What is innovation and what is innovating for?

INNOVATION: DEFINITION AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

A'innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process, a new marketing method, or a new organizational method with respect to business practices, workplace or external relations.

This is the definition of innovation according to theOECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) and the European Commission. According to Treccani

the act, the work of innovating, that is, of introducing new systems, new regulations, new production methods.

In a nutshell, innovating means creating a change in order to improve an existing state of affairs and bring about shared benefits.

Steve Jobs he said "Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”. If you innovate, you will be a leader in your sector, in your market… if you don't innovate, you are forced to pursue, to be a follower.

Innovating means having an eye to the future.

Get out of the comfort zone

The innovation brings with it a consequence: to get out of one's own comfort zones.

What surrounds us, even the world of work, is constantly changing. Changes generate opportunity (for example, consumer needs may change), and companies and professionals are called to constantly look at the market, pay attention to customer needs, understand how the market is responding and think about the still unexplored possibilities.

It's the only way to stay ahead of the competition and position yourself on tomorrow's markets.

Therefore, the concept that must enter our way of thinking is that innovation is not just a challenge. Innovation is above all a necessity, and for this reason it must become a strategic priority for companies.

Innovation and evolution

Talking about evolution and changes, an oft-quoted quotation mark is: “It is not the strongest or most intelligent species that survives, but the one that adapts best to change”. The sentence is mistakenly attributed to Charles Darwin.

In Darwin's writings, especially "The Origin of Species", this phrase never appears. The quote is to be attributed to Leon C. Megginson, professor of Management & Marketing at the University of Louisiana, who in one of his essays on business (Lessons from Europe for American Business) wrote:

According to Darwin's Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.

Therefore, even if the phrase is not from the famous evolutionist, its meaning is consistent with his theories.

As we have seen before, the concept of innovation it recalls another concept which is that of necessity. Evolution works the same way, as far as the game is concerned survival of the species. 

Even the survival of the company is at stake, because innovating is the only way to have a competitive advantage on the competition and project your business into the future.