Innovation — the term is increasingly being used but I keep questioning what it actually means, how it affects our businesses, society and communities, and how do we nurture it?

Effectively, innovation is the exploitation of new ideas. Simple enough really — have an idea, make it happen and stick it into the world. It has been highlighted as the key strength of our economy and it is what enables us to compete effectively in a global market.

This can be anything from a new widget, improving customer experiences, or developing a novel approach to an existing problem.

Being able to solve a problem is one of the main drivers of innovation. But what many people do not realise is that innovation is often a contributing factor in generating the problems that we use it to solve.

Innovation in financial products contributed substantially to the current global financial difficulties we are experiencing.

Climate change — the greatest challenge we have ever faced — was brought about by innovation. Innovation gave us the industrial revolution that triggered our fossil fuel-driven societies, associated population explosion, subsequent deforestation and demand for animal products – all major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

Ironically, it is innovation that will help with an array of solutions — through the development of new technologies, land-use management strategies, education initiatives and innovative ways of getting business, government and the public working together.

The same innovation revolution that brought us these issues has also equipped us with the technology and tools to develop solutions.

Society, global connectivity and an information age mean we can share ideas and come up with innovative solutions more than ever before.

The Internet and increasingly more powerful computers mean that we can now explore innovative ways of analysing our society.

Google recently worked out that they could track the incidence of flu in the US based on terms used in Google searches.

The application has been validated and substantially reduces the two weeks it would normally take to track the spread of flu using current monitoring systems, and could become an important component of managing flu outbreaks.

A relatively simple idea once explained, but someone somewhere had to come up with it in the first place.

Breakthroughs like this get me thinking of how to nurture innovation, an ongoing challenge in large companies and SMEs, because it is almost never clear where any idea will lead.

I believe that at the base of innovation lie enthusiasm, passion and excitement. That extra little something in the mix of skills and knowledge which keeps people plugging away at a problem, throwing potential solutions against its wall and the endless talking, advice-seeking and discussion.

The next step is to mix the passion within a creative thinking environment and to tap the range of potential ideas that are produced and from which innovation will sprout.

The majority of these ideas will not last but the creative process will trigger some new ideas that will eventually, given the right nurturing, result in innovation.

This environment is made up of ourselves, our workplaces and society. We live in a society with increasing levels of tolerance to new ideas and change.

Companies are embracing creative thinking and they actively create environments that stimulate employees. Our behaviour is important too, in keeping ideas flowing.

In the initial stages of idea generation it is important to guard the analytical side of our brains and not to think about why an idea will not work, or how we tried it once before and it failed.

We need to keep these back until after the ideas have been put forward and, only then, to look at them critically. The importance of not passing negative messages can go a long way to keeping ideas flowing, which results in more creative options from which to draw innovation.

A brainstorming session on your own is never as productive, in terms of sheer numbers of potential ideas, than one with a selection of open-minded individuals. But a group brainstorming session with just one person who raises that cynical eyebrow can scupper many good ideas.

I will be working on my own innovation-stimulating behaviour — withholding the devil’s advocate until well after the ideas are formed and to develop those ideas so they can become innovation.

o This page is compiled by The Oxford Trust www.oxtrust.org.uk