Invent or Innovate?

It was conversation that started about the new IPhone 6.  Invention and Innovation were words doing their rounds.   No one seems to be agreeing on the differences / similarities between these two words, but all spoke of it!

I kept wondering, why people can’t explain innovation or invention, though innovation is a topic which is taught in most B-Schools today.  Needless to mention that most organization's Vision, mission and Values statements, do talk about Innovation.  Our early school days taught us about Inventors but still we only remember on a few.

Yet there is little understanding on this.

It kept me thinking.  Is invention a word of the past or is it still relevant.  What is the difference between these two, if it all it exists?  When innovation is one of the subjects which is taught to all MBAs and is part of our everyday organizational lingo, how does this translate in success stories of innovation and entrepreneurship?

Innovate

The verb innovate means “make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products.”   The genesis of this word is interesting.  Derived from Latin word “novare” meaning “make new”, got transformed to innovate in the late 16th century, meaning to renew or alter.

Invent

The verb invents means "to create or design (something that has not existed before); be the originator of “.

Definitions in the 21st Century

However, only recently has an appreciation for the difference, and the need to regard them differently, emerged. As Jan Fagerberg wrote in his 2004 article:

“An important distinction is normally made between invention and innovation. Invention is the first occurrence of an idea for a new product or process while innovation is the first attempt to carry it out into practice.”

Innovation follows Invention

What is interesting in this definition is the concept of innovation being the actualization or realization of an invention, whether it is a societal benefit, commercialization, market entry, or monetisation.

So in essence, innovation follows invention.  Innovation just makes an invention commercially viable.  No wonder Corporates across the globe are chasing innovation.

Innovation provides commercial value, through competitive differentiation.

Innovation

So when we talk about innovation, Steve Jobs name has become synonym.  Did he innovate or invent?

Let’s go back in history.

• The iPod wasn’t the first portable music device (Sony popularized the “music anywhere, anytime” concept 22 years earlier with the Walkman)
• iPod wasn’t the first device that put hundreds of songs in your pocket (dozens of manufacturers had MP3 devices on the market when the iPod was released in 2001)
• Apple was actually late to the party when it came to providing an online music-sharing platform. (Napster, Grokster and Kazaa all preceded iTunes.)

So, given those facts, is the iPod’s distinction as a defining example of innovation warranted? It sure does.

What made the iPod and the music ecosystem innovative wasn’t that it was the first portable music device. It wasn’t that it was the first MP3 player. And it wasn’t that it was the first company to make thousands of songs immediately available to millions of users. What made Apple innovative was that it combined all of these elements — design, ergonomics and ease of use — in a single device, and then tied it directly into a platform that effortlessly kept that device updated with music.

Apple invented nothing.   Its innovation was creating an easy-to-use ecosystem that unified music discovery, delivery and device. And, in the process, they revolutionized the music industry.

Google, YouTube, eBay, Twitter, WhatsApp, Trip advisor, Facebook, Airbnb and many more can be quoted as examples of innovation.  How did they financially is not even a question to discuss.  All of them have had a significant impact on our lives.  Positively or negatively is debatable.

So what is the world doing today?  Inventing or Innovating? 

I did a quick research on the references made about innovation and invention in the last 50 years in all literary work published and discovered that the word innovation is published more, meaning, lot of people are pursing innovation.  A google search for “Invention” produces 184,000 results; and “Innovation” produces 471,000, suggesting that innovation is more commonplace today.

Click here to see 50 years data

While most organizations want to ride the innovation wave, in the wake of the technology boom, invention too is happening at a rapid pace, but alas gets less attention compared to the innovative products / services may be because of pending commercialization. When I googled the 21st century inventions, the list is fairly exhaustive and there are more inventions happening every year than ever before.

(Check https://teresacoppens.hubpages.com/hub/Major-Inventions-Timeline-The-21st-Century)

Needless to agree that innovation is what most are chasing behind, because it is just glamourous and it lends commercial viability at the end of the path.  No wonder, why Innovation is linked to entrepreneurship and why it is taught in B-Schools exhaustively.

Studying innovation

But, is the education on innovation spurring entrepreneurship?  The answer is yes and no.  The number of startups in country is a reflection of innovation based entrepreneurship and Research shows that there is a steady decline in the

number of start-ups and increase in the failure rate of start-ups.  There is something wrong.  One reason for this trend is that, the way academics treat entrepreneurship and innovation.

Innovation and entrepreneurship is an ART and a one size fits all approach isn’t going to change either the declining start up rate or increasing failure rates.  However, the field of study has developed models and frameworks which can guide an entrepreneur.  There are loads of such study material on the web and an inquisitive mind, will find them and absorb as much.

In Summary:

Invention is the art of creating a new product or a service and Innovation is the process of improving the product / service or a combination of products and services, which has an impact on the way we live or do things and hence has a commercial value and utility.

For both invention and innovation, one needs a curious mind, inquisitive, creative and vast amount of research.  Needless to say the purpose needs to be clear.  There needs to be a utility and there needs to be value.  however intriguing the invention or innovation be, if it does not have utility and users don't see value, it is remains as a unknown and unnoticed finding.

The need is also that the academics not stereo type innovation, but to nurture the ability to research, build a inquisitive mind and challenge status quo.

The world can do more with innovators and inventors.  To find something new and to renew what is already there to meet newer needs of the human race at large.