Editing Innovation (section)

== Process of innovation ==
An early model included only three phases of innovation. According to Utterback (1971), these phases were: 1) idea generation, 2) problem solving, and 3) implementation.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Utterback|first=James|year=1971|title=The Process of Technological Innovation Within the Firm|journal=Academy of Management Journal|volume=14|issue=1|page=78|jstor=254712 }}</ref> By the time one completed phase 2, one had an invention, but until one got it to the point of having an economic impact, one did not have an innovation. Diffusion was not considered a phase of innovation. Focus at this point in time was on manufacturing.

A prime example of innovation involved the boom of [[Silicon Valley]] start-ups out of the [[Stanford Industrial Park]]. In 1957, dissatisfied employees of [[Shockley Semiconductor]], the company of [[Nobel laureate]] [[William Shockley]], co-inventor of the [[transistor]], left to form an independent firm, [[Fairchild Semiconductor]]. After several years, Fairchild developed into a formidable presence in the sector.{{which|date=February 2022}} Eventually, these founders left to start their own companies based on their own unique ideas, and then leading employees started their own firms. Over the next 20 years this process resulted in the momentous [[startup company|startup-company]] explosion of [[information technology|information-technology]] firms.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} Silicon Valley began as 65 new enterprises born out of Shockley's eight former employees.<ref>{{cite web |title=Silicon Valley History & Future |url=http://www.netvalley.com/svhistory.html |access-date=14 March 2016 |publisher=Netvalley.com}}</ref>

All organizations can innovate,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tohidi |first1=Hamid |last2=Jabbari |first2=Mohammad Mehdi |title=The important of Innovation and its Crucial Role in Growth, Survival and Success of Organizations |journal=Procedia Technology |date=2012 |volume=1 |pages=535–538 |doi=10.1016/j.protcy.2012.02.116 |doi-access=free}}</ref> including for example hospitals, universities, and local governments.<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=19104264|year=2009|last1=Salge|first1=T. O.|title=Hospital innovativeness and organizational performance: Evidence from English public acute care|journal=Health Care Management Review|volume=34|issue=1|pages=54–67|last2=Vera|first2=A.|doi=10.1097/01.HMR.0000342978.84307.80}}</ref> The organization requires a proper structure in order to retain competitive advantage. Organizations can also improve profits and performance by providing work groups opportunities and resources to innovate, in addition to employee's core job tasks.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=West|first1=Michael A.|year=2002|title=Sparkling Fountains or Stagnant Ponds: An Integrative Model of Creativity and Innovation Implementation in Work Groups|journal=Applied Psychology|volume=51|issue=3|pages=355–387|doi=10.1111/1464-0597.00951}}</ref> Executives and managers have been advised to break away from traditional ways of thinking and use change to their advantage.<ref>''MIT Sloan Management Review'' Spring 2002. "How to identify and build New Businesses"</ref> The world of work is changing with the increased use of technology and companies are becoming increasingly competitive. Companies will have to downsize or reengineer their operations to remain competitive. This will affect employment as businesses will be forced to reduce the number of people employed while accomplishing the same amount of work if not more.<ref>Anthony, Scott D.; Johnson, Mark W.; Sinfield, Joseph V.; Altman, Elizabeth J. (2008). ''Innovator's Guide to Growth''. "Putting Disruptive Innovation to Work". Harvard Business School Press. {{ISBN|978-1-59139-846-2}}.</ref>

For instance, former Mayor [[Martin O'Malley]] pushed the [[City of Baltimore]] to use [[CitiStat]], a [[Performance measurement|performance-measurement]] data and management system that allows city officials to maintain statistics on several areas from crime trends to the conditions of [[pothole]]s. This system aided in better evaluation of policies and procedures with accountability and efficiency in terms of time and money. In its first year, CitiStat saved the city $13.2 million.<ref>Perez, T. and Rushing R. (2007). [https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/general/reports/2007/04/23/2911/the-citistat-model-how-data-driven-government-can-increase-efficiency-and-effectiveness/ "The CitiStat Model: How Data-Driven Government Can Increase Efficiency and Effectiveness"]. ''Center for American Progress Report''. pp. 1–18.</ref> Even [[mass transit]] systems have innovated with [[hybrid vehicle|hybrid]] bus fleets to [[Real-time locating system|real-time tracking]] at bus stands. In addition, the growing use of [[mobile data terminal]]s in vehicles, that serve as communication hubs between vehicles and a control center, automatically send data on location, passenger counts, engine performance, mileage and other information. This tool helps to deliver and manage transportation systems.<ref>Transportation Research Board (2007). "Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 70: Mobile Data Terminals". pp. 1–5. [http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_syn_70.pdf TCRP (PDF)].</ref>

Still other innovative strategies include [[hospital]]s digitizing medical information in [[electronic medical records]]. For example, the [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development]]'s [[HOPE VI]] initiatives turned severely distressed [[public housing]] in urban areas into [[Urban renewal|revitalized]], mixed-income environments; the [[Harlem Children's Zone]] used a community-based approach to educate local area children; and the [[U.S. Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]]'s [[Brownfield regulation and development|brownfield grants]] facilitates turning over [[brownfield]]s for [[environmental protection]], [[Open space reserve|green spaces]], [[Community development|community]] and [[Commerce|commercial development]].
{{Further|Demand articulation}}

=== Sources of innovation ===
Innovation may occur due to effort from a range of different agents, by chance, or as a result of a major system failure. According to [[Peter F. Drucker]], the general sources of innovations are changes in industry structure, in market structure, in local and global demographics, in human perception, in the amount of available scientific knowledge, etc.<ref name="Drucker" />

[[File:Linear model of innovation.svg|thumb|Original model of three phases of the process of Technological Change]]
In the simplest [[linear model of innovation]] the traditionally recognized source is ''manufacturer innovation''. This is where a person or business innovates in order to sell the innovation.

Another source of innovation is ''end-user innovation''. This is where a person or company develops an innovation for their own (personal or in-house) use because existing products do not meet their needs. [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] economist [[Eric von Hippel]] identified end-user innovation as the most important source in his classic book on the subject, ''"The Sources of Innovation"''.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books/sources/SofI.pdf |title=The Sources of Innovation |last=Von Hippel |first=Eric |author-link=Eric von Hippel |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1988 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061012160410/http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books/sources/SofI.pdf |archive-date=12 October 2006 |access-date=3 December 2015}}</ref>

The robotics engineer [[Joseph F. Engelberger]] asserts that innovations require only three things:
# a recognized need
# competent people with relevant technology
# financial support<ref>Engelberger, J. F. (1982). "Robotics in practice: Future capabilities". ''Electronic Servicing & Technology'' magazine.</ref>

The Kline [[chain-linked model]] of innovation<ref>Kline (1985). ''Research, Invention, Innovation and Production: Models and Reality, Report INN-1'', March 1985, Mechanical Engineering Department, Stanford University.</ref> places emphasis on potential market needs as drivers of the innovation process, and describes the complex and often iterative feedback loops between marketing, design, manufacturing, and R&D.

In the 21st century the [[Islamic State]] (IS) movement, while decrying [[Bidʻah|religious innovation]]s, has innovated in military tactics, recruitment, [[ideology]] and geopolitical activity.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hashim |first1=Ahmed S. |title=The Caliphate at War: The Ideological, Organisational and Military Innovations of Islamic State |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2018 |isbn=9781849046435 |page=7}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book |last1=Scott Ligon |first1=Gina |title=Team Creativity and Innovation |last2=Derrick |first2=Douglas C. |last3=Harms |first3=Mackenzie |date=15 November 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190695323 |editor-last1=Reiter-Palmon |editor-first1=Roni |chapter=Destruction Through Collaboration: How Terrorists Work Together Toward Malevolent Innovation}}</ref>

=== Facilitating innovation ===
Innovation by businesses is achieved in many ways, with much attention now given to formal [[research and development]] (R&D) for "breakthrough innovations". R&D help spur on patents and other scientific innovations that leads to productive growth in such areas as industry, medicine, engineering, and government.<ref name="MetroPolicy">Mark, M., Katz, B., Rahman, S., and Warren, D. (2008) [https://www.brookings.edu/research/metropolicy-shaping-a-new-federal-partnership-for-a-metropolitan-nation/ ''MetroPolicy: Shaping A New Federal Partnership for a Metropolitan Nation'']. Brookings Institution: Metropolitan Policy Program Report. pp. 4–103.</ref> Yet, innovations can be developed by less formal on-the-job modifications of practice, through exchange and combination of professional experience and by many other routes. Investigation of relationship between the concepts of innovation and technology transfer revealed overlap.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286542154 |title=Perspectives on Innovation and Technology Transfer |journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences |volume=213 |pages=965–970 |author1=Dubickis, M. |author2=Gaile-Sarkane, E. |year=2015 |doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.512 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The more radical and revolutionary innovations tend to emerge from R&D, while more incremental innovations may emerge from practice – but there are many exceptions to each of these trends.

[[Information technology]] and changing business processes and management style can produce a work climate favorable to innovation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forbesindia.com/article/ie/new-trends-in-innovation-management/33905/1 |website=Forbesindia.com |publisher=Forbes India Magazine |title= New Trends in Innovation Management |access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref> For example, the software tool company [[Atlassian]] conducts quarterly "ShipIt Days" in which employees may work on anything related to the company's products.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.atlassian.com/company/about/shipit |title=ShipIt Days |publisher=Atlassian |access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref> Google employees work on self-directed projects for 20% of their time (known as [[Innovation Time Off]]). Both companies cite these bottom-up processes as major sources for new products and features.

An important innovation factor includes customers buying products or using services. As a result, organizations may incorporate users in [[focus group]]s (user centered approach), work closely with so-called [[lead users]] (lead user approach), or users might adapt their products themselves. The lead user method focuses on idea generation based on leading users to develop breakthrough innovations. U-STIR, a project to innovate [[Europe]]'s surface [[transportation]] system, employs such workshops.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.u-stir.eu/index.phtml?id=2537&ID1=2537&sprache=en |title=U-STIR |publisher=U-stir.eu |access-date=7 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110918055455/http://www.u-stir.eu/index.phtml?id=2537&ID1=2537&sprache=en |archive-date=18 September 2011}}</ref> Regarding this [[user innovation]], a great deal of innovation is done by those actually implementing and using technologies and products as part of their normal activities. Sometimes user-innovators may become [[entrepreneur]]s, selling their product, they may choose to trade their innovation in exchange for other innovations, or they may be adopted by their suppliers. Nowadays, they may also choose to freely reveal their innovations, using methods like [[Open-source model|open source]]. In such networks of innovation the users or communities of users can further develop technologies and reinvent their social meaning.<ref>Tuomi, I. (2002). ''Networks of Innovation''. Oxford University Press. [http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199256983 Networks of Innovation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105071932/http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780199256983 |date=5 November 2007 }}</ref><ref>Siltala, R. (2010). [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/innovativity-cooperative-learning-business-life-teaching-siltala ''Innovativity and cooperative learning in business life and teaching'']. PhD thesis. University of Turku.</ref>

One technique for innovating a solution to an identified problem is to actually attempt an experiment with many possible solutions.<ref>[https://medium.com/the-mission/forget-about-the-10-000-hour-rule-7b7a39343523 Forget The 10,000-Hour Rule; Edison, Bezos, & Zuckerberg Follow The 10,000-Experiment Rule]. Medium.com (26 October 2017). Retrieved 16 October 2018.</ref> This technique was famously used by [[Thomas Edison|Thomas Edison's]] laboratory to find a version of the [[incandescent light bulb]] economically viable for home use, which involved searching through thousands of possible [[electrical filament|filament]] designs before settling on carbonized bamboo.

This technique is sometimes used in pharmaceutical [[drug discovery]]. Thousands of chemical compounds are subjected to [[high-throughput screening]] to see if they have any activity against a target molecule which has been identified as biologically significant to a disease. Promising compounds can then be studied; modified to improve efficacy and reduce side effects, evaluated for cost of manufacture; and if successful turned into treatments.

The related technique of [[A/B testing]] is often used to help optimize the design of [[web site]]s and [[mobile app]]s. This is used by major sites such as [[amazon.com]], [[Facebook]], [[Google]], and [[Netflix]].<ref name="fastcompany">[https://www.fastcompany.com/3063846/why-these-tech-companies-keep-running-thousands-of-failed Why These Tech Companies Keep Running Thousands Of Failed Experiments]. Fast Company.com (21 September 2016). Retrieved 16 October 2018.</ref> [[Procter & Gamble]] uses computer-simulated products and online user panels to conduct larger numbers of experiments to guide the design, packaging, and shelf placement of consumer products.<ref>[https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/strategy_consumer_products_simulation_advantage/ Simulation Advantage]. Bcgperspectives.com (4 August 2010). Retrieved 16 October 2018.</ref> [[Capital One]] uses this technique to drive credit card marketing offers.<ref name="fastcompany" />