What are the benefits and challenges of incremental innovation vs strategic innovation?

The most meaningful distinctions are between (1) evolutionary innovation and revolutionary innovation; and (2) between innovation (a change that makes something better) and alteration (a change that makes something different). In all instances what appears to make the difference between success and failure is the integration of an informed risk management process that allows for advancing, adapting, or abandoning an experiment at each of several critical stages.

It's important to develop a strategy that balances both approaches, to drive growth and stay competitive in the long-term. You can encourage a culture of innovation within your organization by providing your teams with the resources and support they need to experiment and take calculated risks. You can also set up clear processes and systems to ensure that innovation is aligned with your long-term strategy and that resources are allocated efficiently.

Design thinking is a human-centered and iterative method that focuses on understanding user needs and emotions, defining the problem or opportunity, ideating possible solutions, prototyping and testing them, and implementing and iterating them

Humans adapt slowly. Incremental innovation matches this rhythm, ensuring acceptance. The goal of Incremental Innovation is to resonate with the human pace of change. ? Understand deeply and intensely who uses your product. The cultural context shapes the need. ? Small steps lead to giant leaps. Focus on what changes mean for daily life. One by one by one. ? Incremental Innovation is in the details. Watch, listen, and adapt to subtle shifts in behavior and preference.

Strategic innovation is about making bold, game-changing moves that can transform your business or even the industry. It opens up new markets, creates a competitive edge, and drives long-term growth. However, it comes with more risk—it often requires significant resources, time, and a willingness to embrace uncertainty. While strategic innovation can lead to breakthroughs, the challenge is ensuring your organization is ready to support big changes and adapt quickly to new directions.

Understanding humanity's unvoiced dreams is what sparks radical ideas. Strategic Innovation taps into these latent desires, shaping futures we've yet to imagine. To boldly go where no man has gone before. ? Dive into the dreams and aspirations of your market. What are the unspoken desires? Think cars instead of faster horses. ? Dream boldly. What hasn't been said but deeply felt? What could alternate worlds look like? ? Translate these dreams into visions that challenge today, promising a different tomorrow.

Both strategic and incremental innovations are necessary. Incremental innovations keep your product or service current. Some form of continuous feedback methodology including complaint mining, competitive analysis, and internal customer panels can be used to provide a continuous stream of ideas to drive incremental innovation. Strategic innovations occur when today’s questions cannot be satisfied with yesterday’s answers. Trend watching and pattern recognition skills are necessary to anticipate disruptive change. While we are searching for a major strategic revelation, we cannot allow our current products to grow stale. And, as we nurture our current products, we cannot allow the competitive landscape to shift beneath us.

The dance between old and new reflects our journey as a species. ? Innovators are storytellers, weaving the future with threads from the past. ? Balancing is an art, informed by our collective history. ? History teaches that neither stasis nor revolution sustains cultures. ? Embrace change with an eye on tradition for true progress. ? Our aspirations shape the innovations we pursue.

It’s useful to recognize the importance of strategic thinking in the context of our business because it helps us in harnessing the benefits of both innovation types. Evaluate potential solutions not just based on innovation but also on their feasibility, desirability, and viability. This ensures that innovations align with organizational goals and have a lasting impact. Navigating the innovation landscape requires a delicate balance. Be ready to adapt and make adjustments as needed to stay agile in a rapidly changing environment.

Most companies shy away from truly strategic innovations because they have a poor grasp of the future and an unrealistic view of risk. Strategic innovation can only happen in the long term, beyond the natural timeframes of our imaginations. This makes such innovation seem excessively uncertain and risky. Overcoming these challenges requires adept application of foresight techniques to understand clearly the possibilities and uncertainties. It also requires a portfolio approach to managing risk, where the failure of some innovations can be tolerated because they are offset by the success of others.

Strategic Innovation is inclusive of incremental and is not always big effort that happens all of a sudden - for example an acquisition to get to the strategic innovation end result. A lot of times the big dollars set aside to build the big innovation gets eaten away by other priorities- hence the best thing to do is to deliver strategic innovation incrementally with iterative fast sprints that bring value upon delivery. Also, don't ignore the power of building a bridge innovation that gets you to the final strategic innovation you have been vying for.

For incremental innovation, frameworks like Lean and Agile are great for managing small, iterative improvements and ensuring continuous feedback. On the other hand, frameworks like Blue Ocean Strategy or Design Thinking are more suited for strategic innovation, helping you explore new markets and develop groundbreaking ideas. The key is to choose the right framework for the type of innovation you're pursuing and adapt it to fit your organization’s needs. Balancing these approaches ensures you’re equipped to handle both gradual enhancements and ambitious breakthroughs.

Frameworks serve as canvases for our creations. By adding limits, they potentialize what's in the frame. ? Be sure to choose the right frame for your masterpiece. ? Each framework is a new lens to see potential futures. Try to use multiple ones. ? Aspirational thinking fuels innovation strategies. ? Your audience's culture defines success. Innovation is just a knickknack without application and widespread use. ? Paint with broad strokes but remember all the details that matter. The iPhone worked from its very first model.

this is a brilliant question! essentially, what is the difference between small steps and a big bang change? i like incremental steps for tech, i am scared of being left behind so i try to learn new updates, use the new tools. but often this doesn't look like innovation to others, sometimes, particularly if people seem to be unhappy with the current offering (even if they are not utilising it to the fullest, you need a big shiny new idea! They both have their purposes, I recommend incremental change until you have left too many people behind, then go BIG

Understanding market trends, customer needs, and competitive landscape is crucial for identifying opportunities for innovation and staying ahead of the competition.