

Innovation Always Trumps Invention - ashwinl
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jan2011/id20110114_286049.htm

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6ren
I'm happy to define invention as the making, and innovation as the
making+people wanting. But he's defining it in terms of intention: an inventor
creates something for its own sake; whereas when an innovator creates for a
market need. It means the same act of creation could be called invention or
innovation, depending on the intention.

A deeper objection is that being market-lead only leads where the market
already knows it wants to go. It is a problem in search of a solution. But
there's the other, more interesting engineering-lead innovation, which is a
solution in search of a problem. The Innovator's Dilemma has examples of the
latter, such as tiny disk-drives and offroad minibikes.

And I think Steve Jobs is famous for not being market-lead (which is how the
article presents him). The iPod wasn't market-led. People didn't say "we need
an iPad", in fact many had doubts about it. It is true, however, that he
intended and planned it to be a market success - he wasn't just "inventing"
without regard to widespread adoption.

I think better definitions are that _invention_ is creating new products, and
_innovation_ is creating new businesses. Invention can be a component of
innovation. An innovation can target an existing or imagined market need.
However, these terms already have meanings, so perhaps we're better off just
saying what we mean.

 _PS_ : I looked at one inventions he mentions, and it seems cool: Liftaem, a
bed-to-gurney hovercraft. When I've seen patients transferred manually in
hospitals, I've thought it looks shockingly primitive.
[http://tincmag.com/2010/12/09/smart-medical-technologys-
lift...](http://tincmag.com/2010/12/09/smart-medical-technologys-liftaem-
provides-easier-patient-transfer/)

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beza1e1
In my definitions, innovation is simply the step _after_ invention and before
imitation.

* invention: have an idea and build a prototype to verify

* innovation: make it a product and sell it

* imitation: make it scale

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Confusion
I don't see anything other than a personal preference in how the words should
be used. Innovation trumps invention: yeah, because you just _defined_ the
words to mean that. Why innovation should necessarily imply market success is
beyond me. I guess if SpaceX ultimately fails, they haven't been innovative...

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thezeus18
It's a marketing thing, if you make your customers think that you're selling a
completely different category of product they'll eat it up. People will see
through anything you try to say about your brand of soap, but when it comes to
"cleansing body wash" they can't immediately claim knowledge, and they will be
at least temporarily open to whatever you tell them. Here the product is his
mediocre restatement of things mostly everybody already knew already.

Full disclosure: I am not a marketing major, so this may be mostly made-up.

