Innovation Differs from the "Tried and True"

Things are changing out there. Some of what you learned in business school you might need to forget in order to innovate. Read this story about how the University of Arizona and some Arizona companies are approaching the innovation process.

More and more, established businesses, emerging ones and even governments are turning in calculated ways to a strategy of innovation. The word is almost trendy, on the lips of speechmakers and in bestseller titles.

But the idea of innovation is no fad. As low-cost manufacturing moves overseas and the United States pins its economic future on knowledge jobs, businesses and states like Arizona increasingly are looking to new products and services to jump-start their growth.

Coming up with something new and successful historically has meant new jobs, new companies and new wealth for those who invested their time, brains and money in it. The safety razor, the hydraulic brake and the heart valve are among innovations developed by entrepreneurial firms that became big markets.

But what is innovation, and how do you recognize and foster it?

Innovation is more than an invention or an idea, experts say, because too often those sit on a shelf, unneeded and unwanted. An innovator takes the idea and applies it in a way that benefits people and, for a business, makes money.

"It's the second step after the invention," said Mark Dean, an IBM Corp. fellow in Tucson and vice president of storage technology at the tech giant. "The invention might not yet have a context or a benefit, but the person who can take that and apply it to solve a problem is usually what I call innovative."

Among the factors that spur innovation:

• Diversity, either in people's backgrounds or their experiences. Making a connection between an idea in one industry and a problem in another is one way to be innovative.

• Competition. Workers should compete to come up with the best innovation; in sports, many people enjoy playing with someone who is better than they are.

• Getting to know customers. Innovation comes from solving a customer's problem or finding ways to make it easier for customers to do business with you.

• A culture of experimentation, or freedom to explore. Innovation is risky, and not every attempt succeeds. Even if the improvements are incremental, cultures that foster experimentation get people familiar with change.

• Patience and persistence. Innovation is an iterative process that takes time.

• Recognition and reward. Many innovators want to be recognized by their peers, and the rewards help compensate families for their support.

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