Defining 'Innovation'

RCL use this definition: "Innovation is the exploitation of the value latent in an idea (new to the unit of adoption) for economic, social and/or environmental advantage”.

Others have excellent perspectives, such as:

Drucker (1994) wrote that: "in…a period of rapid change the best — perhaps the only — way a business can hope to prosper, if not survive, is to innovate. This is the only way to convert change into opportunities.”

Tidd, Bessant and Pavitt concluded that: “Management research suggests that innovative firms — those which are able to use innovation to differentiate their products and services from competition — are on average twice as profitable as other firms”.

Verloop wrote that innovation is essential to “meet the needs of the present, without compromising the needs of future generations”.