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As an innovation consultant defining innovation is a central challenge for me, day to day.

Defining innovation is a necessary challenge for every company in order to give the term real impact and prevent it from becoming an ineffective empty phrase, which means that there will be various definitions, which will also change over time.

I even made a pragmatic attempt in an (early) episode of my “Smart Innovation” podcast about it - there is also a full transcript to read (German/original & English/Google Translate).

Here is an excerpt to start:

“If you search for innovation on Google, you will find very, very, very, very many results and you actually get the impression that the word is sometimes used in an inflationary way. Is it therefore just a buzzword, an empty phrase?

I don't believe so. In a certain way it has of course become a timeless fashion, and I personally think that's a good thing. Because especially in a time when there is rapid change in many, many areas, it is necessary that we know how we have to deal with this change, how we have to deal with the changes, how we can actively make something of it, how we actively design and create new things. And that is a very, very central topic for me in the area of ​​innovation. At the start of the podcast I thought to myself: It's a good idea to define the word innovation, the topic of innovation. Because it is a constant challenge for every company to fill the term with life and then give it real impact. Because if we don't talk about what we collectively understand by the terms we use, the potential for talking past each other is huge. And especially in a topic as open and broad as innovation, it happens very quickly that we talk about apples and oranges and talk past each other in the company and forget what we could actually achieve if we were in the same boat. So it happens again and again that innovation doesn't happen just because the definition of the word is not clear in the organization and is clarified the same for everyone. The topic is so important to me that it belongs in a podcast about innovations. 

Whenever several people come together, we have to develop a common idea about the things we are dealing with. So that we share the same vision and beliefs, so that we can actually develop actions from the ideas we have about a topic. So that we use the time wisely, use the energy we have wisely, to actually reach a goal and then move together in the same direction. I am not a scientist myself and will not go through the entire history of innovation research in this episode. I will therefore try to make a pragmatic attempt at definition.

If we just look at the word, we see that innovation is female: Innovation, says the Duden. Origin is from Late Latin, meaning renewal, change or innovare, renew, change, do something new. And it also has the core, the Latin core novus, new, in it. If we then look a little further for definitions, we quickly come to a point where we find words like planned and controlled change, innovation in a social system through the application of new ideas and techniques. Or something like: introduction of something new, an innovation, a reform.

What I also really like is: the realization. Realization of a novel, advanced solution to a specific problem, especially the introduction of a new product or the application of a new process. The word realization is already in this sentence. It's not about having a new idea, new ideas that don't actually want to be led towards implementation, towards realization. The topic of realization is a very, very central element of innovation, after we have done many things beforehand to give ourselves security on this path, security during implementation.“

This is so thoughtful and well-written! Lots to think about here, and really appreciate how you took time to share these thoughts.

For me, innovation means continuously thinking about how we can solve our customer challenges in a way that is fundamentally different from what they know already, but fits their needs. I like the Venn diagram about innovation, where innovation is created where user desirability, business viability and technical feasibility meet. We use prioritization frameworks and an initiative one-pager that includes these aspects, to rate whether our ideas fit the needs.

I believe structured & continuous innovation is only possible with the right mindset in the organization. We have Product & UX Fridays, where we exchange knowledge (watching a video & commenting) and use agile work frameworks to support continous improvement both on tactical and strategic level. And of course, we use Miro (lately Miro AI, too), to leverage tools for collaboration and higher efficiency, making innovation processes smooth and elegant.

To me, innovation isn't just about big breakthroughs; it's about looking at an old problem in a new way. It’s about daring to step off the well-trodden path and forge a new one when the usual routes don’t lead to where you need to go. For instance, I’ve started several projects where I had to think outside the box to gather people, resources, or even ideas that weren’t initially on the radar, all because I wanted to achieve something that hadn’t been done before in our group. For me, innovation is really about knowing what you want to achieve and being brave enough to chase after it, no matter the odds. It’s about crafting your own path to make things happen.

If doing something in a different way makes life simpler, to me that’s innovation. It doesn’t have to reinvent the whole world, rather, the simplest of things!

Recently, with growing AI usage, life has become very interesting. At work, testing the various AI tools for their functionalities is a major part of innovation for me. The recent Miro Assist is nothing short of amazing and has only made Miro much more indispensable (as though it wasn’t attractive before💫). I use it as a thought starter and a thought partner to handle anything from the most mundane of tasks to ideating a new creative concept. 

To me, this is innovation! What took a lot time and efforts earlier has become much more efficient and simple now with this magic button🌈 Miro Assist. This is a live example of innovation that I can’t imagine life without! 

Thanks so much for these kind words, @Deepa Srinivasan! Love to see it! 

The most important element of innovation is a well-defined problem.

For me, innovation occurs when we push beyond the initial layer of common ideas. During brainstorming sessions, the first solutions that come up are usually familiar opinions and known approaches. The real challenge lies in encouraging everyone to move past these initial answers and delve deeper into more creative and unconventional solutions. This process of pushing boundaries is where true innovation happens.

Innovation is not only create new things. Innovation to me is find new ways to do things that are already been made but in a creative way. Is an opportunity to do the best for the business, in a intelligent way.
innovation is a behavior. Is a mentality of doing peoples lives better.

Hi @Petra Ivanigova 

Would really like to hear more about this Eisenhower matrix, not familiar with it. There’s so many useful workflow frameworks that not everyone knows about. Will definitely look this up. 

To me, innovation requires challenging the status quo and trying solutions that may not work. It’s about failing forward. It’s about being comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s about taking an iterative approach to consistently build a continuous cycle of improvement and never settling for your first idea or your first draft. Plan, do, check, adjust, plan, do, check, adjust, plan, do, check...