Difference between Innovation and Invention

funkey_monkey

I'm writing an essay here and getting mixed up. Google isn't helping me out much either.

What is the difference between Innovation and Invention?

I believe that invention is the creation of something new and without precedent. It can be tangible (like a mobile phone) or intangible (like a manufacturing process).

But what is innovation? It surely cannot be the same as Improvement?


Apologies if this is the wrong forum, but I couldn't see anywhere else to place it.


Thanks.

redser7

They can be interchangeable. What is your specific context?

funkey_monkey

I'm writing about innovation, but just want to make sure I'm talking about innovation and not invention.

Invention is the "creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first time." Thomas Edison was an inventor.

Innovation happens when someone "improves on or makes a significant contribution" to something that has already been invented. Steve Jobs was an innovator.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-difference-between-invention-and-innovation-2012-4?IR=T

In its purest sense, “invention“ can be defined as the creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first time. “Innovation,” on the other hand, occurs if someone improves on or makes a significant contribution to an existing product, process or service.

Source: http://mediashift.org/idealab/2012/03/the-difference-between-invention-and-innovation086/


Is this correct? I could not confirm this with any dictionary definition.

echo beach

Those are the definitions used in business.
Like any other activity, e.g. the law or medicine, business has its own vocabulary where words have a meaning that is slightly different (or very different) from how they are used in conversational English.

joebloggs32

The creation of the mobile phone would have been an invention, while the development of the smart phone was innovation.
Innovation is when you take an existing idea or product and tweak it to do something new or improved.

jabrantl

'Innovation' also fits better if you're talking about a concept or something abstract - paradigm theory was an innovation in the field of philosophy, but wasn't quite what you'd call an invention. The mud brick was an invention, that led to innovations in the way people build things.