UNIT 4.

INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Definition of Invention:

The term ‘invention’, is defined as the act of creating, designing or discovering a device, method,
process, that has not existed before. In finer terms, it is a novel scientific idea conceived through
research and experimentation that turns into a tangible object. It can be a new process of
producing a product or may be an improvement upon a product or a new product.

Inventions can be patented, as it provides security to the inventor, for intellectual property rights,
and also identifies it as an actual invention. Further, different countries have different rules for
obtaining the patent and the process is also costly. To be patented, the invention must be novel,
have value and non-obvious.

Definition of Innovation:

The word ‘innovation’ itself signifies its meaning, as the transformation of an idea into reality. In
the purest sense, innovation can be described as a change that adds value to the products or
services; that fulfills the needs of the customers. It is when something new and effective is
introduced to the market that fulfills the needs of the customers by delivering better products and
services.

Innovation can be an introduction or development of new product, process, technology, service

or improving/redesigning the existing ones that provide solutions to the current market
requirements. All the process that help in the generation of the new idea and translating it into
the products demanded by the customers are covered under innovation.

Example

The invention of the motorcycle was the biggest innovation over scooters. In early centuries,
people used to travel with scooters, for which they have to make lots of efforts to start it like they
need to strike the kick and knee down from either side if it doesn’t start. So, years and years
passed away, and nobody even thought for the invention of bikes. The invention of the
motorcycle make them realize that they can also ride bikes without making any extra efforts,
they just have to click the switch and its starts automatically. In this example, the thought of
creation of a new travelling motorcycle is creativity, but the actual invention of it is innovation.
Definition of Creativity:

Creativity is the characteristic of a person to generate new ideas, alternatives, solutions, and
possibilities in a unique and different way.

Creativity is the ability to conceive something unpredictable, original and unique. It must be
expressive, exciting and imaginative. It is the mirror of how beautifully a person can think in any
given circumstance.

It is not genetic but can be developed if someone keeps on learning and comprehending things
with a rare and exclusive perception. Creativity is a brainstorming and mind-blogging activity in
which a person has to think beyond his imagination for bringing something worthwhile. It is an
activity of unveiling something which was previously hidden.

Key Differences between Creativity and Innovation

The following are the major differences between Creativity and Innovation:

1. The quality of thinking new ideas and putting them into reality is creativity. The act of
executing the creative ideas into practice is innovation.
2. Creativity is an imaginative process as opposed to innovation is a productive process.
3. Creativity can never be measured, but Innovation can be measured.
4. Creativity is related to the generation of ideas which are new and unique. Conversely,
Innovation is related to introduce something better into the market.
5. Creativity does not require money. On the other hand, innovation requires money. 6.
There is no risk involved in creativity, whereas the risk is always attached to innovation.

Key Differences between Invention and Innovation

The following are major differences between invention and innovation:

1. The occurrence of an idea for a product or process that has never been made before is
called the invention. The implementation of the idea for product or process for the very
first time is called innovation.
 2. The invention is related to the creation of new product. On the other hand, innovation
means adding value or making a change in the existing product.

3. The invention is coming up with a fresh idea and how it works in theory. As opposed to
innovation, is all about practical implementation of the new idea.
4. The invention requires scientific skills. Unlike innovation, which requires a broad set of
marketing, technical and strategic skills.
5. The invention occurs when a new idea strikes a scientist. Conversely, innovation arises
when a need realized for a new product or improvisation in the existing product. 6. The
invention is concerned with a single product or process. As against this, innovation focuses
on the combination of various products and services.
7. While the invention is limited to research and development department of the
organization. Innovation is spread all over the organization.

Design Thinking

In simple terms, Design Thinking is a methodology that aims to tackle highly complex problems.

Complex problems—otherwise known as “wicked” problems— are those that are difficult to
define and cannot be solved using standard methods and approaches. They are the opposite of
“tame” problems, which can be solved by applying a tried-and-tested algorithm or logic.

Let’s explore wicked vs. tame problems in more detail now.

Wicked vs. tame problems

Let’s imagine you’re holding a dinner party for six people. You’ve picked out a recipe for potato
soup and you’ve bought all the necessary ingredients.
At the last minute, one of your guests asks if they can bring three friends along; you now need
enough potato soup for nine people! Fortunately, this problem is easily solved—you’ll simply
multiply the quantities of each ingredient on the recipe in order to make more soup.

This is an example of a tame problem. Based on what you know about cooking, and by applying
some simple math, you are quickly able to find a solution.
Wicked problems, on the other hand, have no known solution or algorithm. In fact, the more you
try to solve a wicked problem, the more problems you expose!

Unlike our “tame” dinner party conundrum, wicked problems don’t have a final solution. Things
like climate change, poverty, and world hunger are often-cited examples of wicked problems;
they need to be tackled from multiple angles, and rather than looking for a single answer, they
require a response that anticipates how the problem might evolve and mutate.

Wicked problems are everywhere in business, too. Whether it’s reinventing an entire business
model, trying to maintain your startup culture as the business grows, working out how to please a
new customer group, or resolving conflict between different departments—none of these
scenarios has a simple, tried-and-tested solution. They are complex, wicked problems that
require Design Thinking!

Design Thinking fosters an outside-the-box approach, with huge emphasis on creativity,

innovation, and the needs of the user.

The Design Thinking process is used to apply the Design Thinking ideology to real-world,
wicked problems. It offers a solution-based approach to problem-solving.

Unlike problem-based thinking, which tends to fixate on obstacles and limitations, the Design
Thinking process is all about outcomes. It provides a non-linear series of steps that you can
follow to come up with innovative, actionable ideas..

Now we know what kinds of wicked problems we’re up against, let’s see what the Design
Thinking process looks like in action.

The Design thinking process in action

The Design Thinking process can be applied to many different contexts—it’s not just about
developing the next digital product. Nor is it limited to design teams; more and more businesses
are using Design Thinking as a way to foster innovation on a companywide scale.

This list of five big organizations winning with Design Thinking explains how companies
such as IBM, MassMutual, and Fidelity are “drawing on design thinking frameworks to jolt
innovative ideas” and “drive bottom-line business outcomes.”
But what does the Design Thinking process actually look like in action?

. If you have a specific problem you want to tackle, a dedicated workshop will take you through
each step of the Design Thinking process—from building empathy and defining the problem,
right through to prototyping and testing ideas—usually over the course of a few days or a week.

What is the goal of the Design thinking process?

However you choose to implement the Design Thinking process, the goal is the same: to
approach complex problems from a human perspective. The Design Thinking process fosters
creativity, innovation, and user-centricity, helping you to come up with actionable solutions that
are:

∙ Desirable for the user;

∙ Viable for business;

∙ Technologically feasible.

The Design thinking process puts the needs and requirements of the user first. The first
stage of the process is dedicated to building empathy with your target users and getting to
understand their needs, expectations, and behaviors.

Next, you’ll focus on coming up with ideas which are quickly turned into prototypes and tested
on real users. Inherent to the Design Thinking process is the early and frequent testing of your
solutions; this way, you can gather feedback and make any necessary changes long before the
product is developed.

In a nutshell: The Design Thinking process enables you to find innovative solutions to complex
problems, driven by the needs of the target user.

2. What is the value of the Design thinking process?

Here are just some of the benefits of the Design Thinking process:
 ∙ The Design Thinking process teaches people how to innovate and problem solve: While
most of us are programmed to solve problems that readily present themselves, we’re not
necessarily inclined to go looking for problems. Design Thinking encourages creative
problem-solving; it pushes you to redefine the problem space and seek out the challenge
that’s really worth solving. This is especially useful in a business context—whether it’s
designing a competitive digital product, optimizing internal processes, or reinventing an
entire business model.

∙ The Design Thinking process fosters teamwork and collaboration: “innovations and
answers to complex questions are best generated in a heterogeneous team of five to six
people.” The Design Thinking process brings multidisciplinary teams together, breaks
down silos, and encourages people to collaborate and challenge their assumptions.

∙ The Design Thinking process offers a proven competitive advantage: Design-led

companies have been shown to consistently outperform their competitors. As already
mentioned, the aim of the Design Thinking process is to come up with solutions,
products, or services that are desirable for the user, economically viable from a business
perspective, and technologically feasible. This user-first approach coupled with early and
frequent testing helps to minimize risk, drive customer engagement, and ultimately boost
the bottom line.

So: Design Thinking is a tool for creativity, innovation, and problem-solving. Not only does it
help designers to come up with ground-breaking products; it also fosters a culture of innovation
and user-centricity at every level of business.
The Four Principles of Design Thinking

1. The Human Rule: “All design is social in nature.” The problems must be solved by
satisfying the human requirements and recognizing the human element in all
technologies.
2. The Ambiguity Rule: “Ambiguity is inevitable.” We perform experiments to the limits
based on our knowledge, control events based on our limits, and liberty to see things
from different perspectives.
3. The Redesign Rule: “All design is redesign.” In today’s world, technology and social
events have been consistently evolving. We must study and analyze how the
requirements of humans were met in earlier times.
4. The Tangibility Rule: “Making ideas tangible facilitates communication.” If we make our
ideas tangible for prototypes, it facilitates designers to communicate effectively.
What are the 5 steps of the Design Thinking process?

The Design Thinking process can be divided into five key steps: Empathize, Define, Ideate,
Prototype, and Test.

When considering the five steps of Design Thinking, it’s important to remember that it’s not a
linear process. Although we talk about the process in terms of sequential steps, it’s actually a
highly iterative loop. With each phase, you’ll make new discoveries which may require you to
revisit the previous stages.

With that in mind, let’s consider the five key stages of the Design Thinking process in more
detail.

1. Empathize

The Design Thinking process starts with empathy. In order to create desirable products and
services, you need to understand who your users are and what they need. What are their
expectations in relation to the product you’re designing? What challenges and pain-points do
they face within this context?

During the empathize phase, you’ll spend time observing and engaging with real users (or people
who represent your target group)—conducting interviews, seeing how they interact with an
existing product, and generally paying attention to facial expressions and body language.

As the first step in the Design Thinking process, the empathize phase encourages you to set your
assumptions aside. Armed with first-hand insights, you’ll be able to design with real users in
mind. That’s what Design Thinking is all about!

2. Define

In the second stage of the Design Thinking process, you’ll define the user problem that you
want to solve. First, you’ll gather all of your findings from the empathize phase and start piecing
them together. What common themes and patterns did you observe? What user needs and
challenges consistently came up?
Once you’ve synthesized your findings, you’ll formulate what’s known as a problem statement.
A problem statement—sometimes called a point of view (POV) statement—outlines the issue or
challenge that you will seek to address.

As with anything in the Design Thinking process, the problem statement keeps the user in focus.
Rather than framing your problem statement as a business goal.

By the end of the define phase, you will have a clear problem statement which will guide you
throughout the design process. This will form the basis of your ideas and potential solutions.

3. Ideate

The third stage in the Design Thinking process consists of ideation—or generating ideas.
By this point, you know who your target users are and what they want from your product. You
also have a clear problem statement that you’re hoping to solve. Now it’s time to come up with
possible solutions.

The ideation phase is a judgement-free zone where the group is encouraged to venture away
from the norm, to explore new angles, and to think outside the box. You’ll hold ideation sessions
in order to generate as many ideas as possible—regardless of whether or not they’re feasible! For
maximum creativity, ideation sessions are often held in unusual locations.
Throughout this stage of the Design Thinking process, you’ll continuously refer back to your
problem statement. As you prepare to move on to the next phase, you’ll narrow it down to a few
ideas which you’ll later turn into prototypes to be tested on real users.

4. Prototype
In the fourth stage of the Design Thinking process, you’ll turn your ideas from stage three
into prototypes. A prototype is essentially a scaled-down version of a product or feature—be it a
simple paper model or a more interactive digital representation.
The aim of the prototyping stage is to turn your ideas into something tangible which can be
tested on real users. This is crucial in maintaining a user-centric approach, allowing you to gather
feedback before you go ahead and develop the whole product. This ensures that the final design
actually solves the user’s problem and is a delight to use!
5. Test

The fifth step in the Design Thinking process is dedicated to testing: putting your
prototypes in front of real users and seeing how they get on. During the testing phase, you’ll
observe your target users—or representative users—as they interact with your prototype. You’ll
also gather feedback on how your users felt throughout the process.

The testing phase will quickly highlight any design flaws that need to be addressed. Based on
what you learn through user testing, you’ll go back and make improvements.

Remember: The Design Thinking process is iterative and non-linear. The results of the testing
phase will often require you to revisit the empathize stage or run through a few more ideation
sessions before you create that winning prototype.

Why does Design Thinking Appeals to Top Businesses?

An empathy-driven approach toward problem-solving through experimentation and innovation

makes design thinking a solution-oriented methodology, rather than that of problem
identification. This particular ideology has made design thinking a favorite among business
leaders since companies are always looking for ways to step into the future.

Recent times have thrown an increasing number of unprecedented problems at us, compelling us
to consider human behavior and reactions to change and solutions.

Design thinking is a framework to do just that, in a structured manner. It involves empathy,

ideation, prototyping, and implementation to tackle complex issues seamlessly.

Benefits of the Design Thinking Approach

The following are some significant benefits of following the design thinking process or
approach:
 ∙ It helps to overcome the creative challenges: Design Thinking provides you with the
freedom to have a look at problems from several perspectives. It involves a lot of
brainwork to bring out the best ideas, which helps broaden the learner’s knowledge.
∙ It helps to effectively meet the customers’ requirements: As we discussed earlier, design
thinking involves developing prototypes where you perform testing and implement the
customer’s feedback iteratively for quality assurance. By following the design thinking
approach effectively, your product will eventually meet the customers’ requirements.
∙ It helps broaden your knowledge of Design Thinking: You will perform numerous

evaluations in the design thinking process. You will always try to improvise your model
by implementing the customer’s feedback to ensure that the customer is satisfied.

Applications of Design Thinking

Design thinking has its applications in a range of professions. In sports, education, study, and
research to business and management, design thinking is widely used by several organizations
around the world.

Business

Design thinking is most popular in businesses. It helps them in optimization processes, especially
with respect to product creation, marketing, and contract renewal. Considering that these
processes require a good amount of focus on their customers, design thinking proves to be
immensely useful in their assistance. In businesses, design thinking helps design thinkers not
only develop deep empathy for their customers but also to create solutions that tend to their
specific needs.
Information Technology

The IT industry makes a lot of products that require trials and proof of concepts. The industry
needs to empathize with its users and not simply deploy technologies. IT is not only about
technology or products, but also processes. The developers, analysts, consultants, and managers
have to brainstorm possible ideas for solving the problems of the clients. This is where design
thinking helps a lot.
Education

The education sector in our economy demands the most when it comes to creative solutions. It
essentially can make the best use of design thinking through student feedback. Feedback from
students on their requirements, goals, and challenges in the classroom can prove to be useful in
easy problem-solving. That is, by working on their feedback, the design thinks can come up with
relevant and creative solutions to address their issues.

For instance, Michael Schurr, a 2nd-grade teacher in New York realized that his students would
be more comfortable with lowered bulletin boards. He also came up with the idea of creating a
comfortable semi-private lounge for working students as a space to study. As a result, his
students not only became more engaged with each other but also had a good amount of space to
store books and study.

Healthcare

Design thinking plays a vital role in the healthcare industry as well. The expenditure in this
sector is healthcare is continuing to increase by the day. A major concern of the experts
worldwide is about bringing quality healthcare to people at lower costs.

The Venice Family Clinic in Venice, California has managed to come up with innovative
solutions in opening a low-cost children’s clinic that serves low-income families. A major
challenge included the problems of finance and language barriers at lower costs for
underprivileged children. Fostering good health along with profits did not entirely sound
sustainable. However, using design thinking, the inefficiencies in the system and the perennial
challenges were addressed and solved.

Industries in Design Thinking

Design thinking has become a pet phrase for many successful businesses today but its impacts
are very circumstantial and differ for each industry. It helps brands stay ahead of the curve by
driving innovation in a business environment. A human-centric approach to problem-solving
makes it an effective bridge between brands and customers.
Experts use it for enhancing both physical and digital experiences of products and services.
Companies resorting to design thinking consider design much more than a phase or a department
– in fact, it shapes the entire thought behind business goals. Building a design-optimized
company culture will certainly drive more innovation and customer satisfaction. The five most
prominent industries that were revolutionized by design thinking are:

∙ Entertainment

∙ Consumables

∙ Banking

∙ Travel and lodging

∙ Technology and communication

Importance of Design thinking

In recent decades, it has become beyond vital to develop and refine skills to not only understand
but also act upon the constant changes in this dynamic economy. Considering the rapid
developments in technology today, the world has become increasingly interconnected and
complex, and design thinking provides a means to cope in a widely human-centric manner. It
allows us to think outside the box and understand problem-solving on a slightly deeper level.
Design thinking has proven to improve the world around. Considering its ability to generate
ground-breaking solutions in a less disruptive, yet creative way, it is more than just a process – it
is an innovation. While design thinking has been around for a while now, many businesses are yet
to adopt it. As an increasing number of brands keep looking for ways to weave design thinking
into their business strategies, marketers, product engineers, and business leaders keep looking for
ways to master this methodology.