Types of Innovation for Economic Development

Innovation is anything which you develop which better helps you to achieve your goals which means that there are many types of innovation. The Monitor Group has categorized Innovation into ten types which can be seen here. I would highly recommend reviewing these categories of innovation to help refine your organizational innovation efforts as understanding them can greatly enhance your innovation efforts by focusing your efforts.

However when reviewing these types of innovations you should remember that there are two entities which you are trying to develop - the economy and your economic development organization. Thus you are looking to come up with both economic and organizational innovations. Because the Monitor Group has done such a good job developing organization innovations I'll only discuss the Economic Innovations in this article.

Economic Model 

The structure and mix of the industries in an economy. An economies Economic Model is very heavily based on Comparative Advantages. It's important to keep in mind that a successful community needs to bring money into it and so it  not only has successful retail, office, and or manufacturing businesses it has successful people Therefor your economic model can be based not only on developing businesses but on developing a workforce which can get jobs, even outside the community so that they can bring money back into the community.

Networks and Alliances

An economies relationship with other economies, NGO's, Governments, etc. This innovation category is complex because it involves both your organization building relationships and the communities themselves interacting with each other. A community near a residential area with a lot of families for example might develop a series of family events with their excess space. 

Community Network 

The way the members of a community communicate with each other and get involved in the community. 

Enabling Process

The services and infrastructure which support the people and businesses who are vital to the economy. This category can include schools for children, workshops for businesses, Micro-Equity Networks, etc.  

Company Integration

How you link the many diverse aspects of an economy together. Communities with theaters, zoos, or other major institutions could try to get these to cross promote with restaurants in the area. A community could also have a number of interior decoration businesses and custom furniture makers. Further events could be held in which people who buy from one store get discounts from another.

Goals

The goals for the economy help to determine what programs are important and how success is measured. Gauges of happiness, satisfaction and more can be used in addition to incomes of individuals within the community and success of the businesses within the community.

Brand

The way people perceive a community, how those in charge of promoting a community communicate the benefits of living, shopping and starting a businesses in it.