Innovation Crash Course - E-book - ePub

In pre-historic ages, humans had to constantly come up withnew ideas and methods that can help them survive. Thepersistent need of improving whatever exists in order to survivein a better way led to innovation. Innovation occurs on various levels in our daily lives. It couldbe the use of a new product which was innovated recently bythe manufacturers, or the use of a new method that makes iteasy to live life.
Today, industries, companies and individualsinnovate on various levels to succeed in their objectives. Different industries have different viewpoints regardinginnovation. There are over 40 different definitions of innovationand every definition describes it according to the perspective ofthe individual or group authoring the definition. But all of itgrinds to the fact that innovation happens when something newcomes into existence.
It could be a thought, a process, amethod or a product. The thing with innovation is that it islimitless and it does not restrict itself to certain aspects only. Innovation has existed since the existence of humankind itself. Humans have introduced different products, ideas and servicesever since they existed as hunters and gatherers. Whether itwas the invention of the first wheel, the ability to harvest grainsand turn it into the food we eat or use fire to cook;everything required humans to come up with new ideas thatcan improve their current standards of living.
Now we aredealing with innovation on a more complex level since we havealready reached a point where our basic needs are met veryeffectively. This is why innovation has become so centric forbusinesses and customers. IntroductionWhat is innovation?The meaning of innovation according to the Oxford dictionaryis, "Make changes in something established, especially byintroducing new methods, ideas or products".
A number ofcompanies see innovation as just the ability to ideate. But thetruth is that it can be relatively cheap for a person or anorganization to come up with new ideas and techniques. It isthe ability of turning that idea into a solution which can addvalue to the business that makes innovation possible. Innovation for companies is also about staying relevant. Weinnovate in order to stay abreast with the changing world.
Acompany that did extremely well when it started may graduallyend up losing its customer base if it decided not to innovateand leverage new ideas. If something helped a companysucceed in the past, the same thing may lead to its failure inthe present.