Innovation, writes Patrick Thibodeau, "is the most abused word in tech." A Google search yields 108 million entries and, without even trying, I found more than 20 articles published in the last 24 hours.
Part of the confusion is that few distinguish between radical and incremental innovation. Radical innovations, like the steam engine, the cotton gin, the telephone, the automobile, the computer (quick quiz: when was the first programmable computer invented? - see the end of the post), and penicillin change the structures of societies.
Others, like new versions of software or a new app, bring improved performance to an existing structure.
Both are important. Radical innovations are quickly followed by a burst of inventive energy that drives improvement and eventually changes society.
But confusing them leads to misguided policies, management structures and incentives. How many enterprises try to drive major innovation by funding R&D labs, isolated from customers?
Incremental innovation, on the other hand, requires often massive investments in continuous improvement just to remain competitive, and those that rest even for a second are footnotes in history. Many will recall the "BUNCH" - Burroughs, Univac, NCR Control Data and Honeywell - all early mainframe contenders. Or early PC contenders like Atari and Commodore. Clay Christensen writes about the type of challenges incremental innovators face in their struggle to survive in The Innovator's Dilemma.
More importantly, successful innovation requires invention (often confused with innovation) plus commercialization. Great innovations - radical or incremental - require market success.
So, are your researchers, product developers and marketers collaborating with each other?
_______
Answer: 1938, when Konrad Zuse built the first mechanical binary digital programmable computer.
Part of the confusion is that few distinguish between radical and incremental innovation. Radical innovations, like the steam engine, the cotton gin, the telephone, the automobile, the computer (quick quiz: when was the first programmable computer invented? - see the end of the post), and penicillin change the structures of societies.
Others, like new versions of software or a new app, bring improved performance to an existing structure.
Both are important. Radical innovations are quickly followed by a burst of inventive energy that drives improvement and eventually changes society.
But confusing them leads to misguided policies, management structures and incentives. How many enterprises try to drive major innovation by funding R&D labs, isolated from customers?
Incremental innovation, on the other hand, requires often massive investments in continuous improvement just to remain competitive, and those that rest even for a second are footnotes in history. Many will recall the "BUNCH" - Burroughs, Univac, NCR Control Data and Honeywell - all early mainframe contenders. Or early PC contenders like Atari and Commodore. Clay Christensen writes about the type of challenges incremental innovators face in their struggle to survive in The Innovator's Dilemma.
More importantly, successful innovation requires invention (often confused with innovation) plus commercialization. Great innovations - radical or incremental - require market success.
So, are your researchers, product developers and marketers collaborating with each other?
_______
Answer: 1938, when Konrad Zuse built the first mechanical binary digital programmable computer.
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