I often hear the word ‘innovation’ thrown around when people or companies are trying to market themselves as being new, different, or on the cutting edge. This word has been used so many times that I have lost understanding of what it actually means. In researching a formal definition, it became clear that there are multiple meanings, depending on where you’re coming from. Dictionary.com defines innovate as “to introduce something new; make changes in anything established.” That is an open and broad definition that could apply to a lot of things. The Business Dictionary website has a much more professional sounding way to put it, “The process of translating an idea or invention into a good or service that creates value or for which customers will pay.” It goes on to list other criteria in business-y terms, which are still somewhat vague and remind me of agonizing meetings sitting around trying to define something that could have been completed in half the time if it had been given to one person. My favorite definition comes from the Urban Dictionary, “To steal someone’s idea, change it a tiny bit, and release it as your own.” There seems to be a lot of that going on these days.
I don’t know what definition this would fall into, but I think it was pretty innovative of my kids to come up with this. They weren’t concerned about the marketability or profitability of what they were doing. They just thought it would be fun to act like the wheelbarrow was a swimming pool, since they don’t have one.
