Innovation Is Not IP
Here is a trap that snares many technically strong organizations: they measure their innovation by counting patents. But innovation is not the same as intellectual property. Recall the foundational definition from Module 1: innovation is the creation of new value that is adopted. A patent is not adopted value - it is a legal right to an invention. You can hold thousands of patents and produce almost no innovation.
A patent (invention)
A legally protected new idea or device. It may never reach a customer, solve a real need, or generate a cent of value. Invention is necessary but not sufficient.
An innovation (adopted value)
A new solution that reaches people, meets a real need, and is adopted - creating value in the world. This is the actual goal; IP is only one way to protect it.
IP serves innovation, not the reverse
The right relationship is clear: IP is in service of innovation. Once you have created adopted value, IP can help you protect and capture more of it. But protection is meaningless if there is no valuable innovation to protect in the first place. Do the innovation work - find the need, create and deliver the value - and let IP defend the result.
Does your organization ever confuse invention (or patents) with innovation? What would change if you measured adopted value instead of filings?
Sources
- Global Innovation Institute (GInI), Foundations of Innovation - innovation vs. invention and IP.
- Teece, D., "Profiting from Technological Innovation", Research Policy, 1986.
- Christensen, C. & Raynor, M., The Innovator’s Solution, 2003.