The CBC carries a show called Dragon’s Den where inventors and entrepreneurs pitch their innovations to “big time” investors. As you would expect some ideas presented on the show are good and others are not. But one lesson everyone needs to learn is to test before you invest $85,000.

Entrepreneurs Lynden Salandy & Michelle King invented the Carry Comfort after discovering how un-hygienic public seats are. Carry Comfort is a hygienic seat cover for airplanes, buses, or other public seats. Now this is not the worst idea, as it has merit and solves a real issue. However, you must test before you invest!

Lynden was so convinced that the Carry Comfort would be a major success that he sold his house and invested his personal savings. He invested $85,000 with Carry Comfort and has zero sales!

Why will Carry Comfort never succeed?

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Most people whether they dislike change or not, understand that there is underlying value in a culture of innovation. But what really is so special about a culture of innovation?

The special thing about an innovative culture is that each new innovation leads to new innovation opportunities (see also Everything Has Already Been Invented). That means that an innovative culture builds on itself. Instead of using up its resources, innovation is a renewable resource and the more it is renewed the more it can occur.

Take a look a Google, HP, Apple, Electronic Arts or any other innovative company and you will see example of what I am talking about. Let me show you what I mean. While Apple did not invent the mp3 music format or the first mp3 player, look at the innovation progression their organization took:

1) MP3 music compression lead to iTunes music player.

2) The iTunes music player lead to the iPod.

3) The iPod and iTunes lead to the iTunes music store.

4) All of the above lead to the video iPod…and eventually the iPhone.

For more information on the timeline of the iPod visit Dennis Lloyd’s article Key Milestones in the Life of the iPod.

So the special thing about having a culture of innovation is that innovation is a renewable resource and one innovation leads to another innovation opportunity. If you need help starting a culture of innovation see The Number One Way to Encourage a Culture of Innovation.

The hype is wrong, Google Phone isn’t a phone at all. It is actually an open source operating system for mobile phones called Android. But here is the best part. Google has set aside 10 million dollars for developers to create innovative applications for this new operating system. If you want to take part in this innovation opportunity, you can start developing applications for Android right now.

You thought BlackBerry was all the rage… just wait. Android has the ability to once again revolutionize the computing world. Its limitations will be only related to the phone hardware. Do you need more storage on your phone? Just store your large files on the internet. Do you want to play the lasted 3D game? You can, especially if phones begin using 3D acceleration hardware. Want a bigger screen? It won’t be long before phones will start plugging into your TV. If you need to type on a full size keyboard or use a mouse, just use you wireless bluetooth enabled keyboard and mouse. None of this happens over night, but the personal computer of the future could be your phone. This wont replace your work computer, but Google has put together a framework that combined with advances in cellphone technology has the ability to change the way most of us live.

Watch this video to learn more about Android and what it can do.

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Return on investment (ROI) is a term you can seemingly never escape. Almost always ROI refers to financial return on financial investment. Without doubt ROI is a key indicator of the value of any investment. However, there are some cases where an investment can have intangible returns.

How do you measure the return of buying a meal for someone who has gone without? One could look at such a scenario and discover that for every six meals you buy for the hungry one of those people is able to get back on their feet and feed someone else in return. Whatever the actual return of this investment there will always remain an intangible value to feeding the hungry.

Let’s look at a business oriented scenario.

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In 1899 Charles H. Duell, the Commissioner at U.S. Office of Patents, was quoted as saying, “everything that can be invented has been invented.” In Charles’ defense I am sure he had seen the oddest and most un-innovative inventions. Nonetheless, I would like to propose that innovation will never cease.

Innovation is a Cycle

There will always be something to invent. The world we live in today experiences rapid and unparalleled change. And change is a catalyst for new innovation. Furthermore, the nature of innovation is that each innovation changes something. The result of the change is that more innovation can occur. Change leads to innovation and innovation creates change!

This cycle can occur on a micro or macro scale. Take the invention of the steam engine. That dramatically changed the world and allowed for countless innovations which in turn changed the world and lead to more innovations.

So the next time you or even your competition comes up with a great innovation ask yourself what does this change. Then work on the next innovation in the cycle.