Innovation

What comes to mind when the term 'innovation' pops up? A lot of people tend to conflate 'innovation' with 'invention', and while they share the same prefix, there lies a subtle but significant difference between these two ideas. 'Innovation', according to John Bessant, Professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Essex, means creating value from ideas. Invention, on the other hand, refers solely to the act of creating something unprecedented, but whether or not the creation possesses market or commercial value is uncertain. Where business innovation is concerned, firms must make 'value-creation' their top priority, which can only be achieved by listening and catering to customer demands within an innovative ecosystem where all players are willing to do things differently than they had before.