What is the nature of innovation? Why is innovation risky? What does investing in ambition have to do with innovation?

Like matter and force or life and consciousness, innovation and risk are inseparable. Two sides of the same coin. You can't choose to have one without the other. Innovation is nothing short of pain, effort, and many failures. It requires determination, courage, and positive attitude towards loss. I don't think Thomas Edison wasn't occassionally lamenting through his journey (consisting of about 1,200 failures) of inventing the lightbulb.

Innovation is not a copy-and-paste spin-off¹ which has become ubiquitous in recent years in South Africa. It's definitely not only viable, feasible, and/or tested ideas. I don't think during the era of candles and oil lamps, people thought an electric lightbulb was a viable or feasible concept. Copy-and-paste spin-offs, commonly mistaken for innovation, are like introducing a candle of a different colour and shape during the candle lighting era. It's not innovation but variety.

Innovation is independent of viability and feasibility, it's simply an introduction of novelty. However, it is typically confused with variety.

Novelty is behind innovation being risky, because it's uncomfortable. It challenges norms, customs, and common sense - which is a red flag. For this reason an innovation might be rejected or declared impossible. This possibility of rejection makes the outcome of the innovation uncertain, and thus risky. In general, the more profound the innovation, the more it threatens our norms, customs, and/or common sense.

Innovation poses as a threat to our norms, customs, and common sense, hence it is risky.

However, all the current innovative initiatives were considered impossible or unwelcome at some point. For example, Smartphones, On-demand platforms, etc. Do you know what made them possible? Ambition.

One thing we can all agree on is that history has shown that ambition always finds the way. The most profound innovations are the most ambitious. Countries with the most ambitious citizens have thriving economies, and their governments are willing to spend resources on them just to support their ambitions. They are willing to 1) risk losing money, 2) forgo their norms, and 3) question their common sense. These are characteristics of a 'fertile' society for ambitious citizens, because it breeds creators.

Creators are innovators and inventors (as discussed in the article Society of Creators vs. Maintainers). They are by-products of an ambitious society. Our attempt to contain innovation within bounds of viability and feasibility - to preserve our norms and imperfect common sense - is our main obstacle to a sustainable economy. We need to be willing to take high risks, instead of trying to manage the status quo.

In conclusion, a society that promotes and supports ambition, reaps the rewards of developing more creators. This high risk gesture renders high economic rewards.

1. copy-and-paste spin-off is a cheap imitation of other people's innovation and/or inventions, consisting of slight amendments and then rebranded as original.