So, What Exactly Is 'Innovation'?

These days, everyone talks about “innovating” to keep businesses profitable and, in turn, keep them running. But what does innovating actually mean in this context? Can anyone do it, or does it take specialists?

Let’s start by defining what innovation is NOT:

Innovation isn’t the same as creativity, though it does happen through a creative process.
Innovation isn’t the same as invention: it doesn’t create something from nothing, but generally uses existing technology and/or resources to arrive at a solution.
Innovation isn’t a strategy — it’s a key component within a business’s digital transformation strategy.

Innovation IS:

Solving a real problem — a genuine pain point within the user’s experience — by putting the person who has it at the center of the solution, so it’s perceived as high-value.
Generating a positive impact for both the business (economic) and the user (by solving their problem).
Having the attitude to do things differently to improve the current situation, because we can’t expect a different result by doing the same thing over and over.
Being able to collaborate transparently with a multidisciplinary (or cross-functional) team, instead of working in isolation, like a black box. In other words, working “with” other collaborators, not “for” them.
Recognizing that every area of an organization is made up of people just like you, and that interactions can go beyond sending emails.
Building a culture of trust that the other person will do their part well, and accepting the risk that comes with that.
Accepting failure as a learning experience rather than carrying it as a stigma.
Falling in love with the problem, not the solution, so the research actually pays off.

The real task when starting an innovation project is identifying our users’ pain points. Several methodologies and frameworks exist to make this easier; still, every innovation process is different, and the only constant is uncertainty. There’s no single path to innovation, no fixed rule or exact recipe for how to do it, but there are guidelines that help steer the process. Design Thinking, Lean UX, and Service Design are a few examples.

Looking for different ways to solve problems is a natural human survival instinct. In that sense, anyone is capable of innovating: you don’t need a degree in engineering, industrial design, or psychology to do it. It’s a bit like bees — their bodies aren’t aerodynamic enough to fly, and yet they fly anyway. Luckily, bees don’t know anything about aerodynamics.

Let’s be like the bees. Let’s shake off our self-imposed limits and start innovating, now.