The technological innovation It is a process by which people, organizations or companies collaborate to create a new business model, product or service.
We all know innovative products or services that have evolved to reach the technological advances that we now have at our fingertips.
From the record player, the telegraph, the cameras or the microwave. These products, together with many others, were responsible for setting a precedent and positively changing personal, social, work and economic dynamics thanks to their innovation.
To understand the impact of these products, one must first know what really is a technological innovation? What kind of characteristics should an idea have to be one? Are there different types of innovation?
Today I will explain everything about it, with specific examples. So, let’s get right into it!
What does technological innovation really mean?
By involving technology and innovation, the generation or improvement of new products or services that have a direct and constant impact on tastes, preferences and .
To understand what is technological innovation First, it is necessary to break down both the concept of technology and that of innovation.
What is technology?
Technology is the set of various knowledge and tools that seeks to improve the environment to make it more pleasant, safe, healthy, easy or interesting.
What is innovation?
Innovation goes hand in hand with creativity and invention. And although it is often believed that this term is only linked to a scientific invention, the reality is that it also represents creative and orderly work.
For this reason, innovation has become an engine and a fundamental pillar within organizations.
Definition of technological innovation
To support the above definitions, it is important to make it clear that the technological innovation It is made up of a process through which one or more people or companies work to create a new business model, or service.
Whether it originates from scratch —or starting from a base and making use of various technological tools— it is possible to divide innovation into four different types, which I will explain in detail below.
Types of technological innovation
the four main types of technological innovation are:
- disruptive
- Sustainable
- Radical
- incremental
Let’s see below what are the characteristics of each of them.
disruptive innovation
This is one of the most valuable because it focuses on two things: disrupt an existing market to generate a transformation in it or create a value network through new products or services.
However, for this type of innovation to work, it must have four key elements: a value offer, resources, well-defined processes and a profit formula.
An excellent example, and in turn one of the most successful companies, is Netflix, which offers a very popular and customizable streaming service. It must be remembered that this company was able to displace its competitors, as happened with Blockbuster.
sustainable innovation
This type of innovation focuses its efforts on incorporating natural resources in order to promote both economic and social development to reduce environmental and ecological damage.
An example of this type of innovation is the use of solar panels and their implementation in smart homes, through home automation, to reduce and optimize energy consumption.
radical innovation
This type of innovation combines technology and creates an entirely new business model to radically transform a specific industry or market. This can be achieved only through a lot of time, dedication and a group of professionals and experts with many years of experience.
An example of this are the new technological developments in the field of medicine that allow the study of people’s DNA, with the aim of changing the course of diseases such as cancer.
incremental innovation
This type of innovation seeks to create small improvements or updates to something pre-existing with a focus, mainly, on aspects such as productivity, efficiency and differentiation.
One of the most outstanding examples is 3D printing. Which started from the traditional method of printing on paper, going through the digital and, little by little, developed to be able to print houses, prostheses and, now, even food.
Characteristics of technological innovation
As you may already know, technological innovation is part of your daily life through, for example, online courses, digital financial models, virtual reality or, as I mentioned before, 3D printing. But what do these developments have in common and what makes them so special?
All these products and services meet the characteristics of a technological innovation, since they offer new solutions and new opportunities for different types of markets. But what exactly are those characteristics? I list them below.
- Create an improvement
- lower costs
- They are scalable
- They are easy to use
Let’s explain each of these features below:
Create an improvement
Undoubtedly one of the fundamental pillars within innovation, because it must be able to solve a problem, or several, efficiently.
lower costs
In other words, it is possible to make a product, a service or a business model more efficient and at a better cost.
They are scalable
They make it easier to ensure that what is offered can be done on a larger scale. Not only to create impact, but to solve problems with a global reach.
They are easy to use
To use them, it should require as little effort as possible from all types of users while still giving them maximum benefit.
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Benefits of technological innovation
What are the benefits of technological innovation? Let’s see it below:
1. Meet the multiple needs of consumers.
2. Facilitate social, personal and work life.
3. Renew and expand the range or products offered by a company.
4. Promote to better positions within the industry.
5. Increase sales.
Let’s analyze each of the following points.
1. Meet the multiple needs of consumers.
If there is a need, there may be a technological innovation that is responsible for providing a simpler solution to a complex issue.
2. Facilitate social, personal and work life.
This is achieved by making even the most tedious tasks easy and encouraging.
3. Renew and expand the range or products offered by a company.
So that it can remain current and be even more competitive within a given industry or market.
4. Promote to better positions within the industry.
Something especially relevant for those companies that want to be better prepared for changes that, on many occasions, can arrive without prior notice.
5. Increase sales.
By making a company much more attractive because it generates new or different ideas, solutions and experiences for its customers.
Business impact of technological innovation
The benefits of technological innovation not only impact customers and users, but also companies that bet on such advances receive multiple advantages, some of them are:
Generate new jobs
Innovation requires trained minds that can add new and better alternatives. That said, it is expected that by 2025 around 97 million new jobs related to the world of technology will be generated.
Reduce costs to maximize results
This is possible through the optimization of resources, automation or more efficient methods that promote time and effort savings throughout organizations.
Improve flexibility in process management
If something has reinforced technological innovation, it is the importance of teamwork for the continuous improvement of processes. Since, the greater the efficiency, the greater the flexibility and agility.
Examples of technological innovation
There are endless technological innovations that you use in your day to day. And these are just 5 examples of technological innovation that have been promoted in recent years.
blockchain
This technology managed to revolutionize the way in which transactions are carried out, especially in areas such as commercial and financial. By working on blocks of data and through a single registry that, in turn, has allowed the development of other types of projects such as the already well-known cryptocurrencies or the revolutionary NFTs.
airbnb
Without the need for any physical property, this organization built an operating model based on digital resources focused on hospitality services. And not only that, but it was a scalable innovation project, something that has allowed it to have a presence around the world.
Smart cities
They are named for making use of information technologies to make use of the resources of a city in such a way that they: improve the quality of life of those who inhabit them, use the data collected to make better decisions, increase the efficiency of resources, among other benefits.
smartworking
The pandemic derived from COVID-19 confirmed the benefits of working from home. This motivated a large number of companies to a forced digital transformation that has caused work schemes to mix between virtual and face-to-face, generating a hybrid scheme.
digital identification
Your voice, fingerprints or your face will probably make passwords as we know them today disappear, since more and more organizations use them as an identification method, such as banks that use this mechanism to enable access to your applications online.
Summary
Let’s review, briefly, everything we had the opportunity to learn today about technological innovation.
What is technological innovation?
The technological innovation It is made up of a process through which one or several companies work to create a new business model, product or service. Either from scratch or starting from a base and using various technological tools.
Types of technological innovation
- disruptive innovation
- sustainable innovation
- radical innovation
- incremental innovation
Characteristics of technological innovation
- They make an improvement.
- They lower costs.
- They are scalable.
- They are easy to use.
Benefits of technological innovation
- Satisfy the multiple needs of consumers.
- Facilitate social, personal and work life.
- Renew and expand the range or products offered by a company.
- Promote to better positions within the industry.
- Increase…
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