Desirability + Liability + Feasibility = Innovation
Since we are going to be managers tomorrow and would be dealing with problems daily, a five step technique for innovation and EMPTHY techniques were discussed to give us some tools for problem identification. After having created a basis, through various videos, we were exposed to some of the innovations that were been done in the world. The basic question that we were asked to think about is the root cause of the problem, i.e, defining the problem statement.
Through the group exercise, we were able to connect better to the innovation model discussed earlier. It soon became evident that for success of any innovation the most important factor is clear definition of problem statement. Incidentally though this is the most difficult part of the problem. If we are able to correctly define the problem and the constraint related to it, we would probably hit the bulls eye. Same was the case with Oral-B toothbrush case. The IDEO(consultant firm) followed the EMPATHY technique to connect to children and study them to reach a problem statement that helped them produce a product which became a huge success and captured 75% of the children toothbrush market within few months from launch.
Then we were also given an example of how a start-up was emerging from NCR (travel agency) whose target customers were the Faculty of colleges, who usually have vacations during college fests. This targeting helps them convert the conversion rate from 2% to 10 %. This was possible because the start-up looked at the process more than business for innovation.
The here campaign from S-oil South Korea, was a perfect ending to the session, showcasing how a problem as big as parking in south Korea was resolved by a simplistic solution such as a here balloon, to identify free parking spaces. This conveyed the prospective to look at problems as a child, i.e, as simplistically as possible.