Finding Your Innovation

What does “Innovation” actually mean?

It’s one of those ethereal questions that persist in the education sector. Everyone has an opinion, everyone knows it’s important and most people use the term liberally – especially when it comes to technology integration. Let’s clear that up right out of the gate: innovation is not synonymous with technology. Can technology can be innovative? Of course. Can technology be used in innovative ways? For sure. But the presence of technology in a classroom is not an automatic innovation homerun. Try throwing a load of iPads into a classroom where the teacher doesn’t know how to use them properly and this will quickly become crystal clear.

So if that’s what innovation doesn’t mean, what does it mean? In 2016, Idea To Value interviewed 15 of the world’s leading innovation experts and whilst there were some common themes in their responses, there was also a fair degree of variance. Here are a few examples:

“Anything that is new, useful, and surprising.” - Drew Boyd

“Creativity is thinking of something new. Innovation is the implementation of something new.” – Paul Sloane

“The introduction of new products and services that add value to the organisation” – Kevin McFarthing

“The future, delivered.” - Jorge Barba