Larry Dignan tries to explain difference between invention and innovation. Larry brings up lot of good points, but the difference is not explicitly mentioned, which leaves me in a half-hungry state. A while back I had sent an email amongst my friends to put down my thoughts about it, but never really got much feedback. Maybe blogging about it can help.
I consider invention is about making something possible, and innovation is extending it to make it practical. Invention involves a lot trials and a lot of research on the subject. Innovation uses that research to make the invention useful for the common man. If you feel half-hungry yet, maybe this example can help. Wheel is an invention, a car tyre (or tire) is an innovation. An innovation will include the common man and hence the associated economics, which is why I think it is important for every individual to understand the difference. I also think that innovation breeds in an open environment. What do you think?
March 8th, 2007 at 1:54 am
Abhijit,
Personally I feel that invention is a subset of innovation. What I mean here is that, innovation need not stem from invention but can be stand alone and encompass invention. Take you wheel for example: wheel itself found use in many simple devices (may be a cart etc.) and as such can be classified as an innovation.
I partially agree with you on innovation breeding in an open environment but I feel it breeds more in the mind of an individual and thus is independent of the environment. Though an open environment may foster such breeding.
Nice post.
March 8th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Vikas, thanks for your input. I cannot disagree with what you say, I guess a good brainstorming or maybe a war room session is required
March 8th, 2007 at 8:17 pm
True
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