Paths to Innovation

 Innovation can result from many different activities and circumstances. There are many times in which innovation or invention is not the desired outcome of a set of activities but through the process it is found that an output or result is viable in its own right and warrants further exploration. Many of these types of innovation arise from serendipity, errors, or exaptation.

Innovation by serendipity can be thought of as a fortunate stroke of luck which is shown in the Tasmania-based Houston’s Farms which started bagging their grown salads out of necessity and the consumer demand caught them completely off guard and resulted in their business becoming wildly successful (Bonney et. al., 2007). With serendipity it is important to keep perspectives and opinions open as when these circumstances arrive, the individual or team needs to acknowledge that a potential innovation is at hand and must foster its development into a finalized item.

Innovation by error is different from serendipity in that intentional efforts were being made to develop or progress something but mistakes, accidents, or other unintended events generated an “ah-ha” moment such as with the failure of Ford’s Edsel in 1957 prompting them to reevaluate their markets and release the very successful Thunderbird as a result (Swaim, 2021). One key aspect of errors is to learn and grow from them. If nothing is learned from errors, the same error will continue to happen. Being able to perform root cause analysis and understand exactly what happened that should not have occurred helps to spark the realization of how to advance forward. It is also important to be aware of the mistakes others are making within the same space so as to avoid repeating them.

Innovation through exaptation is evaluating something not for what it currently is but instead for what it could turn into which additive manufacturing processes like 3D-printing have allowed for the creation of parts and components which were not physically possible to construct before this technology was available (Beltagui et. al., 2020). Understanding how to leverage inventions or innovations in new or unique ways requires an understanding of how the innovation works and how some or all of its subcomponents can be modified in order to allow it to have a new form or function. Exaptation may require the most wide and deep set of knowledge to be successful of any of the three approaches discussed.

References

Beltagui, A., Rosli, A., & Candi, M. (2020). Exaptation in a digital innovation ecosystem: The disruptive impacts of 3D printing. Research Policy, 49(1), 103833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.103833

 

Bonney, L., Clark, R., Collins, R., & Fearne, A. (2007). From serendipity to sustainable competitive advantage: Insights from Houston's farm and their journey of co-innovation. Supply Chain Management, 12(6), 395-399. http://dx.doi.org.coloradotech.idm.oclc.org/10.1108/13598540710826326

 

Swaim, R. (2021, April 23). Failure and the seven sources of innovation. Process Excellence Network. https://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/innovation/columns/failure-and-the-seven-sources-of-innovation