The related technique of A/B testing is often used to help optimize the design of web sites and mobile apps. This is used by major sites such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Procter & Gamble uses computer-sim- ulated products and online user panels to conduct larger numbers of experi- ments to guide the design, packaging, and shelf placement of consumer prod- ucts, and Capital One uses this technique to drive credit card marketing offers. - Wikipedia McKinsey article: The eight essentials of innovation says: “Successful innovators achieve significant multiples for every dollar invested in innovation by accessing the skills and talents of others. In this way, they speed up innovation and uncover new ways to create value for their customers and ecosystem partners. Smart collaboration with external partners, though, goes beyond merely sourc- ing new ideas and insights; it can involve sharing costs and finding faster routes to market. Famously, the components of Apple’s first iPod were developed almost entirely outside the company; by efficiently managing these external partnerships, Apple was able to move from initial concept to marketable prod- uct in only nine months.”
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  96 21stCenturySkills 95 INNOVATION Practice According to theHarvard Business Review ar- ticle Why the lean startup changes everything, the lean method is a new way to organize a startup and it favors experimentation over elab- orate planning, customers’ feedback over intu- ition and iterative design over traditional “big design up front” development. The lean method has three key principles: First, rather than engaging in months of plan- ning and research, entrepreneurs accept that all they have on day one is a series of untested hy- potheses—basically, good guesses. So instead of writing an intricate business plan, founders summarize their hypotheses in a framework called a business model canvas. Essentially, this is a diagram of how a company creates value for itself and its customers. (See the exhibit “Sketch Out Your Hypotheses.” in the article) Second, lean start-ups use a “get out of the building” approach called customer develop- ment to test their hypotheses. They go out and ask potential users, purchasers, and partners for feedback on all elements of the business model, including product features, pricing, distribution Tips & tricks There is only one good piece of advice to give. FAIL ! AS MANY TIMES AS NEEDED. A lot of people are afraid of failure. It makes no sense. It is ok to fail. Being as agile as possible allows you to fail many times. Keep the expenses low and be happy for failures. Then try it again a little bit differently. From Harvard Business Review article: Stop sabotaging your ability to innovate “Creativity relies on curiosity and openness. Curiosity drives your questioning and sen- semaking—the search for patterns, causal- ity, and opportunities, and your efforts to bridge the gap between what you know and what you don’t. But unbounded curi- osity can lead you astray in two ways. You may get drawn down a rabbit hole and lose sight of your original purpose. Or you may become mired in reflection, trying to plan for every contingency. Openness to new experiences and ideas inspires you to ask “What if?” questions and connect the dots between unrelated concepts or domains. But an excess can cause you to jump from one idea to the next or bombard you with irrelevant de- tails. If you’ve bogged down in your main endeavour, it can lure you away with the si- ren call of novelty. To ensure that your cre- ativity remains a useful fuel rather than a dangerous distraction, you can: Recognise the moment of great peril controlling your curiosity is essential when you are shifting from reflection to action; Set limits to your involvement, recognizing a tendency to let your creativity distract you is the first step to harnessing it; or you can enlist a coun- terweight, finding a partner who can offset your creative exuberance.” channels, and affordable customer acquisition strategies. The emphasis is on nimbleness and speed: New ventures rapidly assemble minimum viable products and immediately elicit custom- er feedback. Then, using customers’ input to re- vise their assumptions, they start the cycle over again, testing redesigned offerings and making further small adjustments (iterations) or more substantive ones (pivots) to ideas that aren’t working. (See the exhibit “Listen to Customers.” in the article) Third, lean start-ups practice something called agile development, which originated in the soft- ware industry. Agile development works hand- in-hand with customer development. Unlike typ- ical yearlong product development cycles that presuppose knowledge of customers’ problems and product needs, agile development elimi- nates wasted time and resources by developing the product iteratively and incrementally. It’s the process by which start-ups create the mini- mum viable products they test. (See the exhibit “Quick, Responsive Development.” in the article)
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  21stCenturySkills 97 98 INNOVATION Checklist beforeI get started Use this checklist to assess the Multi-disciplinary thinking dimension of your team project´s workplace. Resources for further reading Online tools • MindMeister: Create Your Mind Maps Online - On Any Device • Viima - Make More Innovation Happen • Idea & Innovation management software Accept Mission • IdeaScale: Idea Management and Innovation Management Software Useful links • 100+ sources that every innovation professional should know • 5 Methods For Innovation You Should Try with Your Team • 10 Types of Innovation: The Art of Discovering a Breakthrough Product • Ten Types of Innovation: 30 new case studies for 2019 Videos • Charles Leadbeater: The era of open innovation • The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed • The prison of your mind | Sean Stephenson | TEDxIronwoodStatePrison Articles • Drive Innovation with Better Decision-Making • 5 Questions to Build Your Company’s Capacity for Innovation • Stop Sabotaging Your Ability to Innovate • The Innovator’s DNA • Advantages of innovation | nibusinessinfo.co.uk Books • The Invincible Company: How to Constantly Reinvent Your Organization with Inspiration From the World’s Best Business Models • Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice • Exponential Organizations: New Organizations Are Ten Times Better, Faster, and Cheaper Than Yours (and What to Do About It) • Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Lead and Others Don’t • The Lean Enterprise: How Corporations Can Innovate Like Startup Action checklist Is this innovation in this area necessary? Do I really know the most recent innovation of the area I am going to innovate? What will the innovation bring on the table? Does innovation create more good than bad? (e.g. the whole process, pro- duction and usage of innovation is also bringing some kind of social and/or environmental impact?