At Elm, we are wholeheartedly committed to bolstering the values of community partnerships with entrepreneurs in times of emergencies. In line with that, we hosted at our 17th virtual seminar Eng. Awad bin Salman during lockdown. In his seminar, Eng. Awad explained the correlation between innovation and entrepreneurship, its principles and concepts, and explored global best practices and innovative tools in managing entrepreneurial projects.
What is the link between innovation and entrepreneurship?
Before delving into the definition of the relationship between these two concepts, we must first dive into the idea of customer problems. Customer problems are what spur our innovative solutions. Customers have new needs and ambitions, and to meet those needs, we will require a set of resources through innovation and entrepreneurship.
Innovation can be defined as the utilization of creative technologies and ideas in a unique style. In comparison, entrepreneurship can be identified as the process of managing and developing projects in conjunction with perceived risks to generate profits. Entrepreneurship is all about possessing an initiative-taking mindset that leverage all available resources and capital to gain profit. In brief, we can consolidate these two concepts by managing innovative processes to design solutions and products that satisfy most customers' needs with the minimum use of available resources.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Concepts
Innovation and creativity
Do innovation and creativity mean the same thing? Or are they different from each other? We've previously established innovation as the utilization of creative technologies and ideas in a unique style. On the other hand, creativity can be interpreted as the act of utilizing your mental skills in turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. You can detect from the previous definitions a sharp distinction between the two concepts.
Imagination and reasoning
It's common to hear people assuming that you need to possess an eccentric way of thinking - by leaving reasoning aside- to develop an entrepreneurial and creative idea. Yet, to come up with an innovative idea, you need reasoning! Because if we didn't constrain our thoughts with logic, our ideas would not be relevant to our reality.
Think outside the box
The "Box" here is our ability to break free from your comfort zone and think beyond the curve to face the challenges you've never encountered before. Therefore; We must avail of others' experiences to uncover new innovative solutions that fit our missing puzzles.
Innovation windows
There are windows any entrepreneur must open wide, significantly: understanding the relationship between diverse things, making the difference between similar objects, and devising new values from distinctive elements.
Creating value
Why would I buy a 100SR product, when I can buy a product that shares the same concept at half the price? The difference is in the value cheaper products miss. Innovative additions are what drive people to buy expensive products.
Innovation in Entrepreneurship Criteria
To devise an innovative product, you need to adhere to the following:
Your product must satisfy customers' needs.
Your product must be possible to produce.
Your product must be useful.
Tools and methods to cultivate innovation in entrepreneurship
The following approaches help to innovate and start from where others left off. Here are three tools and methodologies that will help you unlock your innovative thinking: