Identifying opportunities

Innovative opportunities

Students like you...

Students like you...

Student 1 - Ankit

Engineering

Student 2 - Cameron

Innovation/Science

Student 3 - Jared

Innovation/Information Technology

Student 4 - Jesse

Law/Communication

Student 5 - Nick

Innovation/Science

Student 6 - Oliver

Innovation/Design

Student 7 - Vanouhi

Business

Student 8 - Zach

Innovation/Business

What is innovation?

In this module, we are specifically interested in opportunities for innovation. But what exactly does it mean to be innovative?

An innovation is commonly considered to be something new that is developed to create value for someone else. This could be a process, product or service. To create this value, you need to be able to find the right opportunity. Innovation is primarily created by entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, who find opportunities, and look beyond existing solutions to develop a more innovative solution. One way to understand innovation is to look at patent regulation (a governing law that gives owners exclusive and legal rights over something tangible). On the one hand there are patents for radical innovation, while on the other, there are patents for incremental innovation.

WiFi trademark
Australian’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) invented Wi-Fi.

Radical innovation

Something that is radically innovative must be substantially different to existing alternatives. A great example of radical innovation is CSIRO’s patent for Wi-Fi. This was a radically different solution that disrupted the existing solution – copper / cable-based telecommunication and took away business from wired telecom companies.

Two mouse traps: one made of wood and wire, the other constructed of moulded plastic. Both have springs.
‘Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door’ is a phrase used to describe the power of innovation.

Incremental innovation

Incremental innovation is more about small adjustments or improvements. It typically involves a series of minor improvements to an existing product, service or process.  If you go to IP Australia and search AusPat for mouse trap, you will find multiple incremental patents. All these patents are quite similar to each other and resemble existing solutions for catching and killing mice. However, each trap is slightly different and this gradual differentiation is still innovative and patentable as it presents a better way to get the job done.

What is the secret of successful innovation?

Whether radical or incremental, innovations should be non-obvious and involve some form of novel or inventive step. Otherwise, someone else could claim the idea is a copy and that it infringes on their existing innovation. If an invention doesn’t have that novel or different step, then it’s not innovative.

Read on to learn more

The IP law firm, Brooks Acordia, explains the difference between obvious and non-obvious among their frequently asked questions.

What makes an invention nonobvious?

IP Australia's online Patent Manual of Practice and Procedure describes the reverse infringement test for novelty.

Test for Novelty

Wadeson, an Australian firm, reports news from the High Court on the inventive step.

Inventive step clarified by the High Court of Australia

Building a more innovative mousetrap is not a guarantee for success. Many well-known innovations are slightly more innovative than what was already available. In many of those cases, the key factor was an ability to execute and put the innovation in-front of customers.

ExampleRocket Internet

Rocket Internet is a classic example of a successful incremental innovation best known for seeing Facebook and AirBnB emerge in the US and then setting up clones of those businesses in Europe. The innovative element was less about the technology and more about bringing existing innovation into a new market. The team behind Rocket Internet saw this as an opportunity because they had the right combination of capabilities, access to markets that didn’t have active responses to these opportunities, and they were knowledgeable about the relevant industries.

The online business journal, Knowledge@Wharton, examines Rocket Internet’s business model.

Can Cloning Businesses Work? Ask Rocket Internet.

You don't have to be a startup

Most people think of opportunities for innovation as a chance to be entrepreneurial and create a new business. However, these opportunities and innovations can also occur within organisations to create value within that organisation or for that organisation’s stakeholders (e.g. customers, suppliers, investors, partners, etc.).

Read on for entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial case studies of responses to opportunities for innovation.

Terminology

Take a moment to check your understanding of the key terms we use in this module.

Innovation: something new that is introduced to create value for someone else; usually in the form of a process, product or service.

Innovativeness: The degree to which the innovation ranges from being an incremental extension of existing solutions to being a radically different solution that may also result in transforming the business model of existing solution providers.

Entrepreneurship: the act or process of introducing an innovation usually in response to a perceived opportunity or problem with the intention to capture some of the value being created.

Intrapreneurship: the act or process of applying entrepreneurial methods and practices within an organisation to create value for the organisation or for its stakeholders.