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The terms ‘innovation’ and ‘invention’ might sound somewhat similar, but they play very different roles in how businesses grow and drive value.
In short, invention is about creating something new, while innovation is about applying it to solve a problem.
Understanding the differences and why they’re essential to business growth makes all the difference in the way businesses leverage invention and innovation.
While both words are often used interchangeably, they’re quite different from one another. They play unique roles in driving change and advancement.
So, let’s take a closer look at invention and innovation. We’ll give you some examples of innovation and invention, too!
What is invention?
An invention involves creating something that didn’t exist before. It’s a completely new creation, a product of research, experimentation, and creativity.
It’s the proverbial spark that finds a way to bridge creativity and reality.
When you invent something, you create something (a product or a process) that has never existed before. Think Thomas Alva Edison, or the Wright Brothers, famously known for their inventions.
What is innovation?
An innovation involves improving or building on an existing invention. It’s how you improve, refine, or apply an invention to build something else.
If invention is the spark, innovation is the fire which uses that spark to solve adjacent issues and create value. It’s when ideas evolve, or someone makes a significant contribution, or implements an idea to create value.
For instance, Steve Jobs was a pioneer of entrepreneurial innovation. While he didn’t invent the computer, the MP3 or the smartphone, he revolutionized the design, usability, and experience of these inventions.
Examples of innovation and invention
Why don’t we break these two down a little more? Let’s take a look at some real-world examples of innovation and invention.
The First Computer vs Modern Devices
Think about the first computer. That’s an invention. But laptops, tablets, cloud computing, etc., are innovations based on that invention.
The First Television vs Streaming Platforms
The first television was an invention, but streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube are innovations that redefined the way we consume content.
The Internet vs Online Services
The internet, which has become an irreplaceable part of our lives, is an invention. The innovation is utilizing it for communication, e-commerce, information sharing, social networking, and everything else!
As you can see, innovation and invention are closely tied to advancements and improvements in the quality of life. They’re clearly interconnected, driving each other to revolutionize life as we know it.
Join the world’s most innovative brands using our end-to-end innovation management tools.
Invention vs Innovation in the Industry
In today’s world, invention and innovation together pave the way for progress. Invention creates breakthroughs, which innovation adapts and applies to solve the challenges that businesses face.
But what does this mean in the business realm?
- Product inventions are new materials, devices, or technologies. Product innovation involves building on these inventions to create market-ready offerings, driving value.
For instance, after the camera was invented, innovation has scaled it digitally, creating facial recognition capabilities, storytelling platforms (like Instagram and TikTok), and more. - Process inventions redefine the way we see production or delivery, inventing new machinery, algorithms, or rewiring processes.
Process innovations are quiet revolutions with immense impact, which involve using these inventions to make operations more seamless, efficient, and profitable.
For example, inventions in robotics led to the creation of cobots (collaborative robots) and smart factories.
- In business models, invention and innovation can redefine what it means to deliver value.
Inventions introduce new ways to capture, deliver or monetise value. Innovation takes these inventions, reviews and refines them to create value in the market.
For example, subscription models completely changed the way companies charged for goods or services. That’s a business model invention, which innovation built on to create pricing tiers, offer bundles, and digital platforms to make subscription management easier. Talk about creative problem solving!
So, be it creating new products, optimizing processes, or redefining business models, invention and innovation are pivotal to the success of these initiatives.
Why Businesses Need Innovation and Invention to Succeed
Well, that leaves us with one question:
“Do businesses need both innovation and invention?”
Yes, they do!
The most successful businesses don’t see it as ‘innovation vs invention’, often mastering both.
If they want to stay ahead of the curve, businesses need ‘invention’ to constantly create new opportunities, and ‘innovation’ to scale them effectively.
In order to stay relevant in today’s world, it’s not just about ‘inventing’ the next big thing, but also about consistently innovating it.
A successful innovation lifecycle has five stages:
- Ideation, which explores new possibilities.
- Research and Analysis, which evaluates and validates if what you’re pursuing is worthwhile.
- Development and Testing, which refines the chosen idea.
- Implementation and Introduction, where the product is introduced to the market.
- Re-innovation, which involves continuous improvement, ensuring relevance.
Together, with these stages constantly in play, innovation and invention can ensure long-term value is delivered, rather than one-hit wonders.
That’s why employing powerful innovation software like edison365, to ensure visibility, add structure, and bridge the gap between creativity and execution, tends to be transformative for businesses. For instance, edison365 ensures no idea is lost, helps you evaluate the expected benefits and risks involved, and empowers you to focus your time and efforts on the right ideas.
Join the world’s most innovative brands using our end-to-end innovation management tools.
How Businesses Foster Innovation and Invention
We’ve established that leveraging the innovation lifecycle can help businesses enhance the way they deliver value. Businesses need to foster both innovation and invention to ensure long-term success.
But how do they do it? Here are 6 ways to do that.
- Make innovation a strategic goal. Weaving innovation and invention into the strategy instead of treating them like side projects would ensure your business objectives deliver value.
- Build a culture of innovation. This means empowering employees to think outside the box for solutions, celebrating their wins, and encouraging them to fail intelligently. When creative problem solving is actively encouraged, it becomes a habit.
- Bring teams together and foster collaboration. Building cross-functional teams can bring new perspectives to the table, opening up new avenues for invention and innovation.
- Leveraging the right tools and structured processes to collate, evaluate and implement ideas. Many ideas don’t make it out of inboxes. Leveraging end-to-end tools like edison365 can ensure your ideas are captured, evaluated, and implemented.
- Recognize and reward. Everyone loves an applause (and a good reward, of course), so taking time to recognize efforts, lessons and success can go a long way.
Recommended read: Our Complete Guide to Innovation Management
Final thoughts on Innovation vs Invention
Businesses need to understand that invention and innovation are both integral to their success. Understanding the difference between the two and taking steps to ensure that teams are equipped and empowered to do both is essential. By leveraging the right tools and resources, businesses can truly transform the way they innovate.
Join the world’s most innovative brands using our end-to-end innovation management tools.
Incorporating methods like gamification into your culture can improve engagement. Gamification gives your users more reasons to interact, and all the online validation they’ll get should keep them coming back for more. If you’re being creative with your rewards, the engagement would stay high.
With increased stress and burnout becoming everyday issues, policies like hybrid working or 4-day work week can improve employee well-being.
A recent Gartner poll revealed that only 16% of companies leverage technology to empower progress and engagement. Using employee engagement software like edison365 to enhance your employee engagement strategy can help you drive innovation, enhance productivity and create a truly inspiring workplace.
So, make sure you keep an eye out for ways to keep your people engaged!
FAQs
1. What’s the difference between innovation and invention?
Invention creates, while innovation applies.
Invention is all about creating something new, like a product or a process that didn’t exist before. But innovation is about applying or improving an existing invention to deliver value.
2. How does innovation build on invention?
Innovation takes the foundation of an invention and builds on it to solve issues. Invention is the breakthrough, giving innovation ‘new material’ to find ways to solve problems, improve processes, or refine experiences.
Basically, innovation turns invention into impact.
3. Can you innovate without inventing?
Of course! In recent times, many organizations are innovating without inventing. So, instead of creating something entirely new, they’re improving, adapting or reapplying existing ideas innovatively, creating value.
For instance, innovation changed traditional banking apps to mobile banking apps. Hotels have now evolved into experience-stays, changing the way the industry created value entirely. Innovation in food delivery has integrated real-time tracking and subscription models.
None of these innovation examples involve ‘new’ inventions. They’re just smarter, more customer-focused innovations.
