Both are creative acts, but invention and innovation are very different in the details.
Innovation and invention are often seen as the same thing. Great inventors are called innovators, innovators are praised for inventing things, and it creates a sort of murk around both topics that’s important to clear up. Innovation and invention are two different things that interact but aren’t the same.
What Is Invention?
Invention is the act of creating something out of thin air. Inventions are, by definition, wholly original, something that the world hasn’t seen before. And it’s not necessarily a good thing, either!
The problem with invention is that more often than not, things are invented for their own sake. Many inventors come up with an idea and execute it, sometimes brilliantly. But invention rarely considers the question of just what the invention is to be used for. Sure, it’s neat if you build something entirely new, and it’s a feather in your intellectual cap, but many inventions are solutions in search of problems.
This is a relentless problem in the tech industry, once you become aware of it. Big box stores and consumer electronics shows are filled with brilliantly engineered devices and ideas that are desperate for somebody, anybody, to spot a problem they can solve. And remember, problems can be relative — just walk into any kitchen store, or turn on the television and find an infomercial. In fact, infomercials are often instructive, as they’re trying to sell tools created to help the elderly and those managing a disability as consumer products for people who don’t need them. It’s a brilliant invention that solves a problem, just not a problem most of us have.
Invention starts the process, but innovation finishes it.
What Is Innovation?
Innovation is best defined as using ideas and solutions at hand to overcome challenges. You and your team sit down, look at a challenge, and begin putting together ideas to overcome it. This might involve tracking down a bunch of inventions and putting them together to form a solution. It might even involve, depending on the rarity and extremity of the problem, some invention. Thomas Edison didn’t invent the light bulb, contrary to popular belief and what he told any journalist who’d listen. What he did do was the hard work of making the electric light bulb a viable, economical device for most of us. He created thousands of prototypes to find the exact mixture of metals and engineering to put a light bulb in every house in America.
That is often the bright line between invention and innovation. Invention can be done for its own sake, while innovation is almost exclusively done in service to overcoming a challenge. Necessity is not the mother of invention so much as it is the mother of innovation. It’s one thing to invent something that does something out of whole cloth, and it may even be practical. But often inventions only find their use when there’s an innovation.
This isn’t to say either is bad or you shouldn’t focus on both. Instead, you should remember that both have their place. There’s no innovation without invention, and vice versa, but they have different aims. To learn more about invention and innovation, request a demo of the Ideascale platform!
