Manual | Come up with an idea: ways to get from regular to innovative

I always admire people who are able to find non-standard solutions, turning everyday life into something new and amazing.

After all, you will agree that in a world full of information and ready-made solutions, the ability to see what is hidden from most, and come up with your own unique ways to solve problems, is especially valuable.

And you, dear subscribers, what do you think innovation is? Maybe this is a vivid look at the usual things? Or perhaps a way to make the world a little better? I am sure that each of us is capable of innovation, you just need to allow yourself a little fantasy and experiment.

Path to breakthrough: how to turn the usual into an innovative one

Innovation, in its simplest form, is defined as something new — an idea, an improvement in a product, or perhaps a new method. This may also apply to solutions that meet new needs. It differs from invention in a small but recognizable way: the automobile was an invention; the driverless car is an innovation.

Remember that technological advances are a means to improve people’s lives. Your inventions should follow the same concept. And the more useful they are to more people, the more likely it is that your idea will take off and make a profit.

Hundreds of thousands of patents (approximately 600,000) are filed annually in the United States alone. What incredible ingenuity! But an idea doesn’t have to be completely original to be considered an invention. This can be an improvement on an old idea or a combination of several ideas.

One of the classic ways to develop inventions is to use and combine new technologies. Similar things happen all the time with high-tech products. Many inventions (most of them, actually) really improve on previous developments. Very rare indeed is a completely new and unprecedented invention — if ever there was one.

Innovation is critical to the survival of every organization. Every product organization should have an organized chat forum, supported financially at the executive level, to collect new ideas, regardless of who came up with them, and act on them, repeat them, to prove long-term value for the company. If your organization applies this process broadly and visually, you will have no problem attracting innovative engineers, regardless of their age. Often, a team is involved in project research, which leads to more potential solutions being proposed and considered.

You need to know from the very beginning of the product development and design process what your strategy will be in order to gain a market place for your product and stand out from the competition. It’s not enough to be different: you need to be better, and you need to be able to convince the world. Think about the vectors by which your product idea is an improvement over what you already have. Regardless of whether design thinking occurs as an individual or as a team, it has common elements-creativity, imagination, intuition, out-of-the-box thinking, and a focus on who will use the solution in the end. You want your idea to be new enough to be interesting, but at the same time satisfying real-world problems.

Cost-effectiveness

Can your product do the same as your competitors while being less expensive? Your invention doesn’t necessarily have to work better if it can provide more value.

Novelty

What can your invention do that no competitor can do? Simply attaching a bottle opener to the side of the bottle probably won’t work — it should fit whatever function the invention is designed for. Adding useless features doesn’t add value.

Efficiency

Is your invention stronger, faster, or better? Creating a product with the best features is the easiest way to differentiate yourself from the competition, but it can also be the trickiest. Remember: you must sell your invention to investors and, ultimately, to consumers. This means convincing them that the superior performance of your product is worth the risk you’re asking them to take in your new product.

You don’t necessarily have to hit all three of these targets. If you do this, you will have a viable product in your hands! Even if your invention outperforms the competition in only one of these areas, you can still have a completely viable product design. It all depends on how crowded the market space is for your type of product. If the competition is high, you will have to do better, while in an area where there are only a few competitors, your product will be easier to notice.

Is it available?

70% of new products do not achieve success in the market due to a lack of understanding of customer needs. Inventions are designed to be useful, and being useful often means giving people a way to save time and / or money. One of the main reasons why truly great inventions never appear on the market is that they cannot be implemented at a reasonable price for consumers. Remember: you should be able to achieve your profit, but you also can’t value yourself outside of the market.

If you need investors to help you develop your invention, you should present an idea that is worth their time and money. It should also be cost-effective and low-risk. No one would willingly part with their money, knowing full well that the market failure is great. Ideally, the product you offer to the public should appeal to a significant number of people.

Common wisdom: if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Technical wisdom: If it’s not broken, consider adding more features

Identify the groups that are most interested in the product

Potential investors will want to see that you’ve already built up some level of product support — this shows them that you’ve got what it takes to succeed.

Having the best product in the world will not benefit anyone if no one knows about it. You must have a strategy to make the world care about your invention. So, the first big question you should ask yourself is: Will people get excited? If the answer to this question is yes, then you’re off to a good start. The next question you need to answer is: how will people get excited?

You don’t have to wait until you start production to raise the hype and expectations for your product. You should know in advance whether your idea will be distributed to the public.

At the very beginning of the product development process, you need to find out as accurately as possible how much it will cost to produce and distribute your invention, and you need to compare this with an honest estimate of what consumers will actually pay for it. Start by asking your friends or family what they think and think about your invention. What’s the point if no one will use or buy your invention? Is this viable for commercial availability? Is there an existing patent that might prevent you from selling your idea? Such problems should be studied, analyzed, and resolved at an early stage.

If you can’t make a decent profit from the difference after analyzing the product, then it’s time to come up with a new idea.

Can you risk inventing something that has virtually no existing market? Today in the article I will tell you how to come up with an idea: ways to get from ordinary to innovative.

• Replace

To come up with something new, you can replace objects, places, procedures, people, ideas, and even emotions. The manager of one of the Starbucks cafes experimented by mixing different drinks, replacing one with another, until she came up with an interesting combination. The drink was named Frappuccino®, and today it’s a $ 500 million joint venture with Pepsi-Cola.

• Combine

To think creatively is to combine previously unrelated ideas or objects. A Japanese hosiery company adds millions of microcapsules of vitamin C and mineral-rich palmaria seaweed extract to each pair of tights . The invention of the Japanese Yoshimi Hamada called “liquid tights” (originally also called “air stockings” or “virtual tights”) is in very good demand among urban fashionistas. Cosmetic” tights “ are divided into nude (light), medium (medium tone) and dark (dark chocolate, with a pronounced tan effect). An alternative to nylon tights is liquid: no snags, and the legs are seductively smooth. These “tights” never have puffs from the nails or paws of your favorite dog.

• Adapt it

An original thought often comes after we get acquainted with the ideas of others. In 1956, two brothers by the name of Jacuzzi, originally engaged in the manufacture of aircraft, later selling water pumps for agricultural purposes, created a vortex bath for the treatment of arthritis in their cousin.

Until 1968, they didn’t do much with a new product, and then the Swarm of Jacuzzis put the idea in a different context — the market for expensive Jacuzzi® baths — and our homes were forever transformed. Later, the brothers repeatedly improved their invention and received about 250 patents. The company’s slogan is “Jacuzzi: Water that moves you”.

• Modify it

You can modify anything you want: the whole object or parts of it. The circus business was in decline, but in 1984 Cirque de Soleil opened its doors. Persuading adults to buy a ticket to the circus became more and more difficult every year. But by modernizing the form and shifting the focus to performance skills, Cirque de Soleil changed the meaning of the concept of “circus” and simultaneously created a multibillion-dollar business.

• Increase

You can come up with a new idea by simply adding something to the subject. Toilet paper was first used in the 6th century AD in China. Before that, people used wool, hay, shells, wood shavings and corn cobs for hygiene purposes. Manufacturers of standard and expensive toilet paper realized that if you add a smell and an interesting design to it, it will increase its value. In addition, they print drawings on paper, thereby decorating the bathrooms of consumers. Hanebisho toilet paper, for example, which is made exclusively in Japan, is the most expensive toilet paper in the world, costing between $ 13 and $ 17 per roll. Packaging deserves a separate discussion. Each roll is carefully wrapped in a traditional Japanese paper called tosa-washi and placed in handmade decorative boxes. Inside the box is covered with a silver leaf. According to the manufacturer, using the paper, you “feel as if your skin is gently wrapped in silk.” It is claimed that this toilet paper was used by the Emperor of Japan himself.

• Suggest another application

If you change the context, the meaning will also change. Elastic bands for hair are made from old medical harnesses. Recycling of automobile tires in several stages, the tire side is removed, then the tire is cut into strips and then the tapes are processed into rubber carpets. Wood sawdust by pressing under high pressure is made in the form of logs, they are also called eurodroves. Slag is used as a soil conditioner. And petrochemical waste is the basis of chewing gum for hands.

• Eliminate or reduce

Sometimes, to get something new, you need to discard the excess. The new World View PID lamp has no metal, plastic, or wooden stand. It is supported by a Mylar balloon filled with helium. If you want to hang it lower or higher, unwind more of the cable or twist it. The only thing that is not minimal in this beauty is the price-more than $ 800 US.

• Reorganize

Reorganize what you know — and you’ll see what’s new.

In the second half of our century, cars were rapidly improving, speeds on the roads grew, and with them the number of accidents increased unacceptably quickly, especially at night. The roads hadn’t changed much since the tenth century, they were just wide enough for two cars to pass, and every few kilometers there were intersections at every imaginable angle where half a dozen roads intersected. The production and operation of cars met the first two conditions, and the third condition was provided by the enterprising Japanese Tamon Iwasa. He found the weak link — unacceptably low technical support for car navigation on night roads. This decision helped the businessman earn one of the fastest fortunes in the history of Japan. To eliminate this weak link, Iwasa designed a road reflector by rearranging the small glass balls that served as mirrors so that they reflected the light of oncoming headlights from any direction and in any direction. The Japanese government has installed hundreds of thousands of Iwasa reflectors, and the number of accidents has dropped dramatically.

• Reverse it

Sometimes a point-of-view reversal helps you see things that you usually miss. For example, the LEGO Group developed the LEGO Digital Designer program, which allows users to create models using virtual Leg bricks, then the user can print custom instructions for their models, combined with the spirit and
values of the DIY movement. You start with a drawing, and then create an object from the “bricks”. These models could be uploaded to the LEGO Factory website (“The LEGO Factory”), after which workers began to produce physical kits, which were then refueled to their creators. So the company began mass adaptation of goods to the individual needs of consumers. The service for creating physical models from the LDD program for consumers was closed in 2012, but you can use standard LEGO parts (cubes created in 2018 can be docked with cubes released in 1958).

If you have a good idea for an invention, you can get one step closer to realizing your dream with the help of an experienced designer. Using sophisticated CAD tools like Autodesk Inventor or Compass 3D can really help bring your invention to life. With a 3D view and powerful modeling and analysis tools, you can easily identify flaws, make improvements, and improve the design in a way that makes an innovative idea look great. Humans are inherently visual creatures, so it’s no surprise that most people respond well to videos. You can take advantage of this fact, which makes videos an important part of your marketing campaign. For example, you can create informative videos that introduce your product to customers, as well as video guides on how to use it. You can then post these videos on your website, on your social media accounts, and on video-sharing sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Don’t forget about live streaming services like Periscope, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live: they help you interact with your target audience in real time and establish instant connections with them.

We often hear about classic business models and traditional ways of earning money. But what happens when people move away from the established rules and start thinking outside the box?

Imagine: the world is full of ideas, some of them remain on paper, and some turn into reality and bring not only monetary success, but also change the lives of many people.

Think for a moment: what ideas do you find really crazy? Have you ever noticed non-standard projects or businesses that surprised you with their creativity?

Share your stories with us! Tell us about the ideas that you came across that made you think that the boundaries of what is possible are much wider than we could have imagined.

Remember: the world is full of unusual and crazy ideas that can bring success to those who are not afraid to think outside the box and act decisively.

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