Innovation

Innovation means improving. Innovation is a complex process from idea, through development to the eventual realization. Innovation is more than invention or creativity, which are necessary parts of innovation - bringing new ideas - but they are not sufficient to meet the fulfillment of innovation. Many new ideas do not lead to innovation, because they are not feasible (from a technical, practical or economic point of view). The result of innovation is an improved process, product, service or anything else.

The term is usually broken down into the following classifications:

• Product or service Innovation
• Process Innovation
• Organizational Innovation
• Marketing Innovation

Innovation in practice: Innovation is a key driver of the evolution of all organizations. Through innovation is the introduction of new products, their improvement and development, increasing work efficiency, reducing costs, and quality improvement. Encouraging innovation in companies is an integral part of good management and is part of the quality management approaches (e.g. PDCA cycle, Six Sigma, etc.)

Joseph Alois Schumpeter outlined the following types of innovations:

• New product introduction
• New method of production introduction
• New market opening
• Acquisition of a new source of supply (input)
• New marketing structures creation

Peter F. Drucker considers innovation as one of two basic functions of the business: “Because the purpose of the business is to create customers, this business has two – and only these two – basic functions: marketing and innovation.”