NPT Issue #2: Different Types of Innovation
Hello to My Readers 👋🏽
Greetings readers 👋🏽! It's wonderful to see so many familiar and new faces who subscribed. Thank you for reading along to my writing and I hope you are finding it informative, insightful, engaging, helpful and enlightening. I'll add a bit of fun and playfulness into the mix so you know it's me 😁.
Recap of Previous Issue ⬅️📰
In the previous issue of the Net Positive Tech newsletter (NPT Issue #1), I shared some ways in which innovation can be implemented at zero financial cost.
Foreword for Current Issue 🗞️
In this issue, I am sharing different types of innovation that I have come across or identified so far. The ways in which one can be driven to innovate that I shared in the previous issue can naturally lead into any of the types of innovation I am sharing in this issue. There is no need to pigeon-hole yourself into any one of these types as they are all cards in your deck and you can play them at any point in time. The strategy you choose is up to and as always, is different for each one of us. If there was an optimal strategy then we would all be doing it. Perhaps, there is though, and that strategy is to stay true to yourself and keep learning. Focus on what makes you unique then leverage that to blaze your own trail. Sounds easier said than done 😉. Anyway, here goes the new issue of NPT 🙌🏽.
Types of Innovation 💡
- Novelty: Degrees of newness
- Trailblazing: Creating something unprecedented by being the first person to bring it about.
- Being in the Lead: Being an established leader in your field or industry and developing something that may not necessarily be new but is seen as raising the bar or setting the standard.
- Replacement: Creating something that replaces what was considered the best instead of co-existing.
- Duplication: Taking an effective solution to a problem in one market/field/industry/space/etc. and employing it in another where it was not previously employed.
- Replication: Copying an effective solution and replicating it then improving it incrementally.
- Gordian Knot: Solving a known unsolved problem that has stumped humanity for a long time, a.k.a, Million Dolla Problem, Billion Dollar Problem, Trillion Dollar Problem, Millennium Problem, Gordian Knot.
- Extra-Terrestrial: Solving an unknown unsolved problem.
1. Novelty
Novelty is a term that will be familiar to those in academia or constrained and competitive spaces like mobile application development. It is an elusive ill-defined term for something that is crucial to the sustainability of both groups I've just mentioned. It's important to gain clarity on novelty as a concept since it is so critical to understanding real-world innovation. I will attempt to define it using a first principles approach.
Novelty (Google Definition): The quality of being new, original, or unusual.
Novel (Google Definition): Interestingly new or unusual.
Fresh (Google Definition): Not previously known or used; new or different.
Different (Older Google Definition): A rare unlikeness
Unusual (Google Definition): not habitually or commonly occurring or done; remarkable or interesting because different from or better than others.
If you create something novel [interestingly new or unusual] which we can substitute for fresh [not previously known or used; new or different] then you have created something different; it's rare and unlike anything before it in some way. That makes it unusual in the sense that it is uncommon and remarkable or interesting because it's different from or better than others comparable to it.
So, we can see it doesn't always have to take much to achieve novelty. There are some characteristics of novelty that we can identify which help us get closer to the essence of the quality of novelty.
Qualities of Novelty
- Novelty is not binary, it exists on a spectrum (Internal): How much did the subject of novelty change, e.g., a little change is still novel.
- Novelty is on a scale, there are levels of novelty (External): How much did the subject of novelty innovate what it's being applied to, e.g., a little can go a long way.
2. Trailblazing
These are the unprecedented changes, paradigm shifts, ground-breaking discoveries and fundamental changes in the nature of the reality of how we live our lives. For those that need metaphors, "A dent in the universe", "Zero to One". This is blazing new trails in uncharted territory. Going where no one has gone before. Being the first to lay new path down where no generations have gone before. So, that generations after may lay their own first paths and so on. Inspiring the next generation to continue shining and flourishing.
3. Being in in the Lead
Sometimes, when one reaches the stage of being an industry leader, any new development created is seen as an innovation. This is being viewed through the lens of raising the bar or setting the standard. The industry has deemed this leader as an organization or individual that is leading by example.
4. Replacement
An example of this would be what Google did all those years ago by changing how we interact with the World Wide Web. Now whenever someone comes across something they are unfamiliar with we say "Google it!". However, a few companies are trying to do the same thing to Google that Google did to the previous status quo. OpenAI, Perplexity, Anthropic and the like are trying to replace Google via large language models. So far, it doesn't seem like replacement yet as they are co-existing. Although, it's evident that a transition is taking place as there is friction at the border or intersection as there always is.
5. Duplication
We take an effective solution to a problem in one market/field/industry/space/etc. and employ it in another where it was not previously employed.
An example of this would be trying to duplicate Uber/Lyft/Revolut in Nigeria. Attempting to do this would require a few considerations, like the fact that electrical power supplies are limited, constrained, conflicting and inconsistent. This would send servers over the edge during peak times when getting someone from point A to point B or money from wallet A to wallet B. Especially given the population and population density. This would mean for an application to work in such an environment, it would need to be functionally different from the original. That turns something that looked so straightforward initially, into something that presents new technical and non-technical challenges and opportunities for enterprising organizations.
6. Replication
Essentially copying an effective solution then improving it incrementally.
An example of this is Perplexity. They use OpenAI's model but add effective data visualization and sources on top of it. This improves the user experience, gains trust and credibility, all while keeping the status quo in the loop as SEO is still able to factor to an extent. This is a balanced and well structured strategic innovation that doesn't change too much at once while sustaining the existence of the organization.
7. Gordian Knot
"Fermat's Last Theorem" solved by Andrew Wiles
8. Extra-Terrestrial
We pray that these individuals are relieved of the burden of being misunderstood for long periods of time so they may live fully and prosper lengthily over their lifetimes. The book "Don Quixote" by Miguel Cervantes goes deeper into this and the moral of the story is the essence of this point. Everybody has the capability to make discoveries of this calibre by realizing the potential stored within. The only way to realize this is by awakening it in each other through perpetual reflection of our brilliance like a sort of Indra's Net of dazzling brilliance. We give each other permission to flourish by flourishing.
Afterword for Current Issue 🗞️
If you found this helpful please leave a like 👍🏽.
If you feel more people need to know about this, please repost it 📤.
If you know someone who would find this informative, please share it with them 🤲🏽.
If you have something you would like to add to the discussion, please comment 💬.
If you have something you would like to bring to my attention, please DM me 📬.
In all this, please do so without hesitation or fear of judgement. Let's rid ourselves of embarrassment and stigma. Let's show each other more empathy and compassion. We are real people working towards a common goal. Bettering ourselves and society through the former.
Thank you for reading as always and I will greet you again next time 😁🙌🏽.
Yours truly 🫵,
William