De-babelizing the language of innovation

By considering the language of innovation, clarification is offered on the different dimensions associated to innovation and why the competing terminology used to describe innovation often creates more confusion than clarity. A better understanding of assessing and exploiting innovation is offered through a framework that recognizes its critical characteristics and the important role of difference in perspective. More specifically, the framework considers both the technical and social impacts of innovation, the nature of their inputs and outputs, and the unit and level of analysis. Examples are given to illustrate to theoreticians the important contextual factors and to help practitioners in determining how to better exploit opportunities and minimize threats.