16 Dimensions of Innovation
Innovation is a complex phenomenon. Yet it is most often characterized with a single dimension, running from scientific research in the beginning, through engineering and development, to economically valuable applications at the end. As I argued in No Right Way: Innovation, Identity, and Diversity, we need a higher-fidelity model.
In the 90s, Donald Stokes improved our understanding by splitting innovation into two dimensions: understanding and utility. Scientists like Bohr could advance knowledge without advancing application, engineers like Edison could advance application without advancing knowledge, and innovators like Pasteur could do both at the same time.
More recently, as part of the Science of Science Policy Interagency Working Group, I went further. To create a framework for evaluating how federal agencies innovate, I reviewed the literature from my graduate studies in science policy and developed a list of 16 factors that characterize innovation.
What is being innovated
Innovation can be centered on a new product (a new good or service, either knowledge or technology), a new process (a new method of production, delivery, marketing, or organization), or both.
Product: How novel is the good or service that is being innovated (if at all)?
Process: How novel is the method of production, delivery, marketing, or organization that is being innovated (if at all)?
How innovation happens
Innovation can result from work of creation (the production of knowledge or technology capital, either product or process), connection (the integration of knowledge or technology capital into larger systems), or both.
Creation: To what degree does the innovative work involve the production of knowledge or technology capital?
Connection: To what degree does the innovative work involve the integration of knowledge or technology capital?
Why innovation is valuable
Innovation creates value for society from understanding (i.e. intellectual, spiritual, or aesthetic gain) and utility (i.e. material, health, safety, or political gain), or both.
Understanding: To what degree does the value of the innovation lie in intellectual, spiritual, or aesthetic gain?
Utility: To what degree does the value of the innovation lie in material, health, safety, or political gain?
How valuable innovation is
Innovation value can be measured in terms of reward (breadth of beneficiaries, regardless of value type) and risk (uncertainty that benefit will be realized as expected), or both.
Reward: How broadly will the benefits of the innovation be enjoyed?
Risk: How certain are you that the intended result of the project will be achieved?
When innovation happens
Innovation has a tempo of consumption (how long before stakeholders receive the benefit of the innovation) and of critique (how often stakeholder-provided feedback is incorporated in the innovation process).
Consumption: How long will it be before stakeholders receive the benefit of innovation?
Critique: How often is stakeholder-provided feedback incorporated in the innovation process?
Where innovation happens
Innovative work is influenced by academics (how close the team is to a hub of those who study the problem) and adopters (how close the team is to a hub of those who would benefit the solution).
Academics: How close is the team to academic departments that study the problem requiring innovation?
Adopters: How close is the team to the adopters that would benefit from the solution that the innovation offers?
Who does the innovating
Innovative work is conducted by creative teams of different size (the number of professionals on the team) and occupational span (the diversity of professionals on the team).
Size: How large is the team in terms of the number of full-time staff members?
Span: How diverse is the team with respect to professional specializations?
Why innovation is hard
Innovation faces resistance from internal culture (bureaucracy, hierarchy, conservatism within the innovating organization) and external competition (incumbent suppliers and consumers in the market, aiming to keep the status quo).
Culture: How powerful is resistance to the innovation from bureaucracy, hierarchy, conservatism in the organization?
Competition: How powerful is resistance to the innovation from the incumbent suppliers and consumers in the market?
What do you think? Does this characterization comport with your own experience or your own studies? Are these the right factors? Did I leave any out? Are any of those I identified redundant? Are there too many to remember? Or are there too few to capture the true complexity? I'm happy to receive any feedback you may have.
