Innovation can no longer be the preserve of the traditional notion of science-and technology-based ‘invention’ or new knowledge creation. This model, dominant during the 20th century, is being replaced by the concept of innovation as bringing together existing knowledge and combing this to create something new. When innovation was framed on the Edison or Marconi model of product invention, there was an underlying assumption that improvement equated to technology advancement. But today, innovation is as much about new services, value propositions and business models. Pioneering medical services in India for example, have radically reduced the costs and improved the quality of cardiac and cataract surgery not through the introduction of breakthrough technologies, but by reorganising activity systems. And, although they may not be some of the world’s favorite airlines, the new business models adopted by low-cost carriers, has made them some of the world’s largest and most profitable.
At the same time, the notion that innovations that are still technology-based, have to be bleeding edge is no longer true. The most successful and widely adopted innovations aren’t always the ones pursuing ever greater functionality. Take one of the biggest success stories in mobile telecoms over the last decade. It wasn’t the much hyped (and extremely costly to providers) 3G platform which offered bleeding edge mobile internet services, but a very simple and crude data service called SMS, or text messaging that captured people’s imagination and had a radical impact on the way we communicate.
To read the full, original article click on this link: Staying Ahead When Innovation Itself Is Changing | Fast Company
