Technology Innovation

Technological innovation is the final outcome of innovation, released in the pattern of a new or enhanced product or service launched on the market. It is also a kind of a new or enhanced process or method of production (transfer) of services utilized in practice. An innovation is assigned to have been concluded if it is released on the market or in the production process. In industry and services, there are two types of technological innovations:

• product innovations;
• process innovations.

In industry, product innovation includes the development and implementation of technologically new or enhanced products.

The release of a new product is determined as a radical product innovation if it relates to a product whose intended field of application, functional characteristics, properties, construction or used materials and components significantly distinguish it from previously released products. Such innovations can be found on fundamentally new technologies or on a combination of existing technologies in their new application. Technological product
enhancement (incremental product innovation) has an effect on an existing product, the quality or cost characteristics of which have been significantly improved through the use of more efficient components and materials, partial changes to one or a number of technical subsystems (for complex products).

Process innovation lies in the development of technologically new or significantly enhanced production patterns, inclusively of options of transferring products. Innovations of this type can be based on the usage of new production equipment, new methods of organizing the production process or their combination, as well as on the use of research and development results. Such innovations are usually aimed at increasing the efficiency of production or transfer of products already in the enterprise, but can also be aimed at the production and supply of technologically new or improved products that cannot be produced or supplied using conventional production methods.

In the service sector, product innovation includes the design and implementation of fundamentally new services, enhancements to existing services by adding new functions or characteristics, and significant improvements in service delivery (eg, in terms of efficiency or speed). Process innovation encompasses the development and implementation of new or significantly improved methods of production and service delivery.