What is innovation, what influences whether new ideas emerge, and whether they are eventually successful?

Innovation is the introduction of something new. It could be a new idea, a new product, a new design, a new curriculum or a new method. The factors that influence new ideas to emerge are due to consumer wants and needs. People are always looking for ways and means to make life easier. The success of an innovation is usually based on consumer feedback and how user friendly the innovation is. Take for example the innovation of the telephone. The old design was quite bulky and they used the rotary dialing system. When the phone line was busy, you have to redial all the numbers. For an elderly person with finger arthritis, that is quite painful and difficult to do. For a very busy person, it takes a lot of time to dial again and again. Then, the push button telephone with the redial system innovation came. Calling a busy number became easier but if you are busy doing something with your hands. It’s quite difficult to keep dialing or talking on the phone and continues to work by using your shoulders or hands to prop or hold on to the earpiece. So, speakerphones were invented. First it came as an attachment to the phone unit but then it occupied a lot of space on the office table. So, another innovation came in the form of a telephone with built–in speaker. Then the intercom innovation came. Manufacturing plant personnel would find it quite difficult to talk to other personnel through phone. It would be expensive to have so many phone lines for each department within a compound. The intercom system was used so inter department communication would be easier. To having an intercom unit and a phone unit on the office table takes up a lot of space. So another innovation was made. Telephone units with built-in speakers and intercoms were made. Ideas keep coming as the need for new features to help ease communication problems arise. That is why from a rotary dial system, phone innovation has become cell phones with wi-fi and camera features with phonebook, organizer, radio, mp4 music player, alarm clock with world time converter and word document programs.