The word “innovation” is hardly a new term. It’s now often used as a buzzword and can be heard everywhere: “Nissan — Innovation that excites”; “Innovation from the L’Oréal”; “Toshiba – Leading Innovation”; “ASUS – Inspiring Innovation – Persistent Perfection”; “Fujifim – Value from Innovation”; “NEC – Empowered by Innovation” etc. As well as all those innovations in beauty, plumbing, railways and so on and so forth, — thousands of them.
Innovations of cars, mobile and consumer electronics advertising attack the wallets of consumers with a special vengeance and zeal. Undoubtedly, the word “innovations” in advertising is also a kind of its own innovation. Innovation is exactly what is needed to come and rescue companies and their desire to regularly update products.
But it doesn’t mean that companies are actually engaged in the innovation process – new products emerge faster than discoveries. Therefore, “innovation” is used to convince consumers in the exclusivity of products and services, thus concealing the mediocrity and ordinariness of progress. After all, it’s much easier for companies to say what they’re doing is indeed innovative, but not every change can be considered innovation.
Words definitely do matter and to define the term, I would propose to refer to the words of Bob Iofis who is an experienced professional in the Silicon Valley high-tech industry with over 20 years of technological engineering experience in the semiconductor equipment industry and nanotechnology:
“There is no universal definition of an innovation, but it’s possible and important to give a utilitarian explanation and act in accordance with it to give a total orientation to the process. Criteria should be simple and clear.
Only the results of scientific and technological activities that can be sold in the global market should be recognized as the innovation. Criteria of the scientific and technological activities results are also simple. This is a “global novelty” (essentiality) and “level,” confirmed by patents. Thus, a patent is generally a recognized unit of technical solutions with a global novelty (TP). […] The rest is nothing more than business solutions.”
It turns out that innovation is something more than just another modest change in the form of a smartphone or a new flavor of soda. Innovations create new markets, as well as modify different companies, industries and communities. It’s a label, which is used to analyze the radical changes having already occurred.
Taking all stated above into consideration, innovation must be taken back from marketing specialists and consultants and brought to enthusiasts and entrepreneurs and for those who intend to elaborate something new, but not only because new products or services should look fresh and updated, but because no one else has done it before. Or perhaps it’s because it’s just the simple desire to explore and create.
