Innovation in Business Part II

Based on some of the feedback I received after last week’s blog post about innovation I have decided to write a follow-up.

So what exactly is innovation?

Innovation in business is a significant improvement in a product or process that often results in increased efficiency, a new paradigm, and/or an improvement in corporate profits. So what results in innovation? Often when a new process, technology, or technique, is applied to an existing business or product (ie. during the manufacturing process). Another method of innovation is applying a new technology to another industry, thereby giving a boost or competitive edge to a company or product.

One of my regular blog readers (thank you Roy A. Ackerman) supplies a “parochial” definition of innovation. According to Roy, “Innovation involves a change in a process or product that results from study and/or experimentation and bringing it to reality. Changing your business operations from paper entry to computer could have been considered innovative two decades ago; now it’s simply routine. Changing the color of your packaging is not innovation.”

What are some other specific examples of innovation?

Let’s start with Henry Ford, who didn’t so much invent the automobile as he did mass production of it. The assembly line is what made production of an automobile more efficient, and thus more affordable. How? Before the assembly line, cars were made one-at-a-time, by hand. Because of the high number of man hours required to produce a car, the cost for an individual auto was quite expensive. The assembly line, an idea (or innovation) which Ford perfected, allowed for mass production of cars; as a result, each auto took less time to produce and lowered the price point, thus making them affordable to the masses.

Another example is Steinway & Sons pianos. During the 170+ years that the company has been in business, they have been issued over 130 patents based on innovations that have improved the quality of their pianos. Many of these innovations were based on emerging (at the time) engineering and scientific research, including new developments in the understanding of acoustics, which resulted in major shifts forward in the musical arena. As a brand, Steinway & Sons has become synonymous with excellence; they are top-of-the-line, state-of-the-art premium pianos sought-after by most artists.

NASA is a prime example of new technology applied to other industries. Like it or not, the space program has been a major driver in the U.S. economy. How? Because of having to figure out how to do things that had never been done before – not only sending a man into space – (watch Apollo 13), but also how to adapt objects commonly used on earth for use in zero gravity. As a result, a whole slew of new materials came out of the space program. These materials were then applied in other industries to make tennis rackets, and bicycles – all of which led to improvements in these sports. Now that’s innovative!

So how about you?

Do you have any examples of innovation?

What do you to do apply innovation in your business?