Generically speaking, innovation has to do with one, several or a combination of applications, not exclusive, of all the following: (i) Imagination, (ii) Creativity, (iii) Ideas, (iv) Practical and Theoretical Experiences (transformed into abilities, skills and expertise), (v) Research and Development Centers and (vi) Centers for Business Innovation and Managerial and Organizational Transformation, among other considerations. Today, as never before, there is a call to align and compile all these applications to reach the maximum innovative potential, to solve the great challenges that the world faces.
There is an illustrative thought of Mr. Britt Mayo, Director of Information Technology at Pennzoil (a major North American oil company), which collects the book Business at the Speed of Thought Using a Digital Nerves System (in English, “Business to the Speed of Thought Using a Digital Nervous System ”), authored by Mr. Bill Gates, President of Microsoft, who says:“… We see this pile of data as an asset, from which we can derive learning. The bigger this 'heap' is, the better it will be for you… as long as you have the tools to analyze it, synthesize it, and therefore allow (you) to transform yourself into someone more creative… ”.
In relation to companies and other organizations, extensible to the human person, a reflection by Dr. Michael Porter, Nobel Prize winner, economist and professor at the Harvard University School of Business Administration, is revealing, as he expresses it in his book On Competion (in English, “About Competitiveness”), who relates the following: “… the company (or the person), which successfully implements a new or better way to compete, is because it (company, organization, person) continues (in their activities) with stubborn determination, often in the face of sour criticism and serious obstacles. In fact, to be successful, innovation imposes pressure, need and even adversity on us, making it clear that the fear of loss is often more powerful than the hope of winning… ”.
Innovation is therefore also a factor that fosters change. Change drives risk (the dynamic interaction between possibility and probability that results in either loss or gain). Let's look at a real life example, as recounted in the text Differentiate or Die Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition (in English, "Differentiate or Die Surviving in Our Era of Lethal Competition"), by Messrs. Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin. The Gillette razor, known as Mach 3 and recognized by the public for its excellent performance, had an investment, prior to the sale of the first unit, of US $ 750 million, with thirty-five patents.
QUESTION: Why so many patents for a relatively small device? ANSWER: Because this razor, and considering that those who have used it report that the high quality verified in practice in the "service offer" (excellent and safe shaving) that Gillette provides to the consumer, is not even remotely a product of chance, nor of the work of some "workers" dispersed in their approaches and purposes.
In the first place, a large and sustained exercise of Research (Sciences) and Development (Technologies) was carried out, completed through engineering, justifying with this scientific effort and the magnitude of said effort the dimension of the designated investment.
When here I refer to the words "Science" and "Technology" (both in their practical meaning) and, as mentioned by Messrs. Trout and Rivkin in their work, I am talking about the same type of technical-scientific effort, as well as engineering, which is required and, above all, as an example, to make a Ferrari vehicle. Each “device” is physically disparate, but the complexity of its parts is equally technologically challenging. Gillette, with this personal care device and according to the same words contained in the aforementioned work, has sales in the United States that "… border on close to capture proportions equivalent to almost all of the respective market segment…" Once again, science and technology not only transform impossible into feasible,rather, business initiatives (or other activities of any entrepreneurs) are taken to preeminent positions in world markets, reaching the Research and Development Centers legitimately lucrative results.
Innovation is not just about large investments in scientific experimentation. Innovation also has a lot to do (very much in vogue today) with trying small, new ideas, promptly taking on many small risks and immediately correcting the errors that arise from taking such risks (together with adverse results) and, above all, assimilating and documenting the derived learning (lessons learned, recorded and applied with care and haste to avoid the obsolescence of what is “learned”). Then, he must continue, without ever stopping, this same cycle and the reader will see how the "identification of new knowledge" occurs in his mind (at least, for him or her and those who accompany them),that the latter (who reads this text and performs the aforementioned small experiments) can implement productively.
Who systematically establishes preconditions to procreate new ideas that can be transferred from discovery to practice, will be opening doors to new knowledge. This practice is like, in the tenor of a controlled environment, the incumbent (who is in charge of these small experiments) does many small-time tests at its origin (known input), but, with its persistent and sustained methodization, manages to reveal new Relevant knowledge (desired output) that is verified in its productive use. In this, there is a conscientious use that encourages change (and sometimes chaos ―profitable or not) to see the respective behaviors (for example, to see what works under “x” conditions and what does not work under “y” "Circumstances, within the context" z ").
