Is Innovation Unique? New? Good?

I am currently in Bangkok running the Thailand Memory Championships and an advert for an Innovation and Knowledge conference on 9 July caught my eye.

The keynote "Unique, New, Good" by Mr Pansak Leelawankulsiri, SVP for SME Development at Bangkok Bank got me thinking ... is innovation unique? Is it something new? Or is it something good/useful? Let's look at what these terms mean.

Unique --- Innovation can be incremental (small step improvements) or radical (a paradigm shift, ie, Nintendo Wii gaming console). So don't feel you are not innovative because your ideas are not unique. The trick is to leverage existing ideas with a simple creativity tool: "concept extraction".

Ask "What is the concept behind that idea/campaign?" then "How else can we achieve that concept?"

This is why the Wii is no longer unique. Last month Sony Ericsson announced the new F305 mobile phone as a Wii-like handset to allow owners to play games using the phone as a motion sensor. That's an innovative combination of quite different devices.

New --- New to the world or new to you? Did you know that travel is one of the top five ways to be innovative? There are many success stories such as Boost Juice, where the idea for premium juice bars was spotted in the US and taken back Australia, modified and then launched as a successful business.

Cyber travel also stimulates ideas. Surfing the net and subscribing to www.BNET.com, www.CNET.com.au, www.fuzz2buzz.com, and other information-rich sites will stimulate thoughts and generate ideas. While first-mover advantage is preferred, start incorporating existing ideas into your business to keep on top of the game.

Good --- Innovation has to add value and generally be an improvement. Sony's product ideas in the early 1990s were constrained until it broke the mindset that the laser disk had to be the size of a dinner plate/LP record. Apparently, the breakthrough came during a meeting with Philips Electronics, when they saw the then new compact discs. Having practical devices that fit in your hand opened whole new range of opportunities.

One of the best places to look for new ideas is to first determine what really annoys people. The Apple iPod's simplicity was a stark contrast from increasing complexity in mobile phones.

What annoys your customers? How could you bundle a product or service to address the issue?