The innovation equation: balancing clever technical solutions with users’ needs

Finding clever technical solutions to clearly defined problems is just one half of the process of innovation. Innovation also includes identifying customers’ sometimes well-concealed needs. If we can think of those factors associated with technology and those associated with user needs as being different terms on either side of a mathematical equation, innovation is the process of balancing the equation in a way that allows a clever solution to equal customers’ needs. This paper explores the details of how important work on both sides of the equation resulted in the creation of a new sports training market that, prior to 1986, had not yet been fully contemplated.