The Role of information in innovation
Jinfo Blog

By Melanie Browne

Abstract

Information sharing and information services should spark innovative ideas. Librarians and information professionals need to be entrepreneurial change catalysts. They can do this by providing information services that are creative and encourage innovation within organisations and help work around the challenges that may derail success.

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Information sharing and information services should spark innovative ideas. Librarians and information professionals need to be entrepreneurial change catalysts. They can do this by providing information services that are creative and encourage innovation within organisations and help work around the challenges that may derail success.

Innovation can be defined as the introduction of new practices into a user community. It difficult but essential to innovate and it is always a challenge to get users to change their behaviours. Librarians and information professionals must provide information services that are innovative and drive innovation within organisations. Information sharing and information services should spark innovative ideas and help to select the best ones.

Information plays upon the fundamentals in idea generation. Good ideas are based upon qualitative information and knowledge plays a key role in fostering successful innovation. By utilizing information resources we minimize issues or road blocks on our path to innovation and set us up for success.

Knowledge and information play key roles in the perception and acceptance of idea generation, particularly when innovations are associated with risks. Companies that provide researchers with access to paid information tools are 87% more likely to achieve research and development success according to research conducted by Martin Akel & Associates for Elsevier. This is for several reasons:

• Credibility: Knowledge based on facts is more accepted and credible. This allows for more educated decision making for project direction.
• Risk Assessment: More front end research is done that helps identify mistakes that others might have already made. The cost of research outweighs the cost of failure. It helps reduce trial and error research.
• Productivity: Conducting secondary research saves time and money. It also helps the team stay focused which increases productivity.
• Quality: Information helps organizations assess suggestions and identify quality ideas for innovation.
• There are many challenges that must be addressed when it comes to implementing an idea. One of the biggest problems is the organization’s innovation gap. As discussed by Weiss and Legrand in their book Innovative Intelligence, this is the difference between the stated importance of innovation and the actual results in an organization.

Denning uses an iceberg analogy to explain this gap. He describes the visible part (approximately 10%) of the iceberg as being directly related to the set of ideas describing an innovation. The submerged 90% represents the practices involving the implementation of the innovation. He feels that we need to put 10% of our efforts into the explanation of our ideas and 90% into fostering the new practices you advocate for your community. This type of thinking will allow for easier change management and get buy in from the beginning.

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