What is innovation? Examples, types of innovation

Innovation is a key factor in the economic development of modern states. Their development and implementation require significant resources - labor, financial, organizational, but the solution of relevant tasks is necessary in order to ensure the effectiveness of the country's economy. What are the innovations? What are the conditions for their successful implementation?

The essence of innovation

Innovation is understood to mean some innovation in the field of technological development, implementation of management decisions, organization of business processes, which is based on the use of advanced achievements in various fields of science. Examples of innovations can be observed, therefore, in a variety of economic sectors. An important criterion for the recognition of a solution as innovative is the fundamental improvement of a particular technological or managerial process when it is implemented.

Classification of innovations

The appropriate type of innovation can be represented by different categories. So, the classification of innovations is extended based on:

- the degree of novelty;

- the object of application;

- the potential scale of implementation;

- factors that led to the development of a specific solution.

Let's study them in more detail.

Classification of innovations by novelty

Let's consider for an example specificity of the criteria reflecting a degree of novelty. They are divided into:

- radical;

- optimizing;

- Modifying agents.

Innovations of the first type involve the introduction of results of fundamentally new, advanced developments that can affect the economy in the scale of the infrastructure of entire industries, spheres of science and technology. Radical innovations were recently introduced into the world social and economic processes? Examples of developments of the appropriate type are mobile Internet, 3D printing or, for example, the introduction of crypto currency as an alternative to traditional money.

All these technologies have affected the world socio-economic processes, and this impact has a huge potential for further growth. At the same time, the development of relevant innovations can be expressed not only in quantitative indicators, for example, in the form of the coverage area of the mobile Internet or the introduction of 3D printing in new industries, but also in quality ones. Say, in the form of increasing the speed of downloading and downloading files from devices, upgrading 3D printers for printing with their help of technologically complex parts and devices.

There are optimizing innovations. Sometimes they are called improving. Their essence is in the implementation of solutions that can provide local optimization of these or other technical or managerial processes. What are the most noteworthy improvements to innovation? Examples of such innovations can also be considered in different areas. In principle, they can be traced in the framework of the technologies noted above, that is, in the sphere of mobile solutions, in 3D printing, in the financial services segment.

Speaking of mobile technologies, it is possible to consider the invention of multi-touch touch screens, which can recognize several simultaneous finger-clicks on the display of a smartphone or tablet, to improve innovation, which is related to this area. Of course, today this feature will not surprise the owner of the mobile gadget, but the first screens of the corresponding type of devices did not support "multitouch". There are also in the field of 3D-printing presented in large numbers improving innovations. Examples of these are the adaptation of 3D printers to new types of materials. So, if the first devices for 3D printing could use mainly special types of plastic, modern modifications of 3D printers can, for example, cast metal products, print them out of nylon, photopolymers.

There are so-called modification innovations. Their essence is in improving productivity, consumer characteristics, and efficiency of existing solutions. What are some remarkable modern modification innovations? An example of a corresponding solution is the invention of any new technical process in the production of computer processors.

Several years ago, chips manufactured with a process technology of the order of 80-90 nm, were considered advanced. Today, the desired indicator, which allows to ensure optimum performance of the chip - no more than 30-40 nm. At the same time, modern models of processors on a PC operate on a process technology of the order of 14 nm.

Classification of innovations: object of application

The next criterion for classifying innovations is the object of application. So, according to him, researchers highlight innovations: infrastructural, technological, process, and complex. What is their specificity?

Infrastructure includes innovations related to the production of goods and services, using fixed assets of industrial enterprises. What kind of innovation can this be? An example of such innovations is the introduction of robotic factory lines. Alternatively, they can be used in machine-building, instrument-making enterprises.

There are technological innovations - they are aimed at the introduction of new approaches to the production of goods and the provision of services. As a rule, their implementation involves the use of fundamentally different technical solutions. What kind of innovation can this be? An example of such is the use of mobile payment terminals for plastic cards. Their implementation allows you to accept payment from customers in virtually any place in which there is a coverage area for the mobile Internet, as a result of which an enterprise that sells goods or services can significantly grow.

There are process innovations. They assume the establishment in the firm of some organizational structures that allow implementing fundamentally new management decisions. What can be similar innovations? An example of such is the introduction of the KPI system, that is, key performance indicators for employees of the organization.

Classification of Innovation: Scale

Another criterion for classifying innovation is the scale of application. It involves the division of innovations into intracorporate, intra-industry, and inter-branch.

Innovations of the first type require implementation at the level of a particular enterprise. Often they are a trade secret, so their distribution outside the company can be limited. Innovations of the appropriate type can be very different. For example - associated with the receipt and use in the production processes of fundamentally new substances, mechanisms, programs - which significantly improve the efficiency of the company.

Intra-industry innovations are innovations that are used by several enterprises operating in the same branch of the economy. For example, the robotization of factory lines, which we mentioned above, can be consistently implemented at the capacities of most firms in the segment, especially if they are direct competitors (that is, not consolidated into a holding company) and are interested in continuous improvement of production.

There are interbranch innovations. They involve the introduction of various innovations at the level of the national economic system with the participation of enterprises representing different spheres of the economy. Examples of innovations of the corresponding type are the use of electronic signatures (in accounting, in document circulation) by different enterprises, the introduction of remote methods of managing the organization's infrastructure.

The next criterion for the classification of innovations is based on the factors of their origin. So, they allocate reactive and strategic innovations. What is their specificity?

Classification of innovations: factors of innovation development

Reactive innovations mean innovations that were developed because of the urgent need to modernize production - in the firm, in the industry, in order to strengthen the competitiveness of economic entities. An example of reactive innovation is the introduction of the same mobile payment terminals. In the event that some firms start using them, others will have to do the same, otherwise they will lose market share.

What is a strategic innovation? An example of this is the firmware update at the level of basic infrastructure funds. Availability of new software - on local PCs, on servers, on devices that ensure the security of the organization and solve other production tasks. The strategic purpose of these innovations is that they are expected to be used to ensure a competitive advantage in the future. Installation of advanced software modifications on the computers of the organization is one of the most important factors for successful maintenance of the competitiveness of a modern enterprise.

This is the classification of innovations with examples. Let's consider other important aspects of development and introduction of innovations. Among these are preparations for the introduction of innovations. Let's study this aspect in more detail.

Preparing for Innovation

Most innovations appear in the economy and society for a reason - there is a stage of preparation for their implementation. It can assume:

- analysis for the relevance of certain innovations;

- Evaluation of resources available for a potential developer to create an innovation;

- analysis of the prospects of market demand for innovation.

An important aspect of the preparation for the introduction of innovations is the study of the demands of society. In this connection it can be important?

Social aspect of innovation implementation

With all the advantages of innovation, their implementation should be carried out taking into account the characteristics of society. However, people's opinion can not always be the determining factor. People may wish to introduce innovations, consider them as a necessary process. But, from the point of view of the development of society, such initiatives can not always be useful.

Examples of innovations of various kinds, considered by us above, are connected, first of all, with increase of production efficiency. In practice, this often means that many of the labor functions of a person will be unclaimed. For example - due to the fact that it in a number of production operations will replace the robot. Perfection of computing capacities also can play not in favor of demand of the person for this or that manufacture.

Consequently, with too intensive introduction of innovations in industry, unemployment can grow substantially. The number of specialists that were needed before the implementation of innovations may not be required by the economy. At the same time, it is not always possible to occupy people who have certain qualifications - they will have to compensate for the lack of their employment by state support. Whether the budget of the country will cope with this is a question.

Undoubtedly, innovations are needed first of all in terms of ensuring the competitiveness of the state's economy. However, their excessive implementation can provoke an increase in unemployment, in the long term - emigration of qualified specialists. There is a version that innovations in the world - examples of those we considered above, in many ways became a factor in the emergence of the crisis in the labor markets of many developed countries.

But it is worth noting - not all experts adhere to this point of view. There is another version. It consists in the fact that innovations stimulate the capitalization of the economy. The enterprises of the country, having introduced these or those innovations, can develop more effectively, expand the sales markets, attract foreign investments. Capital in the economy of the state stimulates the creation of new jobs and just in those industries where human labor can be replaced can be problematic. Thus, according to this point of view - innovations are useful for the society in any case.

Innovations in Russia

We will study how innovation develops in Russia. Examples of such can be found in the most diverse spheres of the Russian economy. So, at the Russian enterprises, in principle, all those technological innovations function that we considered above - mobile Internet, 3D printing, financial services using crypto-currencies.

One of the world's most technologically advanced military-industrial complex is Russian. Experts view Russia as a technological leader in the space, nuclear industry. A significant number of popular types of software is of Russian origin. These include, for example, well-known anti-virus brands, production automation systems, and crypto protection programs. In the Russian Federation microprocessors are manufactured, albeit in small quantities, for a number of parameters comparable to the products of the leading brands.

Thus, there are and are introduced good innovations in Russia. Examples of such, perhaps, do not always correspond to solutions, the use of which is of a mass nature. But the very fact of their successful development shows that the Russian Federation has a technological, scientific, infrastructural, financial potential to maintain the necessary dynamics of innovation in many sectors of the economy. Undoubtedly, the pace of such innovative modernization in the Russian Federation is often assessed as insufficient. But experts appreciate the potential - it is available. It is important to support it by stimulating scientific developments in the Russian Federation, organizing the exchange of experience between Russian and foreign scientists, creating the necessary infrastructure for the practical implementation of the technologies being developed in various sectors.

Prospective innovations

Consider what the main innovations - an example of each we will study - modern analysts consider as the most promising. Some of us have already mentioned above, but a number of other notable innovations deserve attention.

First of all, it is worth noting that the experts are extremely positive about the role and prospects of the mobile Internet. Access to the network without reference, relatively speaking, to the telephone wire, forms huge economic prospects - first of all, from the point of view of expanding the advertising market and its methods. Mobile Internet creates conditions for intensive information exchange of various types, not only textual, but also multimedia, also without binding to a specific place where there is a telephone wire, communicating among themselves people.

Mobile Internet, thus, significantly speeds up business processes, development of new technological solutions, and further innovation. An example of another promising trend is cloud technologies. The dynamics of their use largely depends on the development of the mobile Internet, but not only it, but the online segment as a whole. Cloud solutions are a high-tech alternative to traditional data carriers, software formats, computing power that can be more reliable, cheaper and more productive than with the use of the classical IT infrastructure.

Alternative energy is another major, basic innovation. An example of its successful implementation can be found in many countries of the world not in one copy. The greatest demand for it is, of course, in states that experience difficulties with the extraction of traditional fuels, or they want to reduce the dependence of the economy on them. Alternative energy, as many experts believe, is important not so much from the point of view of replacing traditional fuels, but rather in terms of man's development of new territories - which in the world, especially in Russia, is enough. If there is an opportunity to use solar, wind energy, the need for expensive, at any rate requiring huge investments, energy infrastructure in the relevant regions may be absent, and the development of these territories can be much more dynamic.

Modernization of materials is another noteworthy trend. At the same time, it can affect a wide range of spheres of production. Thus, among the segments where this is very active is construction. The development of materials adapted to placement in a variety of natural environments, to the effect of various substances - which increases their service life and performance. Modernization of materials may involve a reduction in the cost of their release and practical application in construction. This contributes to the strengthening of the pace of construction of buildings and structures for various purposes and stimulates many economic processes in the state. Modernization of materials is a process that concerns the production of household products, clothes. Innovations in this area are significant, from the point of view of increasing the ecological compatibility of goods, the comfort of using them.

The most important aspect and, at the same time, the direction in the innovation segment is the development of methods for managing them. We are talking about innovations related to the application of practical approaches to the preparation, implementation and maintenance of various technologies.

What can the management of innovation be? Examples of these approaches are social technologies (especially online and related to many innovative segments, which we reviewed above), research concepts in the analysis of socio-economic, production processes, the introduction of new methods of personnel policy at enterprises.

What are the criteria for the effectiveness of managing the implementation of various innovations? Any innovation is a process. An example of almost any of them testifies to this. Development of innovation is being prepared, then it is being introduced, after monitoring the results of its use in one or another sphere. It is important to understand how each stage of work with the innovation concept goes, how to interpret their results.

Therefore, the most important criterion for the effectiveness of innovation management is the sequence of the formation of a complex of knowledge about it. It is important to determine the life cycle of innovation. An example of this or that innovation, while reflecting a separate mechanism for its implementation at a particular enterprise, should be supported by data on many other entities involved in the implementation of the corresponding innovation. Availability of all necessary data on innovation is a factor of its consistent and effective implementation, as well as ensuring its positive impact on economic and technological processes.