Innovation:

Innovation is the act of creating, discovering, or inventing something new. Innovation can take many forms: development of new technology, creation of new organizational structure, creation of new forms of art. Innovation is one of the main forces driving society forward--if a business, country, or even a person is not an innovator, that business, that country, or that person will often lag behind those who are.

What causes innovation?

Aside from the innate creative abilities that some people just seem to possess, there are a number of factors that can contribute to innovation. Some of the important ones:

• Something Extra - It could be extra time, money, or some form of resources. In order to be an innovator, one must take time to step back and try new things; these new endeavours may prove fruitful, or may be a complete waste of time--but in order to innovate, one must be able to take these risks. In order to take these risks, one must have something extra. This is true of businesses that must dedicate extra money to research and development, as well as people who must have extra time to explore new hobbies or extra resources to explore new business ideas.
• Reflection - Often, what is needed for innovation is to simply reflect on mundane, everyday tasks. Often, when we step back and think about something, we find ways to improve our work--everything from little changes that help us do our job faster, better, and more easily, to finding completely new ways of going about our work.
• Outside Perspective - Although it is not always necessary for innovation, having an outside perspective is often a major contributor to new scientific or technological advances, as well as valuable new artistic creations. One obvious way to come up with new ideas or creations is to combine existing ideas in novel ways. One example of how valuable outside perspective is in sparking innovation is the rich history of immigrant community's contributions to America: the bringing together of different cultures in one place led to the formation of a new and dynamic country which was viewed for years as the forefront of technological innovation.
• Randomness - Chance and randomness plays an important role in innovation. Many scientific breakthroughs (pennicillin is the classic example) happened by accident. It is important to recognize that randomness plays a role in innovation, because this can mean that having too tight or rigid controls on procedures, scientific research, or organizational structure can actually impede innovation.

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