Types of Innovation

Here is one way of looking at the different types of innovation. One type isn't necessarily better than another for a given occasion - just different.  Each type can apply to a product or service.  The above example uses "widgets", e.g. a product, as an illustration of the concept.

• INCREMENTAL INNOVATION
  • Component: Making an improvement on an existing product or service, for example:
    
    • Adding a camera feature to a cell phone
    • Increasing the displacement of an engine to increase horsepower and/or torque
    • Adding a new ingredient to a plastic formulation to increase its strength
  • System: Improving service or the process that makes the product, for example:
    • Reducing the number of steps necessary to manufacture the cell phone
    • Increasing the speed of machining the engine block
    • Implementing a lower-cost process to manufacture and deliver less-than-bulk quantities of plastic compounds
• RADICAL/NONLINEAR INNOVATION
  • Component: Developing a new product based on an entirely new concept that didn't exist before, for example:
    • The iPod (a case of "Invention is the mother of necessity", and a "gotta have it" product).
    • Gasoline-electric hybrid and fuel cell-based automotive powertrains.
    • An entirely new polymer that does something existing ones couldn't, e.g., polycarbonate in the '60's: a virtually unbreakable, transparent, high heat material that enabled new applications for plastics.
  • System/Business Concept: Introducing a new way of doing things, for example:
    • Wireless phone providers essentially selling airtime, and providing cell phones at low prices as the means to use their services on an ongoing basis
    • The establishment & growth of car-sharing services in cities or at colleges - for those who don't want or need to own a car, but need one on a regular or occasional basis (an alternative to conventional car rental).
    • Stereolithography - a process for quickly creating a first product prototype by using 3D CAD data and liquid polymers to generate a part in minutes, vs. days or weeks.
  • A major innovation is a breakthrough that changes the rules of the game and the terms of competition.

• What's the best type of innovation?  The one that provides the enterprise the best results in a given situation, and creates the best value for customers.  Small or large, incremental or radical, they all count - but only if they are acted on and implemented.
  
  
• Thinking about things in a new way is the first step.

P.S. - Speaking of "The Box" - it's been talked about so much, that it has become a cliche. Still, I maintain that valuable innovation can be done from "in the box", or "out of the box", so don't let either stop you from doing good new stuff from wherever you are - in the organization, or "the box".  If you're inside the box, do what you can from there.  However, as our parents told us, it's always good to get outside and play once in a while.

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