What does innovation mean to you?

It's a common phenomenon when you are about to buy a new car, you start to see the car everywhere. And likely you take a look at who is behind the wheel, to get a feeling for what kind of person drives that car. Or maybe it is not a common phenomenon, perhaps it's just something I do. Regardless, I mention this because I had a similar experience yesterday with a word, "innovation". In my non-blogging role here at Lexis, I work on the Customer Discovery and Innovation team. We talk about "innovation" as the concept, and "innovations" as the actual tools and functions, on an almost daily basis. Before working at Lexis, while an associate at a large law firm, you can imagine innovation rarely came up (unless you are an IP attorney). But now that I do this, I see the term everywhere.

Recently I saw the term "Innovate" was the key theme at this years American Association of Law Libraries annual gala (check it here: http://www.aallnet.org/events/am-update-index.asp). I wondered what it meant in this context and asked a colleague of mine attending to keep an eye out for how it was used.

While waiting on a response, it got me to thinking about what innovation really means today. Technically, dictionary.com has it defined as:

1. something new or different introduced; or 2. the act of innovating; introduction of new things or methods.

Of the 5 words in the first definition, the word "introduced" stood out.  This is why the word has such currency in business, because by definition it is a product; innovations in medicine, tech, transportation etc have been the cornerstone of successful businesses and entrepreneurs since such things were possible.  However, the way I often see it used today almost makes it sound like the idea of innovation IS the innovation, i.e. "that's a great idea; let's be innovative!"  Along these lines, it is often used in relation to something that is necessary to the business cycle, i.e. innovation to keep up with the competition; or innovate to stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.  It seems to me this latter type of innovation has a bit of a different spirit than it has in the past... am I the only one who sees this?

Come to think of it, it almost seems to be a synonm for "evolve" in this context.  Maybe this is the answer: humans didn't evolve from the primates, we just innovated.  

What does innovate mean to you?

Posted Wed, Aug 12 2009 12:30 PM by J. Alex Dalessio

Filed under: AALL, innovation