OPINION
How to turn an idea INTO AN INNOVATION
What’s the difference between an idea and an innovation? And how can you foster an environment where innovation can flourish? Digital transformation expert Dennis Khoo shares his thoughts
T he key to driving business growth is coming up with new ideas for products and services. But while an idea is the crucial jumping-off point, not all ideas can turn into innovations; that is, something new that’s so good, customers are willing to pay for it. So how do you turn your brilliant idea into an innovation? And what exactly is the difference between the two? In order to answer these questions, let’s first look at how we come up with ideas in the first place. Start with the solution or the problem When it comes to generating ideas, there are two different ways to approach this: you either start with the solution or the problem. Taking the first approach, you can start with an idea, make the idea work and then see what problem it solves. 3M sticky notes are a great example of this. Initially, this was
a glue invention that had gone wrong, until researchers applied their solution to the problem where very sticky glue was a problem rather than a solution. The other way is to start with the problem – so, for example, how to re-use a note on a piece of paper so the glue is sticky enough, but not so sticky that it damages the surface. Tech companies tend to operate in a ‘solution before problem’ way because they’re invention-orientated. They create something, then try to find a compelling case to justify the rationale to invest in the invention in the first place. This works well in businesses where the ‘killer-use’ case is vital for survival of the fittest. It doesn’t work as well, however, in a regular business where purpose is not invention but usage of the invention to solve everyday business problems.
Dennis Khoo is a digital transformation expert, keynote speaker and the creator of the first digital bank in ASEAN. He is the author of Driving digital transformation and The all-digital future playbook
‘An innovation is a novel idea or proposition that’s desirable, viable and feasible’
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