WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE INNOVATIVE? ONE FUTURIST KEYNOTE SPEAKER’S THOUGHTS

To be innovative means introducing novel solutions that create value in a creative, practical and compelling way. The most successful people and organizations have mastered the art of questioning the status quo, understanding unmet customer needs, and coming up with ideas for better products, services, processes or business models that disrupt existing norms.

Innovation starts with curiosity and empathy. Innovators are intensely curious people – they wonder why things are done a certain way and imagine how systems, experiences and products could be improved. They have empathy for end users and can discern needs or pain points that others overlook. Innovators are not satisfied with the solutions currently available – they realize something transformational could exist instead.

Innovators exhibit creative confidence. They not only have bold ideas but the tools and skills to rapidly prototype and iterate on these ideas to transform them into realistic solutions. Folks combine imagination with invention and hands-on building. And pros are comfortable with quickly testing concepts through minimum viable products before refining and scaling what works.

Once potential breakthrough solutions emerge from an innovation pipeline, there is great attention to marketing, adoption and implementation. Real innovations only happen when end users actually adopt these ideas and integrate them into behaviors, workflows or lifestyles at scale. Great innovators understand product-market fit and have business models that facilitate widespread adoption rather than keeping great ideas trapped at a pilot level.

At their best, innovators unlock value by making great experiences accessible to more people. For example, transportation innovations have enabled mobility and geographic freedom for billions who could previously not afford vehicles. Information innovations have allowed global access to tools for learning and human advancement unlike ever before.

Fundamentally then, embracing innovation means believing the world can keep getting better through deliberate design, creative problem solving and better solutions delivered to people who need them. Innovators shake up conventional thinking in services of making lives safer, healthier, more connected, fulfilled and inspired. They spot opportunities amid imperfections and have the drive to turn promising ideas into real solutions that work.