What is innovation?
Let's take a look at the official definition:
Innovation refers to the behavior of improving or creating new things, methods, elements, paths, and environments, and obtaining certain beneficial effects, in a specific environment, in the spirit of idealized needs or to meet the needs of the society, with the guidance of insights different from the conventional or normal thinking of the existing thought patterns.
It can be seen that even the most powerful innovations come from "existing modes of thinking" and "existing knowledge and materials", which means that every innovation stands on the shoulders of its predecessors. Being "in a particular context" can be interpreted as not letting the mind run wild, but rather as defining a framework within which innovations can be generated, which is far more effective than aimlessly thinking out of the box or waiting for inspiration to strike.
In short, innovation is about creating new things. Self-driving cars, robots, new medicines, and digitized healthcare are all highly influential innovations of our time. While we hold our heads high and stride around shouting "innovation is the soul of a nation's progress", innovation is already pervasive in every aspect of our lives.
How to innovate?
Innovation methods include trial and error, brainstorming, six thinking caps, 6 sigma, etc., which originated in the former Soviet Union's "TRIZ Theory", which is directly translated as "Tui Zhi", meaning "Theory of Invention and Innovation", and "Theory of Innovation", which is directly translated as "Theory of Invention and Innovation". "TRIZ theory" originated from the former Soviet Union - in our country is directly translated as "Dui Zhi", meaning invention problem-solving theory, is respected by countries around the world, which has 4 major separation methods, 8 major laws of evolution, 40 principles of invention, 76 standard solutions and 101 scientific effects of the library of tools and paradox analysis, physical analysis, HOW TO model and functional analysis, and other analytical models for the innovation of the road shown.
So many methods and theories is not to see the eyes, this innovation must be what high things, ordinary people do not know how long it will take to master. In fact, it is not, innovation is not what profound theory, innovation is not erratic, innovation is traceable, there are laws to follow, as long as you follow some simple laws, everyone can innovate.
We can change the question to this:
How to innovate simply?
We can't talk about innovation without talking about creativity. Creativity is about connecting ideas that have never been connected in the past. The essence of creativity is to connect disparate fields, and you can be creative if you can combine ideas from different fields. If you're good at math and know some history, if you're an artist and love astrophysics, if you're an engineering major who happens to be a good writer, you're that creative person everyone recognizes.
The Combinatorial Principle
A basic principle of simple innovation can be deduced from the understanding of creativity - the combinatorial principle. This is the principle of innovation in which some or all of two or more doctrines, technologies, and products are appropriately superimposed and combined for the formation of new doctrines, technologies, and products.
Albert Einstein once said, "The role of combination seems to be the essential feature of creative thinking." The opportunities for combinatorial innovation are endless. Some people have counted 480 major inventions since the last century, analyzed and found that the 30's and 40's is the main breakthrough results and the combination of results as a supplement; 50's and 60's are roughly equal; from the 80's onwards, it is the combination of the results of the dominant position. This shows that the combination principle has become one of the main ways of innovation.
The principle of combination can be simply written as a mathematical formula:
a+b=c
The combination of any two things will produce something new, and the combination of the new thing with another thing will produce something completely new, and in the completely free combination of a series of whimsical ideas. This simple formula can be morphed into a+b+c+...=x or a+b=c+d=e+f=... or any other combination of combinations, resulting in a myriad of variations from which innovation is born. There is a theory in the field of design that is the best application of the principle of combination.
Five Senses Design Theory
God gave mankind a variety of senses - sight, sound, touch, smell, taste, which is what we often call the five senses, when you use different senses to feel, you will have a new view of the same thing and different experiences. When different senses interact, they can create new feelings.
The theory of five-sense design refers to the addition of different senses to the design of a product so that it can be revitalized. Such as in the ordinary iron to join the perfume spray (olfactory) design, the ordinary toothbrush into a candy flavor (taste), the smell is fast disappearing is a reminder that you want to change the toothbrush, to the remote control at home on the harp flute on the comfortable keys (tactile) experience will become great, and why we are fascinated with the hands of this piece of small equipment can not be extricated, then you have to ask your eyes (visual) and ears (auditory) feelings
This is the first time we've seen this.
The combination of the human senses in a product can have a marvelous effect, and that's a simple application of the principle of combination.
Subtraction
Combination is addition, but subtraction is also innovation.
Subtraction is the process of removing an essential part of a product or service, perhaps even the most important part of it, and not finding a replacement. Sound outlandish? Read on to find out.
The main components of laundry detergent are liquid detergent, fragrance, and adhesive, and the most important component is liquid detergent, which is obviously useless if we remove it, but in fact that's how "clothes freshener" was born. Traditional headphones evolved into earbuds because the developers removed the earmuffs on them; white markers were introduced because the developers removed the polymer from the permanent markers; and the iPod Touch, which is still a favorite among consumers, was created because Apple unexpectedly removed a popular feature from the iPhone.
The famous rule of Occam's Razor is a perfect illustration of the subtraction strategy, a simple eight-letter word: don't add things if you don't have to, and chew on it a couple of times to get the idea.
Subtraction strategy
Not only addition and subtraction, but also division - we tend to see a product or service as a whole, and believe that they should exist in a familiar way, to break this "structural fixation", break it into multiple parts, and then divide the product into multiple parts. break this "structural fixation" by breaking it down into parts and then reorganizing the broken down parts, which often leads to big surprises.
In the early days, air conditioners were integrated, occupying most of the indoor space, and the experience was extremely bad. Later, the internal and external units were split into modern air conditioners, and from then on, every household was inseparable from it. The remote control is also a typical innovation that utilizes the division strategy, which is responsible for all the benefits in life.
The multiplication strategy
It's amazing how math can be used to guide innovation, even in the simplest terms of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Multiplying a product means identifying the components of a product, service, or process, choosing a basic part to replicate, and then transforming it into an enhanced version of the new product.
Children's bicycles have a rear wheel on either side of the rear wheel, in addition to the regular front and rear wheels, to help beginners ride; TVs with picture-in-picture allow people to capture information on another channel at any time; double-ended razors are on the market; double-sided tape is common; and the dual cameras on your cell phone are all using the multiplication strategy. All utilize multiplication strategies.
Innovation doesn't have to be earth-shattering, nor is it a decade of grinding a sword, nor is it a decades-long closed-door cultivation that shouts out "the power of the gods has been accomplished", modern innovation should start from the smallest point, although the first set of fixed formulas to produce a new product form, and then to consider the deformation of the product to help the user to solve what problems. This is the so-called "micro-innovation".
Micro-innovation
Motorola was the first to make a pager, the first to make an analog phone, the first commercial cellular phone in the world in 1983, the world's first smallest and lightest personal cell phone in 1989, and the world's smallest, dual-battery portable phone in 1996... ...In the late 1990s, the technology-oriented Motorola began to lose its way, and was gradually overtaken by "micro-innovation killers" such as Samsung and Apple.
Tencent QQ has grown rapidly because of faster file transfers than MSN, 360 was the first to launch a free antivirus, and paid antivirus software has been defeated, Taobao used the same free strategy to beat eBay, and Alipay is just an intermediary guarantee moved offline to the line, the first to display lyrics, and the first to match subtitles to the shooter player online. ...... It's these tiny innovations that explode into huge power and give products a long life cycle.
In micro-innovation, focusing on a specific situation, narrowing down the scope, and finding answers within a limited framework is the most effective way to innovate.
Continuous innovation
Innovation comes from creativity, and creativity comes from curiosity. Always keep your curiosity, go to different places - to art museums, to car factories, to the beach to the mountains, to meet different people, to do different things, and most importantly, to keep meticulous records, you will gain a broad perspective, you will face more different choices, and eventually you will be like Newton, when the apple falls down, will think more than the average person, and innovation will result.
But remember, true innovation is not about learning a few tricks and being invincible, it's about sharpening and accumulating and never stopping thinking, and maybe a little bit of luck at the end.