40 unsexy yet brilliant examples of innovation – Board of Innovation

The true value of innovation has been lost amid the chaos of our infatuation with the new. Everyone’s playing with drones or rushing to build or invest in the next big thing. But what about the small things?

The innovations that fail to steal the show are often some of the most effective when it comes to a company’s bottom line. Tiny business model tweaks and incremental adjustments to existing offerings might not be cool or interesting, but they often work.

Here are 40 examples innovations that are ingeniously simple, solve boring problems in unsexy industries, or were quietly released – yet had serious business impact. Proving you don’t have to invent the next blockchain to be innovative.

About 2.3 billion people don’t have access to good sanitation. But Bill Gates’ ‘Reinvent The Toilet’ challenge has yielded breakthroughs. Current toilets simply send the waste away in the water, whereas these toilets treat waste by filtering out pollutants rather than disposing of it.

The waterless toilets don’t require external power; instead, waste is mechanically separated before a combustor dries and burns the solids, while liquids are heated and purified. The cleaned ash and water can then be safely disposed of – or used to help fertilize the soil.

When Gmail was launched, it had few features but did two core things very well: it delivered emails quickly and without lots of distracting ads. Competitor Outlook’s interface, on the other hand, was packed with options and customizable features – many of which people never ended up using. Now the world’s most popular email service, Gmail lets you schedule emails, send and receive money, set expiry times and even get Google’s AI to compose your messages.

This is Google doing what Google does best. They release a simple product, stake out emerging market share, then test and make gradual improvements to seamlessly fit into the lives, minds, and wallets of users.