The first thing I do walking an innovation through The Innovation Mesh: find out about the types. The types classify the innovation in order to manage the expectations of actors and clients.
The Time Type tells you how fast the innovation works related to a real behavior and how well it is synchronized with it
The Reality Type tells you how far the innovation disrupts our believes
The Style Types classifies the appeal of an innovation
The Structure Type tells us how the innovation is going to change our lives
The Matter Type describes the innovation energy…It's divided into Purpose Type and Realization Type
But there's more…innovation types control conventions, obligatory tasks, points of view, needs…and finally methods and technologies.
But working in concrete with innovators I'm also interested in what innovators prefer and what characterizes their work best.
Quant Innovator's Orientation
Watching innovators over years I categorize them in the following way:
The Theorist wants to make groundbreaking inventions and build the constructors proving that the underlying theory is possible
In contrast The Crusader wants to radically change a behavior - she's for an innovation with a conscience
The Modernist wants to modernize the way an innovation is built - this includes system designs, architectures, methods and tools
The Rebel wants to show that the impossible is possible - she solves the most complex problems, applies complicated models and show that this is possible with limited resources
The Naturalist is particularly influenced by natural systems and how humans interact with them - they think in small structures of smart and connected things
In contrast The Worker takes her inspiration from more or less systematized ways of working - thinking in workflows, transformations…
For radical innovations, shaping a new world, it's vital to build innovation teams that are able to co-create by integrating such orientations.
