Innovation is often referred to as pertaining to a new product or type of technology. However, product innovation is only one type of innovation and is one that often produces the lowest Return-of-Investment and the least competitive advantage. Firms can not only stand on the one leg of technological innovation to maintain a defensible market position.

The 10 Types of innovation provides a way to identify new opportunities beyond products and develop viable innovations. It is a useful tool you can use both to diagnose and enrich an innovation you’re working on, or to analyze existing competition. It makes it especially easy to spot errors of omission—missing dimensions that will make a concept stronger.

The Ten Types framework is structured into three color-coded categories. The types on the left side of the framework are the most internally focused and distant from customers; as you move toward the right side, the types become increasingly apparent and obvious to end users. To use a theatrical metaphor, the left of the framework is backstage; the right is onstage.