The Seven Sources of Innovation

The seven sources of innovation:

1. The unexpected: This would be the quintessential explosion in the laboratory scene and ultimately you would have some new product purely by mistake...at least that is what I envision.  I think one of the most well known innovations of this type would be the invention of the post it note by 3M.  One of their scientists was working on a super tacky adhesive and by mistake created an adhesive while not supper sticky, it did retain its tackiness over time.

2. The incongruity:  This is the opposition of perception and reality.  Innovation can take place because common perception of some things not being able to be changed.  For example common perception was that fat free frozen deserts could not taste good and the invention of frozen yogurt changed the perception....yumm TCBY.

3. The process:  In my opinion this source of innovation is endless...maybe because I am an analytical.  So if a process is not efficient it provides an opportunity to innovate and change the process to become more efficient. Hello...TSA.  The most important process innovation in the last hundred years was Henry Ford's invention of the assembly line for manufacturing automobiles.  This process innovation allowed workers to focus on one task instead of having to know how to assemble and entire automobile.  Truly amazing what it has led to in manufacturing....

4. The industry structure: Sometimes there are drivers in a market that force the change in overall structure in the industry.  In the last 20 years technology and the Internet has been the catalyst for the majority of these changes.  I think one of the most drastic changes has been in the music industry.  The Internet literally turned the music business by surprise as consumers started to share music illegally via file sharing applications like Napster.  The music industry saw huge loses until Apple capitalized with the launch of ITunes and the IPod.

5. Demographics: As certain parts of the population change it creates opportunities for innovation.  For instance as baby boomers have reached retirement age, there are drugs that are developed and marketed for this demographic who have a strong desire to stay young and lead active lifestyles.... Viagra :-)

6. Perception, mood, meaning: As time passes and we evolve as a society we tend to look at things differently.  With this perception change comes innovation.  A good example is how over the last couple decades there has been an emphasis on protecting our environment and reducing the amount of greenhouse gases.  While there is still some debate about the impact (Say it aint so Al Gore), there has been numerous innovations to help reduce green house gases.  One of the primary innovations has been the hybrid or electric car which emit zero green house gases into the atmosphere.

7. New knowledge: Finally, as I see it, this is  the "purist" source of innovation.  I learned something new so let me innovate.  Albert Einstein and E=MC2, Caveman and the round wheel....