Geared toward innovation: Quality has a crucial part to play but often falls through the cracks

With the forces of globalization creating rapid changes in the U.S. economy, the role of innovation is being vigorously debated among quality professionals and in society at large. It is therefore appropriate that innovation has been elevated to one of the most important strategic issues for the quality profession.
To make this discussion productive and avoid confusion, however, it is important to distinguish between invention, innovation, ingenuity and creativity. These terms are not synonyms, but rather refer to very different concepts and activities (see Table 1). It can be argued, though, that from an economic perspective, innovation can be considered an umbrella concept that includes quality improvement and Six Sigma as subsidiary functions.