The changing nature of innovation

OVERVIEW: Innovation goes beyond mere invention to mean the creative application of technologies, processes or ideas to some useful purpose. Innovation is becoming a highly valued commodity, viewed as key to competitiveness and economic growth. As a result, pressure is increasing to identify areas that present the greatest opportunity for innovation and to develop models to accelerate the pace of innovation. The emergence of the Internet and open standards is spawning those new models, allowing for the integration of businesses and business processes from an ecosystem of outside suppliers. This mirrors the effect that standardization and interchangeability of parts had on traditional manufacturing companies as they evolved to integrators of others' technologies. This is a natural evolution, but often a challenging environment for R&D. It requires a higher degree of collaboration and a willingness to abandon the "not invented here" mentality to ensure continued relevance of R&D organizations. © 2005 Industrial Research Institute, Inc.