There are four basic types of innovation depending on the problem that needs solving.

The 4 types of innovations are incremental innovation, adjacent innovation, breakthrough innovation, and radical innovation.

It is the main classification used today, but not the only one. In reality, inventions become innovations based on their impact on the user, the market, technology, or business.

Definition of Innovation

The term innovation is polysemous and therefore difficult to define. However, an innovative product or service shares a certain number of irrefutable common characteristics. There is always :

In any case, an innovative solution is a successful bet. Finally, everyone also agrees to see it as a key factor in the competitiveness of industries, and a means of generating growth. These notions of success and added value distinguish it from a simple invention.

For the past ten years, we have often relied on the definition of innovation proposed by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in the Oslo Manual in 2005:

“An innovation is the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), or process, a new marketing method, or a new organisational method in business practices, workplace organisation or external relations”

Types of Innovation and Classification

The OECD, therefore, distinguishes 4 forms of innovation according to the field of application.

The economist Joseph A. Schumpeter proposes 5, judging that it is a question of succeeding in innovating in:

J.-A. Schumpeter is also at the origin of the concept of creative destruction. In other words, the creation of new, radical technologies destroys the previous ones by replacing them. The Austrian professor noted that innovations appear in clusters, with successive incremental changes.

Technical, technological, or scientific progress, for example, enables radical innovation. This change is accompanied by other innovative solutions that are developing simultaneously. This work, and in particular this principle of degrees in the innovation process.

Each type of innovation involves a greater or lesser share of risks and benefits.

Incremental Innovation VS Radical Innovation

Proposing minor (incremental) innovations means constantly improving what already exists. It is the most widespread form of innovation because the risk-taking seems low, and the gains are interesting:

In contrast, so-called radical innovations are rare because they are dangerous to implement. On the one hand, the process is generally long and expensive. On the other hand, there is significant uncertainty as to the adoption of the novelty by the company or the clientele.

The innovative radicals do not necessarily respond to a request or a need expressed by the market, the opposite. Many startups have been successful as well. Microsoft and Google, for example, have offered radically new products and services. According to the OECD, such products have two essential characteristics:

The innovative companies that opt for this strategy frequently fail. Nevertheless, continuous innovation is not a guarantee of security either.

Clayton Christensen, in The Innovator’s Dilemma, analyzed the mistakes of big business. He notes, among other things, a recurring phenomenon. Through incremental improvements, the product functionalities no longer meet the needs of users, are too expensive, etc. Customers then turn to adjacent or disruptive innovations.

Or, for fear of losing their profitability and going out of incremental comfort, companies do not see the emergence of radical innovation. This is how the specialist in the photographic industry, Kodak, went bankrupt in the face of the boom in digital photography.

Adjacent Innovation VS Disruptive Innovation

An example of an adjacent innovation could be Uber. The mobile application company believes that taxis do not meet the needs of urban populations. They, therefore, take over an already existing market — city transport — while adapting it to their market.

Recently, the company has done it again with Uber Work, thus attacking the temporary employment market, still through the design of mobile applications. This strategy is interesting for:

The area of ​​uncertainty is not negligible, but much less important than with disruptive innovation.

Schumpeter and Christensen spoke of “disruptive” and “radical” innovations as if they were synonyms. At present, the two concepts no longer have the same meaning.

Disruption makes it possible to innovate by improving usability, comfort, or even reducing the price. It is a democratization of the product. It may be due to new technology, but not necessarily. In all cases, competition and the market are destabilized.

This form of innovation is formidable and demonstrates an excellent understanding of user expectations as well as the context.

How to Find Innovations?

Industrial designer Jay Doblin listed 10 types of innovations, divided into 3 major groups :

Indeed, innovations are the result of internal and external phenomena.

From an internal point of view, let us cite in particular:

Externally, to find innovative solutions, companies can rely on:

The search for innovative ideas and their implementation arises from these different interactions. Some come more particularly from technology ( techno-pushed ), others from marketing ( market-pulled ).

Innovation strategies play a key role in the development of new ideas. Storytelling is an effective way to communicate them, first in the company, then outside.

Management of Innovation and UX Design

There are multiple approaches to innovation today.

Examples include the following Business Models:

The latter is itself divided into innovation:

However, innovating is not just about enjoying a competitive advantage or generating economic growth. We first enter into an innovation process to solve a problem, present or future.

The innovator then joins the designer

In terms of digital innovation, taking into account the user experience is now essential. Good designers have empathy for understanding the user’s mental models and needs, including unexpressed ones. In this sense, UX design can only contribute to innovation. This design method meets both the real expectations of the usability of the users and the constraints of the teams (time, deadlines).

Design Thinking is very effective for a number of innovative projects. The human-centered approach helps to understand the problem. Then, the ideation phases lead to solutions that can be quickly tested with users. Their feedback facilitates learning and develops the team’s capacity for innovation.

You can innovate by creating new products or services, never previously designed, despite the risk. Or optimize a product from a single technological platform. There is no single innovation strategy or model to follow.

To remain competitive, the company must have a clear vision of its skills, and of the problems to be solved for their customers. UX and user-centric approaches help discover, understand, and anticipate the solutions consumers need.

The 4 types of innovation, minor or major, are doomed to failure if we lose sight of the internal and external components of innovation.