Innovation is Not The Same as Invention
Yes, your thesaurus is wrong.
Many entrepreneurs often confuse the words innovation and invention. If you have too, you’re not alone. So, what makes these words different? The difference is subtle but crucial.
Don’t trust your dictionary — or thesaurus
When people don’t understand a word, they look it up in the dictionary or thesaurus. Well, sorry. No dictionary or thesaurus is going to help you. Because, to be frank, the definitions are confusing.
invention: something that has never existed before, created or designed by the originator
innovation: something new, like a product or method
When looking at the definitions, they appear strikingly similar. An invention is something new, and an innovation is something new. The Merriam Webster dictionary even goes as far as listing innovation and inventions as synonyms of each other. But, the words are different. Don’t let a book written by a bunch of old English scholars confuse you.
What are the actual definitions then?
Yes, and no. Going back to the iPhone, have you ever heard of the man who invented multitouch screen technology? Unless you’re an MIT computer science grad or obsessed Apple fan, probably not. But, it’s a fair assumption that almost everyone has heard of Steve Jobs. In almost every case, the innovator is more famous than the inventor. And the innovator almost always gets credit for the work of the inventor as well. Just because innovators are more famous, though, doesn’t make them better.
In order for there to be innovation, there must first be invention. While the inventions might not be as cool as the innovation, they are just as important to the final product. Think of it this way: Inventors are the nerdy mad scientist people who come up with awesome technology and the innovators are the entrepreneurs who are able to see the potential of this invention and apply it to a consumer product. They are equally important. In some rare cases, a product is both an innovation and invention, but it is so rare that I can’t give you a very good example. This rareness is caused by the fact that when new technology is released, it’s foreign to consumers. It’s different, it’s weird, and it often is not the perfect application of the technology. It usually takes a second try, or an innovation, to perfect the invention and make it a mainstream product.
Wrap-up (and for those who don’t want to read)
Innovations and inventions are far from being the same. An invention is something that never existed before; brand new technology. Innovations take this invention and apply it in a way that makes it popular to the target consumer. But an innovation or invention won’t make your company or business automatically successful. The product is just one mile on a long journey to success. Gear up entrepreneurs, you’ve got a long road ahead of you.