Types
of Innovation: Incremental and Radical
There
are many kinds of innovation. Classification may vary according to the object
of innovation, for example innovation of socio-cultural systems, of ecosystems,
of business models, of products, of services, of processes, of organizations,
of institutional arrangements, etc., to the drivers of innovation
(technologies, markets, design, users, etc.), or to the intensity of
innovation. In this paper we focus upon two categories of innovation for
products or services: incremental and radical.
1. Incremental innovation: Improvements within
a given frame of solutions (“doing better what we already do”)
2.
Radical innovation: A change of frame (“doing what we did not do before”).
Most
of the writing on innovation within the design community focuses upon radical
innovation. It is often characterized as disruptive, competence destroying, or
breakthrough, with all these labels sharing the same concept that radical
innovation implies a discontinuity with the past (Garcia and Calantone 2002).
Radical innovation is the center of attention of design studies, where it is
taught in design schools, and advocated by people discussing innovation and
“design thinking.” It is what everyone wants, but in fact, successful radical
innovation is surprisingly rare. Most attempts at radical innovation fail
(Sandberg 2011) Larry Keeley, President of the Doblin Group estimates that 96%
fail (Bloomberg Business Week 2005, August 1). Successful radical innovation
occurs infrequently within any particular area, perhaps once every 5 – 10
years. Most radical innovations take considerable time to become accepted. For
example, one of today’s radical innovations is Apple’s development of
multi-touch interfaces and their associated gestures to control handheld and
desktop systems. Apple, however, did not invent either multi touch interfaces
or gestural control. Multi-touch systems have been in computer and design
laboratories for over 20 years and gestures also have a long history. Moreover,
several other companies had products on the market using multi-touch before
Apple (Buxton 2007). Although Apple’s ideas were not radical to the scientific
community, they did come as a radical, major shift in the world of products and
how people interact with them and give meaning to them. Similarly, Edison’s
development of the electric light bulb resulted in a radical, major revolution
in home and business, but he did not invent the light bulb. Edison improved the
existing bulbs, extending bulb life, and equally importantly, recognized the
importance of providing the entire necessary infrastructure: the entire system
requirements of generation plants, distribution systems, and even indoor wiring
and sockets to hold the bulbs. Thus, his efforts did revolutionize the product
space and the living and working patterns of households and businesses.
Incremental product innovation refers to the small changes in a product that
helps improve its performance, lower its costs, and enhance its desirability or
simply to announce a new model release. Most successful products undergo
continual incremental innovation, lowering their costs, and enhancing
effectiveness. This, by far, is the dominant form of innovation and even though
it is not as exciting as radical innovation, it is just as important. Radical
innovations seldom live up to their potential when first introduced. At first,
they are often difficult to use, expensive, and limited in capability.
Incremental innovation is necessary to transform the radical idea into a form
that is acceptable to those beyond early adopters. The bottom line is that both
forms of innovation are necessary. Radical innovation brings new domains, new
paradigms, and creates a potential for major changes. Incremental innovation is
how the value of that potential is captured. Without radical innovation,
incremental innovation reaches a limit. Without incremental innovation, the
potential enabled by radical change is not captured.
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