How do you define innovation?

MI2's Definition of Innovation

Innovation occurs when people see, think and do differently, creating something discontinuously different and valuable.

Key Points:

• The term "innovation" can be used to refer to the process that unfolds or the result that emerges.
• Seeing and thinking differently are commonly referred to as imagination, insight or creativity.
• Innovation requires both creative thinking and action to create something new. It is possible to be creative without being innovative if you never act on your ideas.
• Innovation has the quality of being discontinuously different; that is, it challenges some norm, tradition, or mental model. It is different from incremental improvement. Not all change is innovation.
  • For example, a health clinic that has reduced the amount of time a patient has to sit in the waiting room before being called back to see the provider has made an incremental change. The patient still has to physically come to the provider's location, sit in the waiting area, and meet face-to-face with the provider. However, the first providers to offer virtual visits over the internet (i.e., telehealth) did something discontinuously different. These approaches challenged traditional thinking about the need for physical presence, waiting areas, and face-to-face interaction. That's innovation!
• The notion of discontinuously different is linked to context. Something that has become standard practice in one industry or setting might be discontinuously different in another.
  • For example, drive-through windows are common in providing service in the fast-food and dry cleaning industries. The first health systems to offer drive-through flu shots were innovators in the context of healthcare delivery.
• In the end, any change that makes something better is good, and the distinction between incremental improvement and innovation is more shades of grey than absolute.
• The value of an innovation can be judged along any of a variety of dimensions; for example, better outcomes, lower cost, positive experience, error reduction and so on. 
• Something cannot be legitimately called an innovation until its value is evidenced. Therefore, innovation always entails some level of risk; you have to try something before you can know if it will work.

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