Starting from automobiles, smartphones, and word processors, all innovations have continuously evolved. While great ideas are often celebrated, it is the evolution of innovations that lies at the core of sustained business success. This evolution has not occurred randomly; rather, it has progressed from isolated, serendipitous discoveries in the pre-industrial era to more structured and systematic approaches in modern times.
However, a critical question remains: what forces actually drive this evolution? A lack of clear understanding of these forces—and how to apply them effectively—has become a major constraint. It is estimated that as much as 75 percent of innovative products fail to generate meaningful profit. One significant reason is the persistence of “innovation noise,” where a vast number of patents are filed but only a small fraction deliver real value—leaving up to 94 percent of patents effectively unused.
This gap highlights the importance of identifying and leveraging the true forces that shape Innovation. Accordingly, this article aims to uncover and explain the key drivers behind the evolution of innovations.
Five key drivers behind the evolution of innovations
Invariably, all innovations—including Apple’s iPhone—begin their journey at a loss. Their eventual success in achieving profitability and sustaining market expansion depends on how effectively they evolve over time. Studies suggest that five major forces shape this evolution. These are: (i) the urgency to get jobs done better, (ii) empathy and a Passion for Perfection, (iii) creativity, (iv) science, technology, and engineering, and (v) the drive to win in competition. Let us examine these forces in greater detail.
Urgency of Getting Jobs to be done Better
In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Donna Henrike Bohrer, Karolin Frankenberger, and Joakim Wincent share research showing that customer workarounds can reveal critical insights into needed product improvements. Notably, while teams stitching together third-party tools may appear to violate compliance standards, such behavior often signals opportunities for meaningful enhancement. For example, software users frequently build elaborate spreadsheets or rely on manual processes outside enterprise systems because official tools fail to support how work is actually performed. This pattern illustrates a fundamental human tendency: people naturally seek better ways to get their jobs done. Consequently, regardless of how advanced an innovation may seem, users inevitably encounter its limitations and feel an urgency for its evolution. Therefore, the focus should be on understanding this urgency to uncover which features need to be added or refined, ultimately increasing the appeal of innovations for both existing and new customers.
good enough to get the job to be done.
Empathy and Passion for Perfection
Despite users’ urgency to get their jobs done better, not all innovators are equally successful in driving the evolution of innovation. One underlying reason is the variation in empathy and passion for perfection. A notable example is Steve Jobs and Apple Inc. in the evolution of the iPhone. As is well known, through empathy and a relentless pursuit of perfection, such innovators uncover users’ deep pain points and latent desires regarding how innovation can help them accomplish their tasks more effectively. Due to its vital role, empathy is considered the first step of Design Thinking. Similarly, through the passionate application of empathy and a commitment to refinement, despite the many failures of early palmtop computers, Jeff Hawkins succeeded in identifying design features for the Palm Pilot that closely resonated with consumer preferences.
Creativity
Creativity is the ability to generate novel and valuable ideas, solutions, or works through imagination. However, creativity alone is not sufficient. This is an inherent ability of every human being. It needs to operate in conjunction with two earlier driving forces: (i) the urgency of Getting jobs done better, and (ii) empathy coupled with a passion for perfection. In the absence of these, creativity is unlikely to produce ideas that customers find relevant to their urgent needs.
Science, Technology, and Engineering
The first three forces must be complemented by the implementation possibilities offered by science, technology, and engineering. For example, while empathy may identify heat generation in filament lamps as a key pain point, in the absence of having knowledge about light-emitting diodes, creativity alone could not have produced a viable alternative solution. Hence, to drive the evolution of innovation, beyond focusing on the urgency of getting jobs done, empathy and passion for perfection, and creativity, innovators must also possess a deep understanding of the current and plausible frontiers of science, technology, and engineering. Without this capability, innovators are likely to run out of feasible ideas or pursue concepts that are ultimately not deliverable. For instance, due to a weak understanding of computational intelligence and its potential as well as limitations to replicate or surpass certain human innate abilities, many autonomous vehicle, AI, and robotics initiatives remain stuck at the “last-mile” stage of development.
Winning the Competition for Sustaining Innovation
The necessity of winning competition in sustaining innovation within competitive markets plays a critical role in driving the evolution of innovation. The prospect of profitability stimulates competitive responses such as (i) replication, (ii) imitation, (iii) innovation, and (iv) substitution. On the other hand, technological progress is reinforced by (i) complementary goods and services, (ii) network externalities, (iii) reduced information and experience gaps, and (iv) improvements in infrastructure, compatibility, and standardization.
To address these dynamics, one common approach is to fend off competition through intellectual property laws. However, this approach has limited effectiveness, given the growing litigation costs and time required for enforcement. Another approach is the speed of innovation, characterized by the continuous release of improved versions that render previous iterations less attractive. As a result, followers have limited time to catch up. This strategy also increases users’ willingness to pay, thereby expanding markets and driving revenue growth. Besides, this strategy benefit from positive externalities to drive the evolution of innovation.
As this article clarifies, business success depends on the evolution of innovation. While we often emphasize creativity, Breakthrough inventions, and major scientific discoveries, these alone do not drive innovation evolution. Instead, as discussed, they operate within a broader set of five forces. Due to it, despite endless human ability of creativity, innovations take S-curve like life cycle due to saturation of technology core. However, emergence of new technology core begins the next wave of life cycle. Hence, innovators should focus on leveraging these forces as an integrated system through effective institutional practices.
