An Essay on the Fundamentals of Innovation - Patrick Bergin, Bates College '23
What counts as innovation?
Innovation is the process of using resources that are available to fit a need or desire of the innovator. The outcome must be a new method or product that in some way allows for change. Innovation can not stand alone as an idea, although it almost certainly always starts as such. Instead it must be a real practical tool to either add value such as increasing productivity and efficiency or be the solution of a problem facing the innovators.
Who should be innovating?
Although it may seem at first to be beneficial for the world if all types of people are innovating, in keeping with the ideas discussed in the first question, there is a boundary to innovate. The boundary is that the person looking to innovate must have access to the resources necessary to bring their innovation to practicality. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that the person looking to innovate has to have a large quantity of wealth or longstanding connections with a manufacturing firm per say, it all depends on the scope of the innovation itself. This is where the role of a venture capital firm such as Ideatrek may step in. A venture capitalist firm, if they believe that a startup company looking to bring an innovative tool or strategy to market has high growth potential, may provide capital in exchange for an equity stake. This way, small companies that wish to innovate but are prevented from doing so by resource restrictions can break through this barrier with the help of a venture capitalist. Ultimately, it's in the best interest of the world for people with a multitude of backgrounds and experiences to innovate because they could see things from a perspective not otherwise seen by others. However in practicality, there is a resource restriction.
How should we value innovations?
We should value innovations on a risk versus a reward type of principle. As stated before there are many resources that can restrict innovation from coming into fruition. When looking to value an innovative idea, one must ask if the innovation is going to be enough to be worth the resources it is going to consume. Returning back to my previous definition of what innovation is, I said it must either add value or be a solution to a problem. So for the first criteria, if the innovation can add efficiency to a workplace such that an amount of money may be saved, I would value the innovation based upon the difference between the money saved and the money it cost to implement, with the larger difference being a higher valued innovation. On the other hand, if the innovation is working towards solving a problem, I would take into consideration both how drastic the problem is and again weigh this across how much resource is needed to fund the innovation. For example, during the height of the Covid-19 outbreak, scientists began trying to create a way to have a large scale of humans acquire immunity to the virus. Because this virus had never been seen, scientists raced to find a vaccine to solve the problem. The government weighed the risk of spending many of its resources against the reward of slowing the covid spread and decided to dedicate a large amount of vaccine funding to help move vaccine candidates through pre-clinical assessments and trials at a rate never before seen because they felt the severity of the covd cirisis outweighed their resource spending. So, in the eyes of the government this innovation process of creating a Covid-19 vaccine was valued highly. So when valuing an innovation, I believe it is in best interest to imagine the direction of the innovation and weigh it against the potential risk in investing time, money, labor and other resources into the process.
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Innovation Ideas prior to Spring Internship
What counts as innovation?
Innovation starts with the process of creating something from the surrounding environment to fit the specific need or desire of the innovator that hasn’t yet been invented in the minds of others. In a quickly-changing world full of possibilities, it is extremely advantageous to stay ahead of the change. This can be done by taking the time to step back from the daily routines of life and wondering if what you are doing is the most optimal or efficient way to be going about this activity. This process can apply to many fields of life, both business and personal. The final step of innovation is to make the idea into a real world practical application. Without this final step, the idea will remain an idea and will never be fully innovated.
Who should be innovating?
Personally, I think all people should be innovative. To truly add value into the world I think it would be beneficial for all types of people and firms to be looking to push the boundaries in any area. Going off my first question, where innovation requires a new and fresh idea, I think it is important for people with a multitude of backgrounds, experience and upbringings to innovate because they could see things from a perspective not otherwise seen by other people. This helps to gain that advantage of being the first to bring these ideas into the world. However, I do acknowledge that experience can also play a fundamental role in the world of innovation, especially the final application part. Therefore, I would say that ideally the perfect person to be innovating would be someone who has a pretty sizable knowledge in the field they are trying to innovate but not enough to where they have tunnel vision and can’t see past the traditional aspects of their field.
How should we value innovations?
Innovation should be valued on whether or not it either makes the innovative subject either more efficient or beneficial. The term efficient could mean either the final product is more cost efficient or a better allocation of resources. As for beneficial I mean that the final product is either adding more value or even just enjoyment to the world it enters. Therefore, I think the golden standard of innovation should be one that strives to be more efficient and beneficial, but I would still rank one that heavily performs in one area very highly. A good innovation also has to have the ability to balance a commitment and focus on the original idea while leaving itself open to the other possibilities. As previously stated, innovation happens in a world where change is a constant. Therefore, if you become hyper focused on one idea, opportunities can pass you by easily. Conversely, if you become too abstract and spread your focus too thin, it is unlikely that your original innovation will ever be truly materialized.