When we practice innovation we are, substantially, making new connections that generate new form of interactions of the users with and through product and services as well as new platforms or new processes.
Actors who are professionally or socially active in the three areas depicted in the above figure usually have ongoing processes of ‘betterment’ or innovation already in place in their domain (or department). The engineer innovates technical aspects; the designer innovates based on human driven needs, usability issues, and emotions; the manager innovates business models and revenues streams potential. But this is not enough anymore.
Inward looking -compartmented- innovation processes have often a limited scope and a reduced power; a lack of communication and understanding between the three circles prevents radical, groundbreaking innovation from happening.
This is where the role of design and innovation management comes to play.
The black area is where mediation happens.
Let’s remember this area, this mediation zone, because it is a focal concept and an important thing to understand.
We suggest change and meaningful ‘value innovation‘ happens better through managing innovation with a clear and structured method that adopts design thinking as a process and approach.
We should design our future by managing innovation through design.
Progress per se does not make any sense, does not generate value, does not add any value.
It only [maybe] generate new loops of consume.
Innovation is different.
Innovation is meaningful and valuable in the systemic perspective. Innovation is good progress, innovation is good design.
Meaningful innovation generates value because it makes sense, because it is sustainable and explicable in the context whichever different point of observation we can embrace.