Welcome! And what is innovation?

One of of the hardest things to establish when discussing innovation is the definition itself. I trawled the Net for hours trying to do this. I came up with dozens, with some focussing on the national level; some the region; others the firm; and many on the individual. Here are three:

"Implementing new ideas that create value." - U.S. Innovation Network

"The development of new ideas and their economic application as new products or processes." - Dept. Trade and Industry U.K.

"The intersection of invention and insight, leading to the creation of social and economic value." - U.S. National Innovation Initiative (2004)

Bringing these definitions together, three themes emerge: innovation is different from the old to a greater or lesser degree; innovation creates value; and innovation requires implementation. In my view, for something to be truly innovative, it should meet these three criteria.

So why should anyone care about these definitions? Well, rather than splashing innovation all over your firm's Web site, you should ensure that your firm at least has a workable definition. The last definition is my favourite of the three because it emphasizes insight, which really refers to market insight.