The boundaries in the innovation landscape separate the known from the unknown, they divide the landscape into quadrants of different levels of certainty. Unlike the research quadrant and the disruptive quadrant, the first quadrant (business as usual) is framed by known problems and known ideas. With rules and tools defined and available, this is the realm of comforting certainty, of predictable circumstances.
The innovation landscape I have sketched previously suggests that there could be some kind of symmetry. The third quadrant (disruptive) should have some similarity with the second quadrant (research), shouldn't it?
Research is often characterised as the act of intense and structured search. Though this view is not wrong, it doesn't get to the core of what research is and what it is about. Let's explore.
There are two distinct boundaries in the innovation landscape. One boundary separates the known ideas from novel ideas. The other boundary divides the landscape into the areas of known problems on one side and unknown or unacknowledged problems on the other. Both are boundaries between the unknown and the unknown, hence these boundaries will be pushed forward everytime of novel idea is developed or a new problem is encountered.
So far I've charted the innovation landscape along two axes: the demand for problem solutions and the supply of ideas for potential solutions. Today, I'll explore this concept further, focusing on rules and tools: to what extent do we have rules in place and tools available to facilitate and promote the innovation we need?
understanding innovation 