Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. Like many of the new development buzzwords (which many of them are over-used on many business documents), the concept of innovation originates from the world of business. It refers to the generation of new products through the process of creative entrepreneurship, putting it into production, and diffusing it more widely through increased sales. Innovation can be viewed as t he application of better solutions that meet new requirements, in-articulated needs, or existing market needs. This is accomplished through more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are readily available to markets, governments and society. The term innovation can be defined as something original and, as a consequence, new, that “breaks into” the market or society.
Innoveracy: Misunderstanding Innovation article points out that there is a form of ignorance which seems to be universal: the inability to understand the concept and role of innovation. The way this is exhibited is in the misuse of the term and the inability to discern the difference between novelty, creation, invention and innovation. The result is a failure to understand the causes of success and failure in business and hence the conditions that lead to economic growth. The definition of innovation is easy to find but it seems to be hard to understand. Here is a simple taxonomy of related activities that put innovation in context:
- Novelty: Something new
- Creation: Something new and valuable
- Invention: Something new, having potential value through utility
- Innovation: Something new and uniquely useful
The taxonomy is illustrated with the following diagram.
The differences are also evident in the mechanisms that exist to protect the works: Novelties are usually not protectable, Creations are protected by copyright or trademark, Inventions can be protected for a limited time through patents (or kept secret) and Innovations can be protected through market competition but are not defensible through legal means.
Innovation is a lot of talked about nowdays as essential to businesses to do. Is innovation essential for development work? article tells that innovation has become central to the way development organisations go about their work. In November 2011, Bill Gates told the G20 that innovation was the key to development. Donors increasingly stress innovation as a key condition for funding, and many civil society organisations emphasise that innovation is central to the work they do.
Some innovation ideas are pretty simple, and some are much more complicated and even sound crazy when heard first. The is place for crazy sounding ideas: venture capitalists are gravely concerned that the tech startups they’re investing in just aren’t crazy enough:
Not all development problems require new solutions, sometimes you just need to use old things in a slightly new way. Development innovations may involve devising technology (such as a nanotech water treatment kit), creating a new approach (such as microfinance), finding a better way of delivering public services (such as one-stop egovernment service centres), identifying ways of working with communities (such as participation), or generating a management technique (such as organisation learning).
Theorists of innovation identify innovation itself as a brief moment of creativity, to be followed by the main routine work of producing and selling the innovation. When it comes to development, things are more complicated. Innovation needs to be viewed as tool, not master. Innovation is a process, not a one time event. Genuine innovation is valuable but rare.
There are many views on the innovation and innvation process. I try to collect together there some views I have found on-line. Hopefully they help you more than confuze. Managing complexity and reducing risk article has this drawing which I think pretty well describes innovation as done in product development:
8 essential practices of successful innovation from The Innovator’s Way shows essential practices in innovation process. Those practices are all integrated into a non-sequential, coherent whole and style in the person of the innovator.
In the IT work there is lots of work where a little thinking can be a source of innovation. Automating IT processes can be a huge time saver or it can fail depending on situation. XKCD comic strip Automation as illustrates this:
System integration is a critical element in project design article has an interesting project cost influence graphic. The recommendation is to involve a system integrator early in project design to help ensure high-quality projects that satisfy project requirements. Of course this article tries to market system integration services, but has also valid points to consider.
Core Contributor Loop (CTTDC) from Art Journal blog posting Blog Is The New Black tries to link inventing an idea to theory of entrepreneurship. It is essential to tune the engine by making improvements in product, marketing, code, design and operations.
5,176 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Q&A: Quantum state of photoelectrons measured for the first time
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-qa-quantum-state-photoelectrons.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
MIT’s navigation tech accurately positions drones indoors in tunnels, warehouses
Most indoor navigation systems are cumbersome and costly as they rely on multiple cameras, sensors, or markers placed all over a space.
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/mit-navigation-tech-indoor-drones
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.sciencealert.com/odds-of-a-tunguska-scale-impact-in-2032-just-doubled
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a63799225/fossil-dinosaurs/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese scientists claim neural network tech unlocks 10,000X speedup in optical fiber bandwidth
News
By Christopher Harper published February 17, 2025
A literal order of magnitude increase in fiber optic throughput
https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/chinese-scientists-claim-neural-network-tech-unlocks-10-000x-speedup-in-optical-fiber-bandwidth
Earlier this month, Chinese researchers from the University of Shanghai revealed that they had found a way to increase current-generation fiber optic speeds by orders of magnitude—that is, by 10,000 times (considering the current 100 Gigabit standard of fiber optics, this could be as high as 125 Terabytes per second) by overcoming the surprisingly strict bandwidth limitations that come with standard networking using optical fibers [h/t Interesting Engineering].
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/how_alien_artist_hr_giger_ended_up_designing_korn_jonathan_davis_bizarre_microphone_stand-129256
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Coronavirus HKU5-CoV-2 In Bats Can Infect Human Cells Just Like COVID-19
But researchers say the pathogen’s potential to trigger a pandemic “should not be exaggerated”.
https://www.iflscience.com/new-coronavirus-hku5-cov-2-in-bats-can-infect-human-cells-just-like-covid-19-78160
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tin foam technology could enhance lithium-ion batteries with higher capacity, longer lifespan, and lower costs. https://link.ie.social/RrhDex
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/17208-huokoinen-tina-elektrodina-tuo-pidempaeaen-kestaevaet-akut
Tomi Engdahl says:
It Sounds Like Something Nasty Is About to Come Out About That Millionaire Biohacker Who Used His Son as a “Blood Boy”
Never a dull moment.
https://futurism.com/guy-son-blood-bag-prostitutes-drugs
Immortality-obsessed tech mogul Bryan Johnson, who’s gone to extreme and sometimes comical lengths to turn back the clock on the aging of his 47-year-old body, is trying to get ahead of what he’s claiming to be an upcoming “hit piece” by the New York Times.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-unraveling-magnetic-electric.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/02/26/new-camera-does-realtime-holographic-capture-no-coherent-light-required/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nanomanufacturing process slashes chip production costs by 99%
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-02-nanomanufacturing-slashes-chip-production.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists reveal key to affordable, room-temperature quantum light
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-scientists-reveal-key-room-temperature.html
Quantum light sources are fickle. They can flicker like stars in the night sky and can fade out like a dying flashlight. However, newly published research from the University of Oklahoma proves that adding a covering to one of these light sources, called a colloidal quantum dot, can cause them to shine without faltering, opening the door to new, affordable quantum possibilities. The findings are available in Nature Communications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.xda-developers.com/steams-most-popular-game-boost-decision-making-skills/
Summary
Counter-Strike players excel at quick decision-making tasks.
Experts outperform novices by 88.94 milliseconds, showing advantages in encoding and executing responses.
Researchers believe skills from gaming can translate to helping individuals navigate stressful environments better.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists Confirm the Incredible Existence of Time Reflections
Basically, if you look in a time mirror, you’ll see your back instead of your face.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a63979764/time-reflections-real/
For more than 50 years, scientists theorized that an electromagnetic wave could be reflected temporally—not just spatially.
Scientists have been unable to confirm the existence of time reflection due to the amount of energy required to create a temporal interface.
Using an engineered metamaterial scientists in New York City were able to successfully observe time reflections for the first time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://awesomestuff365.com/reasons-why-highly-intelligent-people-have-messy-houses/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIzEd1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRio3qdMNFEhohmdiLt6Z5j9TMNmY2hYamp5hAQ9_wdrt6-CKzAfGMOf-g_aem_EHDnYzzia0kMiRgDZj8BNQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://etn.fi/index.php/13-news/17233-uusi-edistysaskel-kiinteaen-elektrolyytin-akuissa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sweden creates EV battery power from carbon fibers, reducing need for mining
Graphene oxide is a versatile nanomaterial used in various industries, including electric vehicles.
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/graphene-breakthrough-from-carbon-fibers?fbclid=IwY2xjawI2h4FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbSBqgAO2k6gLCMvY8oJwEi5TrEfvyp9jKicwnE8e3rHWBm7-yo13aLr_w_aem_A_RntKFH3jewdp9R5UY3fQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/03/04/smartwatches-could-flatten-the-curve-of-the-next-pandemic/
Researchers at Aalto University, Stanford University, and Texas A&M have found that the illness detection features common to modern smartwatches are advanced enough to help people make the call to stay home or mask up and avoid getting others sick. They note we’re already at 88% accuracy for early detection of COVID-19 and 90% for the flu. Combining data from a number of other studies on smartwatch accuracy, epidemiology, behavior, and biology, the researchers were able to model the possible outcomes of this early detection on the spread of future diseases.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/03/05/haptic-displays-bring-sports-to-the-vision-impaired/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/03/05/big-chemistry-glass/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/03/06/the-future-we-never-got-running-a-future-we-got/
Tomi Engdahl says:
This has enormous implications for computer hardware in the future.
Supersolid: Scientists turn light into a solid that flows like liquid for first time
https://www.yahoo.com/news/supersolid-scientists-turn-light-solid-213738392.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cDovL20uZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA3GsyY5LRD7k105lWYOK9ShWxFn1eHHaZY8-PqUMLfVj9cim3wj2sFscY6sUEypJMaWC6ukuBppQ62awNzBIT8FSZ4uHPdl2imYqx6cg2SBvZeaAAYG0RHE7VrzCOZrRB3OxfyJHQErWEQBXU7cQ1cPLVAXuKquTtEmSuZWkk_i
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/03/09/deep-drawing-with-ultrasonics/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://hackaday.com/2025/03/10/you-are-already-traveling-at-the-speed-of-light/