In our times, the things change fast. And some things change faster. While other facets of life are changing the one area that is changing at increasing speeds is the Tech area.
A few years ago, portable stereos were hip, now they are outdated and ever smaller mp3 players are ruling the roost. Similarly, flat screen TVs are no longer fashionable, you need thinner, bigger, finer wall mountable LCD TVs to even come close to be HiTech. Perhaps the fastest changes have happened in the way the Internet has completely taken over our lives especially in the last 15 years.
While the technology behind the cutting edge gadgets and is sure changing fast, what matters most in gaining acceptability by regular folks is how easy and utilitarian the things become. You may have a very hi-tech product which looks and is based on latest science but if it cannot be easy to use it will most likely not succeed. This is the main difference between Invention and Innovation.
Invention is a new idea or process.
Innovation is a new implementation of an existing idea (or invention).
In almost all cases, Invention precedes Innovation. But in all cases, unless the Invention is useful to users in some way, it fails to become a popular use and therefore fails as an innovation. In my opinion, from a growth and acceptance point of view, a user does not care so much about Invention as for Innovation.
A few examples of Inventions and corresponding Innovations:
Invention - Integrated Circuits, Networking Protocols, Cryptography
Innovation - Computers, Internet, SSH Protocol.
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