Innovation is a change in the thought process for doing something, or the useful application of new inventions or discoveries.

[1] It may refer to an incremental emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. Following Schumpeter (1934), contributors to the scholarly li terature on innovation typically distinguish between invention, an idea made man ifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully in practice. In many fields, s uch as the arts, economics and government policy, something new must be substant ially different to be innovative. In economics the change must increase value, c ustomer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity i s the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy. Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, entreprene urship, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word " innovation" is often synonymous with the output of the process. However, economi sts tend to focus on the process itself, from the origination of an idea to its transformation into something useful, to its implementation; and on the system w ithin which the process of innovation unfolds. Since innovation is also consider ed a major driver of the economy, especially when it leads to new product catego ries or increasing productivity, the factors that lead to innovation are also co nsidered to be critical to policy makers. In particular, followers of innovation economics stress using public policy to spur innovation and growth. Those who are directly responsible for application of the innovation are often c alled pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organizations. Contents [hide] 1 Introduction o 1.1 Distinguishing from invention o 1.2 In organizations o 1.3 Economic conceptions 2 Market outcome 3 Sources of innovation 4 Value of experimentation 5 Diffusion 6 Goals 7 Failure 8 Measures 9 Public awareness 10 See also 11 References 12 Inline references 13 External links [edit] Introduction The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (May 2008) In the organizational context, innovation may be linked to performance and growt h through improvements in efficiency, productivity, quality, competitive positio ning, market share, etc. All organizations can innovate, including for example h ospitals, universities, and local governments. While innovation typically adds value, innovation may also have a negative or de structive effect as new developments clear away or change old organizational for ms and practices. Organizations that do not innovate effectively may be destroye d by those that do. Hence innovation typically involves risk. A key challenge in innovation is maintaining a balance between process and product innovations whe re process innovations tend to involve a business model which may develop shareh older satisfaction through improved efficiencies while product innovations devel op customer support however at the risk of costly R&D that can erode shareholder return. Innovation can be described as the result of some amount of time and ef fort into researching an idea, plus some larger amount of time and effort into d eveloping this idea, plus some very large amount of time and effort into commerc

ializing this idea into a market place with customers.[citation needed] Innovation has been studied in a variety of contexts, including in relation to t echnology, commerce, social systems, economic development, and policy constructi on. There are, therefore, naturally a wide range of approaches to conceptualizin g innovation in the scholarly literature.[2] [edit] Distinguishing from invention