Innovation Always Trumps Invention

A deeper objection is that being market-lead only leads where the market already knows it wants to go. It is a problem in search of a solution. But there's the other, more interesting engineering-lead innovation, which is a solution in search of a problem. The Innovator's Dilemma has examples of the latter, such as tiny disk-drives and offroad minibikes.

And I think Steve Jobs is famous for not being market-lead (which is how the article presents him). The iPod wasn't market-led. People didn't say "we need an iPad", in fact many had doubts about it. It is true, however, that he intended and planned it to be a market success - he wasn't just "inventing" without regard to widespread adoption.

I think better definitions are that invention is creating new products, and innovation is creating new businesses. Invention can be a component of innovation. An innovation can target an existing or imagined market need. However, these terms already have meanings, so perhaps we're better off just saying what we mean.

PS: I looked at one inventions he mentions, and it seems cool: Liftaem, a bed-to-gurney hovercraft. When I've seen patients transferred manually in hospitals, I've thought it looks shockingly primitive. http://tincmag.com/2010/12/09/smart-medical-technologys-lift...