Ideas Campaign

Ideas campaign is a structured innovation process in which ideas are generated in response to an innovation challenge.

Think about whether you are looking for incremental ideas, substantial modifications or transformational innovations.

The Definitions

Before going any further, we need to look at the definitions of the three kinds of ideas.

An incremental innovation is a small idea that makes an incremental improvement on an existing product, service or process. Although incremental ideas are not particularly exciting, they are an important component of any on-going innovation strategy. Moreover, many Japanese giants such as Toyota and Sony have become leaders in their industries through continuous improvement plans that rely on on-
going innovation. Indeed, anyone who has worked in a Japanese
organisation will be familiar with the term "Kaizen", a structured process for ongoing incremental improvements, and which is implemented in nearly all Japanese firms.

Substantial modifications are big ideas that result in significant improvements to a product, process or service, but which do not transform the product or industry in any significant way. Much of innovation in the West aims for substantial modification. For example, a new Toyota Corolla, BMW 5 series or other car model is usually a substantial modification of the previous model, with new features, technologies and other improvements. But it is still
recognisably the same car model.

Transformational innovation is an idea that transforms a business, a product or a service - if not all three. Clayton Christensen has coined the term "disruptive innovation" which is popular, but I would argue that disruptive innovation describes what we might call super-transformational innovation. Transformational innovations incluye Post-Its, SMS messaging on telephones, DVDs and the like. All of these innovations resulted in new products and services and changed
the behaviour of their users. But they did not disrupt any industrial sector. Digital cameras, on the other hand, were not Orly transformational innovations, but they also resulted in a huge disruption of the photographic industry as well as industries that relied on chemical based photography. Hence, digital photography was a disruptive innovation.

Some innovation experts like to argue over which kind of innovation is better. But the truth is that a balance of all three kinds of innovation is best.

By Jeffrey B. from Report 103