In today’s global economy, to be successful you need to invent or innovate.
Invention is about creating something new, while innovation is a concept that uses an idea or method that causes changes in behavior or interactions.
Companies often claim that they are innovation leaders by showing a few patents as proof. Patents are evidence of invention. But it is not necessary that all these patents have been for ‘use’ to influence a product or an industry. Such patents are not innovative. If innovation refers to the ‘use’ of a new method and qualifies the change in behaviour, processes or the business, then it is about innovation. Most innovations are evolutionary changes to existing processes, uses, or functions that are improved by an existing invention.
The best example is that of Apple’s iPhone, which created a revolutionary innovation from being a stuck mobile phone to a redesigned user interface screen that accommodated media content, telecommunications, licensing, application development and unified everything under one roof.
Many inventions are made for a totally different purpose than the one for which it is actually used. As an example, Alexander Graham Bell thought that the telephone would be used for listening and that Edison invented the phonograph for taking dictation. That people ended up using them, to talk to each other and to listen to music, surprised the inventors.
Definition
To innovate is to take an existing concept and improve it or make a significant contribution to something that has already been invented. The best example to cite innovation is Steve Jobs’s iPod. While the iPod wasn’t the first portable music device or the first MP3 player, the innovation was the easy-to-use ecosystem that unified music and put it on a single device and linked to a platform that effortlessly updated music. .
To invent is to make or create something completely new, something that did not exist at all or that introduces a process for the first time.
Difference Between Invention and Innovation
Take the case of the first Vacuum Cleaner which was invented by Murray Spengler who is little known for his invention, thanks to WH Hoover who marketed and sold them and was the innovator of this ‘electric suction sweeper’
Similar is the case with modern telegraphy, where Samuel Morse invented the code and other inventions came from others. Morse spreads the concept of linking people separated by distances, and his combination of political and marketing skills made his name famous.
An example of this is that of the inventor of the Elias Howe sewing machine. But he was unable to sell his ideas despite traveling to England and finally, when he returned to the US, he discovered that Isaac Singer had stolen the patient and built a successful business. Although Singer paid royalties to Howe, many associate the sewing machine with the innovative Singer and not Howe.
Although innovation is seen as a powerful way to secure a competitive advantage, success is not always guaranteed.
Like for example, considering the case of Motorola’s ambitious venture to offer mobile communications from literally anywhere on the planet, be it Mount Everest or the South Pole, it was a huge draw. All networks were established to put 88 satellites into orbit at a cost of $7 billion. The dilemma was that people realized that they did not make many calls from the South Pole or from remote islands and that their requirement was met by less expensive mobile networks. In addition, Motorola phones were large and clunky due to the complexity of the electronics, and their call rates were very expensive. When nothing worked, the company filed for bankruptcy, but still its troubles were far from over. Satellites put into orbit cost $2 million a month to maintain. Since no other telecommunications company was interested in taking advantage of these satellites, Motorola chipped in $50 million to deorbit and safely destroy them. This was also criticized by NASA as posing a nuclear threat.
So too, the ‘Ford’ automobile was one such flop when it was first released in 1952. To make it road-worthy, the production line had to spend twice the cost of the vehicle, and when it did, the campaign marketing in a live TV space. , the car did not start. Consumer disregard for the design led the company to abandon the car.
The Innovation must have the objective that it looks different or its application is such that it is as good as a new Invention.
