What’s Important About Innovation?

Search the Internet for articles about innovation and results will contain hundreds if not thousands of articles based on the assumption that we all know innovation is important and we all know why. The more relevant inquiry is why is innovation important? What is the “end” justified by innovation? Is it more than just liking new stuff? How, if at all, does innovation connect with, say, human happiness?[1]

After years of cost-cutting and efficiency campaigns, business leaders in companies of every size and across the industry spectrum are refocused on top-line growth - and they're seeing innovation as the means to achieve it. The recent corporate interest focus on creativity and innovation is a dramatic shift from the “downsizings,” “rightsizing,” and core business focus of the previous ten to fifteen years. Studies by business research firms show that innovation has now risen to near the top of corporate concerns after not being on the top ten list a few years ago.[2] This same wave phenomenon in innovation interest has been seen before as well.

What are the consequences of this “wave” of interest in innovation and its impact on new business development, risk tolerance, and long term strategic thinking? One recent study investigated management of research and technology resources by leaders in the chemical industry.[3] The results differentiated between the personal styles of organizational innovators and the styles and structure of corporate management, concluding that there was a major gap between the personal and problem solving styles of innovation leaders and their surroundings. These differences, in most cases, were sufficient to cause innovation leaders to seek or be forced to seek other employment.

This and other studies indicate that business leaders are expanding the innovation horizon. In fact, there is a categorical shift toward a more expansive and unconventional view of innovation, as well as a need for a greater mix of innovation types. For these business leaders, this means a focus on driving:

Business model integration

Collaboration, both internal and external

Business and technology integration

In Summary, innovation is important because it is the force behind the key drivers of increased business value. Innovation often solves problems. But in today’s business climate they must also communicate values. Although this proposition is seemingly intuitive, values aren't universal, one-size-fits-all ideas. They’re biased. They assume specific cultural attitudes. They have an agenda.

______________
[1] Id.
[2] CEOs are expanding the innovation horizon: Important implications for CIOs http://www-935.ibm.com/services/sg/index.wss/whitepaper/igs/a1024760 (L.A.> 10-07-07)
[3] http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/ci/31/i11/html/11hipple.html 10-29-07