Type of innovation |
Examples |
Product innovation (goods) |
The first smartphone, IBM’s Simon Personal Communicator integrated the functions of a cellphone and personal digital assistant (PDA), including phone and email communications, contact information, calendar management, document and spreadsheet management etc. |
Product innovation (services) |
Seller feedback – the idea of sellers and customers rating each other on apps such as eBay and Uber services. |
Process innovation (production) |
Henry Ford’s standardised mass production processes for manufacturing the Model T car in 1908. |
Process innovation (marketing and sales/after sales) |
Amazon Marketplace, the global online retail platform for goods and services, which rocketed Jeff Bezos from online bookseller to tech titan. |
Process innovation (organisational e.g. innovation in business practices, workplace organisation, external relations, and administration and management practices) |
The transition to online (and hybrid) work communication practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, using digital technologies like Teams and Zoom. |
Process innovation (distribution and logistics) |
Asset Tracking of mobile goods across the world by combining Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking software with cellular positioning technology in real-time. This is often combined with other technologies to monitor the conditions (e.g. temperature) applicable to products in transit. |
Process innovation (information and communication technology (ICT) systems) |
Integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into business and management processes to support enhanced capabilities through automation of administrative, financial, HR and other management processes, and through data analytics and predictive learning to support customer engagement. |
Process innovation (process development) |
The production of the musical score for the Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 film ‘Dune’ led by Hans Zimmer, which required the invention of new instruments to create original sounds, including a house sculpted by Chas Smith to function as a musical instrument. The score in ‘Dune’ brings sculptured sounds together with rhythmic banshee singing, compressed voice chanting and new sounds using cellos, bagpipes and newly constructed flute type instruments (Zimmer, 2022). |
System innovation |
City and regional electric vehicle (EV) automobility systems, with EV charging infrastructure, such as in Coventry, Brighton and Hove, Milton Keynes. |