Editing Innovation (section)

=== 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" />