What is innovation? 15 experts share their innovation definition

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What is innovation?
15 experts share their innovation definition
By Nick Skillicorn
www.Ideatovalue.com

I spoke to 15 of the world’s leading
innovation experts to get their definition of
“innovation”.
The variety in their responses may surprise
you.

What is innovation?
Innovation is truly a confusing buzzword which many people love to hate.
Every business leader agrees that it is important. But nobody can quite seem to agree on what it
actually is or what it means.
If you ask Google for an innovation definition, it is less than helpful, coming up with over 300 million
results with thousands of definitions. Its own definition is pretty much useless: “the action or process of
innovating”. Using the traditional sources for a definition such as the Oxford dictionary also doesn’t
help much, with their answer being “Make changes in something established, especially by introducing
new methods, ideas, or products”

What I did to fix this
I contacted a selection of my fellow innovation experts to see how they talk about innovation with
their clients, and compiled the results for you here. I asked them all:
1. What is your definition of “innovation”?
2. What mistake do companies often make when they talk about innovation?
3. What simple thing can a company do to change their conversation / perspective about
innovation?
(I have included all of the quotes for the definitions of innovation in this presentation. The answers to the
second and third questions provide more detail, and are available at the web address below)

The experts who contributed
• Nick Skillicorn
• David Burkus
• Stephen Shapiro
• Pete Foley
• Gijs van Wulfen
• Kevin McFarthing
• Robert Brands
• Paul Hobcraft
• Mike Shipulski
• Paul Sloane
• Jeffrey
Baumgartner
• Stefan Lindegaard
• Drew Boyd
• Michael Graber
• Jorge Barba

Nick Skillicorn
What is your definition of “innovation”:
Turning an idea into a solution that adds value from a customer’s
perspective
Nick is the chief editor of Idea to Value and also the CEO & Founder of Improvides Innovation
Consulting. He was voted one of the world’s top innovation bloggers for 2014 and is a leader in thought
leadership on the science of improving creativity. Follow his twitter: @improvides

David Burkus
The application of ideas that are novel and useful. Creativity, the
ability to generate novel and useful ideas, is the seed of innovation
but unless it’s applied and scaled it’s still just an idea.
David Burkus is a best-selling author, award-winning podcaster, and associate professor of management
at Oral Roberts University. His new book “Under New Management” is out now. Twitter: @davidburkus

Stephen Shapiro
Very simply put, innovation is about staying relevant. We are in a time
of unprecedented change. As a result, what may have helped an
organization be successful in the past could potentially be the cause of
their failure in the future. Companies need to adapt and evolve to meet
the ever changing needs of their constituents.
Stephen Shapiro is an Innovation Instigator, Hall of Fame Speaker and Author. His books include Best
Practices Are Stupid and Personality Poker. Twitter: @stephenshapiro

Pete Foley
I define the innovation process as a great idea, executed brilliantly, and communicated in a
way that is both intuitive and fully celebrates the magic of the initial concept. We need all of
these parts to succeed. Innovative ideas can be big or small, but breakthrough or disruptive
innovation is something that either creates a new category, or changes an existing one
dramatically, and obsoletes the existing market leader.
We can obsolete ourselves or someone else, and it can be ‘sexy’, or address a basic human
need – both the iPad and disposable diapers qualify for me. But it needs to either create a new
market, or radically change an existing one.
Pete Foley is a Consultant, Innovator, Artist, Scientist, Photographer, Musician, Accountant and Blogger,
with 25 years experience of Innovation and Behavioral Science in the Fortune 50. Twitter: @foley_pete

Gijs van Wulfen
An innovation is a feasible relevant offering such as a product,
service, process or experience with a viable business model that is
perceived as new and is adopted by customers.
Gijs van Wulfen is a Linkedin influencer and the author of the FORTH Innovation Methodology.
Twitter: @gijsvanwulfen

Kevin McFarthing
the introduction of new products and services that add value to the
organisation.
Kevin McFarthing was voted #1 blogger on innovation in 2015 by Innovation Excellence. He is an expert
in Innovation Management, Open Innovation and R&D. Twitter: @InnovationFixer

Robert Brands
Not an easy answer: Innovation needs to be defined and agreed
upon in each organization, making sure it is strategically and
everybody is aligned. Without it, misalignment results in less than
optimal focus and results. As long as it includes “new” and it
addresses customer needs and wants, any variation goes.
Robert Brands is known at the Innovation Coach®, is a serial entrepreneur and innovation practitioner,
workshop facilitator, author and speaker. Twitter: @innovationrules

Paul Hobcraft
the fundamental way the company brings constant value to their
customers business or life and consequently their shareholders and
stakeholders.
Paul Hobcraft has been advising numerous organisations on innovation for over 15 years and is
consistently considered one of the world’s top innovation bloggers. Twitter: @Paul4innovating

Mike Shipulski
work that delivers new goodness to new customers in new markets,
and does it in a way that radically improves the profitability
equation.
Mike Shipulski is an innovation thought leader, focusing on defining best practices and tools for Product
and Technology Development and embed them into company culture. Twitter: @MikeShipulski

Paul Sloane
Creativity is thinking of something new. Innovation is the
implementation of something new.
Paul Sloane is a Speaker, Facilitator and Author, specialising in entertaining talks & workshops on
creativity, lateral thinking & innovation. Twitter: @PaulSloane

Jeffrey Baumgartner
the implementation of creative ideas in order to generate value,
usually through increased revenues, reduced costs or both.
Jeffrey Baumgartner is an author, keynote speaker and workshop facilitator specialising in creativity and
innovation, and writer of the long-running industry newsletter Report 103. Twitter: @creativeJeffrey

Stefan Lindegaard
I try not to define “innovation” as we should tone down our use of
the word and term.
Stefan Lindegaard is the Chief Transformer at Transform – or Die! Author, speaker and advisor focusing
on corporate transformation based on digitalization, disruption and innovation. Twitter: @lindegaard

Drew Boyd
anything that is new, useful, and surprising. That last criteria,
surprising, tends to ‘surprise’ people because they usually don’t
hear many people talk about it. For me, a great innovation are the
simple ones that make you slap your forehead and say, “Gee, why
didn’t I think of that?”.
Drew Boyd is Co-author of Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results.
Innovation practitioner, professor, blogger, and speaker. Twitter: @DrewBoyd

Michael Graber
New, organic value creation by applying creativity, in-depth
relationships with consumers and customers, and new thinking.
Michael Graber is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Southern Growth Studio, and has a particular
focus on innovation, to deliver high-impact go-to-market strategies and product launches.
Twitter: @SouthernGrowth

Jorge Barba
something new or different that delivers value to the world, with
the key criteria that I’m not innovating if I’m not bettering people’s
lives. Put simply, it is the future delivered.
Jorge Barba is an innovation insurgent and a partner at Blu Maya, an innovation consultancy helping
ordinary companies become extraordinary. Twitter: @jorgebarba

Analysis of the innovation definitions
• As you can see by all of the responses above, every expert has their own views on what
innovation is and how companies can improve it. Some of them even rightly point out
that it’s become a bit of a buzzword and perhaps we shouldn’t be looking for a singular
definition as it will vary based on circumstance.
• But after going through all of the responses, it became clear that there are definitely some
underlying themes that crop up again and again.

Analysis of the most-cited aspects of
innovation according to the experts

So what is the ultimate
innovation definition?

The ultimate definition of innovation
Executing an idea which addresses a specific challenge and
achieves value for both the company and customer

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What is innovation? 15 experts share their innovation definition

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What is innovation? 15 experts share their innovation definition