An article in HarvardBusiness.org today examines inventor, innovator and entrepreneur — terms often used interchangeably, but which the article’s author puts forth are fundamentally different. The article suggests that each term refers to “different links in the total value-chain of progress.”
Inventors: Idea-oriented who solve problems in a non-linear way
Entrepreneurs: Action-oriented who solve problems in a non-linear way
Innovators: Can solve problems in either a non-linear way (“revolutionary” ideas) or linear way (“evolutionary” ideas, aka make incremental improvements)
Examples of non-linear innovations include the automobile and the Internet. Along the same theme lines, examples of linear innovations would be better engines and more efficient programming languages. The author explains,
“Evolutionary innovators ask questions based on the limitations of existing solutions; revolutionary innovators ask questions no one else has thought of. … While both types of innovation play a vital role in the developmental ecosystem of technology, industry and business, it is the non-linear or revolutionary innovations that make the most significant advances. These are the ones that make the real difference. The really huge achievements in technology and the world at large are the result of visionary activists who imagine and then build something none of us had previously thought possible.”
The article suggests that revolutionary ideas are implemented and monetized by entrepreneurs, who actually commercialize the innovations. For example, he suggests that even after the first automobile was created, it wouldn’t have revolutionized lives unless an entrepreneur had figured out how to produce it affordably and on a mass-scale.
With regard to revolutionary vs. evolutionary innovation, the author leaves readers with, “While both play a role in the ecology of innovation, it is the truly revolutionary innovations that make all subsequent incremental improvements possible.”
You can read the article in full here.
Do you agree or disagree? Would you define these terms differently? Let us know in the comments!
