Do Your Kids Know Which Type Of Innovator They Are?

The word “innovator” has become a cliché. Everyone, every business and every organization claims to be an innovator. Perhaps many actually do innovate in some minor way. However, it is a bit specious to dub oneself an innovator without first understanding the different types of innovation, their impacts and their underpinnings.

Are you an innovator? Are your kids going to be innovators? If you have generated and established an idea that is accepted enough to take humanity forward, then you are. Four main types of innovators come to mind: Researchers and Inventors, Engineers, Business game changers, and finally those that enhance the human condition.

Researchers and inventors operate mainly at the university level though it can happen anywhere. An abiding passion for an esoteric area of knowledge is required. It is not often clear where or even if such knowledge will have any impact on the human condition. The pay is relatively low and the work itself is governed and ordered by granting bodies and university politics or fond donors. The knowledge gathered here usually forms the basis for other innovation types. There is little support for the researcher as they foray into the unknown by themselves. All construction is dependent on the research team’s intellect despite any prior literature. This is where the science and other…