UNDERSTANDING OF INNOVATION

INNOVATION

 The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.

 To be called an innovation, an idea must be replicable at an economical cost and must satisfy a specific need. Innovation involves deliberate application of information, imagination and initiative in deriving greater or different values from resources, and includes all processes by which new ideas are generated and converted into useful products. In business, innovation often results when ideas are applied by the company in order to further satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers.

In a social context, innovation helps create new methods for alliance creation, joint venturing, flexible work hours, and creation of buyers' purchasing power. Innovations are divided into two broad categories as follows: -

      Evolutionary innovation (continuous or dynamic evolutionary innovation) that are brought about by many incremental advances in technology or processes and

2.      Revolutionary innovation (also called discontinuous) which are often disruptive and new.

 Innovation is synonymous with risk-taking and organizations that create revolutionary products or technologies take on the greatest risk because they create new markets.

Imitators take less risk because they will start with an innovator's product and take a more effective approach.

The following are the Characteristics of Innovators: -

1. An opportunistic mindset: That helps them identify gaps in the market. Opportunities are at the heart of entrepreneurship and innovation, and some people are much more alert to them than others. Therefore, opportunists are genetic all type-wired for novelty: they crave new and complex experiences and seek variety in all aspects of life. This is consistent with the higher rates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among business founders.

 

2. Formal education or training: Which are essential for noticing new opportunities or interpreting events as promising opportunities. Contrary to popular belief, most successful innovators are not dropout geniuses, but well-trained experts in their field. Without expertise, it is hard to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information; between noise and signals. This is consistent with research showing that entrepreneurship training does pay off.

3. Proactivity and a high degree of persistence: It enable them to exploit the opportunities they identify. The effective innovators are more driven, resilient, and energetic than their counterparts.

4. A healthy dose of prudence: This is to what extent people think, the successful innovators are more organized, cautious, and risk-averse than the general population. Although higher risk-taking is linked to business formation, it is not actually linked to business success.

5. Social Capital: Which they rely on throughout the entrepreneurial process. Serial innovators tend to use their connections and networks to mobilize resources and build strong alliances, both internally and externally. Popular accounts of entrepreneurship tend to glorify innovators as independent spirits and individualistic geniuses, but innovation is always the product of teams.

In a nutshell, entrepreneurial people tend to have innovator, which enables them to sell their ideas and strategy to others, also makes people to get new knowledge and communicate the core mission to the team.

 By:  Ulaya Sijali A. (BAPRM 42681)