Before innovating, one must first imagine - or learn how to

TEACHING innovation has come of age. Over the last 20 years, the teaching of innovation has undergone drastic changes, and it has now become a discipline that is as thorough as it is relevant for organisations seeking to secure their growth. Thanks to an abundance of theories, innovation processes with their conceptual titles - ranging from the blue ocean strategy to open innovation and business model canvas or design thinking - have succeeded in characterising not only the necessary structuring phases for converting ideas into innovation, but also how these should evolve to reach a certain level of sophistication that limits the risk of failure (without ruling it out completely).

This renewed interest in innovation has helped define more mature processes, and has also helped shape the creative phases that nurture these mechanisms, which have adopted methods and tools that have become stronger and more solid. Traditional benchmarks and business intelligence have been complemented with now commonplace techniques, such as brainstorming, mindmapping, or scamper, to name a few. However, no matter how varied and plentiful these methods are, they cannot replace the behavior of the innovator - the basic attitude innovators must adopt if they are to offer new value propositions to their organisations. In other words, how we teach innovation today cannot limit itself to simply passing on a set of techniques. We must convey and instill a particular way of being, a mindset.

For Aristotle, one of the essential qualities of a true philosopher is an ability to wonder, to be amazed, because this is what will ultimately lead the philosopher to knowledge. This requires opening oneself to the world, to be in awe of what it has to offer, to take a new look at the world, abandoning the lens, steeped in former certainties and habits, through which we see the world. This ability to be amazed is not dissimilar to the stance innovators must take to imagine new offers. Their ability to observe the world differently, to face new situations and to be surprised by their environment is precisely what enables them to draw up novel proposals.