What is innovation? To innovate means to introduce changes in something already established, particularly by bringing new methods, ideas, or products.
But Innovation is not the same as invention. Most innovations adapt already existing ideas or tools, looking for their most effective recombination. Take the example of the great inventors of the beginning of XXth century, such as The Lumiere Brothers, or Thomas Edison, which are some of the most praised inventors of our era. Looking at their inventions through a different stance, we can see how the objects and technologies they came up with were recombinations of existing ideas and products. That was the case of the light bulb, X-rays, the phonograph and cinema. The lesson coming from these historical examples, is that most of the elements you need for your next innovation are available to you right now, particularly if you have a precise vision of what do you want, where to find it and how to recombine it.
Many thinkers from all times have praised the challenge of innovation and overcoming the fears inherent to dare to make something new.
What have those thinkers from all times thought and said about innovation ?
Intelligenthq assembles here timeless lessons about Innovation:
1. “What is now proved was once only imagined.” – William Blake
2.“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” Andy Warhol
3. “Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.” Voltaire
4.“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” J.K. Rowling
5. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
6. “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck
7. “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.” – Leonardo da Vinci
8. “Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” – Helen Keller
9. “A discovery is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.” A. von Szent-Gyorgyi
10. “We have approximately 60,000 thoughts in a day. Unfortunately, 95% of them are thoughts we had the day before.” – Deepak Chopra
11. “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct arising from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves.” – Carl Jung
12. “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” – Anais Nin
13. “Before you get bored of yourself try creativity in your life.” – Amit Kalantri
14. “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
Maria Fonseca is the Editor and Infographic Artist for IntelligentHQ. She is also a thought leader writing about social innovation, sharing economy, social business, and the commons. Aside her work for IntelligentHQ, Maria Fonseca is a visual artist and filmmaker that has exhibited widely in international events such as Manifesta 5, Sao Paulo Biennial, Photo Espana, Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Joshibi University and many others. She concluded her PhD on essayistic filmmaking , taken at University of Westminster in London and is preparing her post doc that will explore the links between creativity and the sharing economy.
