When we say the word innovation or invention, the invention of the ship, the invention of the airplane, and the invention of the car immediately come to mind, and we forget that the ship, the airplane, and the car are dozens of inventions. Every spare part is an invention, and every new design method, whether for the mattress, the steering wheel, or in safety systems, is a new innovation. This makes us not say that there is one inventor for each of these vehicles, but rather there are many inventors who went through many flashes of inspiration and many stages for each vehicle to reach its current form.

Some principles for small innovations

1- Set aside time to think about innovation.

Time is a necessary resource for innovation, but you certainly don’t need 25 hours a day. All you need to do is organize your time, eliminate some of the time-consuming practices that are useless, and take advantage of every moment of waiting in your life, whether in hospital lounges, airplane waiting rooms, or anywhere else, then you will discover that you have enough time to produce, accomplish, and innovate.

2- Collect information

It is a scientific fact that invention, innovation and creative idea often come as a moment of inspiration, but it is also a confirmed fact that many of the moments of inspiration that produced the old and modern innovations and discoveries we live were the result of long hours of reading, continuous days of scientific research, and many and numerous experiments of the trial and error category. Therefore, if you really want to discover a solution to a problem or want to present an innovation, collect information about the problem and all the solutions proposed to solve it before. Do not just read the information once, but read it several times and try to analyze and criticize it.

3- Collect ideas

Innovative ideas can come anywhere, anytime. But you need to know that it is not only smart to be a person who has a flow of ideas, but smart to write down these ideas and learn how to do them and benefit from them. 

Always make sure that you carry your pen and a small notebook of ideas, or a voice recorder, and if you don’t, try to take advantage of your mobile phone to write down your ideas, because if ideas are not written down, they are lost, and if they are lost, that means that you are waiting for another moment of inspiration that you don’t know when it will come to you, or that you have to go back and repeat the hours of research and reading.

4- Think outside the box

What is not suitable for application in one place, be sure that it may be suitable in one way or another in another place and situation, so do not restrict your thinking, and do not scrutinize too much what is possible and what is impossible, because nothing is impossible with will. Try to always go outside the box, and look beyond the limits of usual thinking.

5- Stimulate your thinking by asking questions.

When you think of an innovative solution, do not close your thinking to yourself only, but rather make the problem a subject of discussion among your family, friends, and even the general public. Listen to different analyses of the problem and ask them for suggestions for solving it, as perhaps a word said by someone will open a new horizon for you or guide you to a unique invention.

6- Make it a habit to innovate.

As we mentioned earlier, none of us can make an appointment with our ideas, inspiring ideas come at any time and in any place, so it is wrong to waste our ideas, or to just keep them in our notebooks and audio recorders, but we must put these ideas, no matter how simple, into practice. Therefore, we advise each individual to make it a habit to apply one of the ideas that he wrote down previously, as many applications will inevitably expand his cognitive horizons or lead him to a truth that he is unaware of or an innovation that serves humanity, even if it is simple, easy and small.

A simple invention with a great benefit - the paper clip as an example!

A paper clip may not be something we pay attention to, but when we have papers piled up and need to sort them without causing holes in them, nothing helps us like a paper clip!

The story of this invention goes back to the year 1900 when the Norwegian Johann Valer was working in Germany, where he wrapped a metal wire around each other in a way that helped to fix a group of papers by pressing them together without having to pierce them as is the case with pins. 

This small invention made John Vallier a national symbol of his country. Norwegians erected a seven-meter-high paper clip-shaped monument near Oslo, the capital of Norway. Norwegians even hung paper clips on their chests as a sign of solidarity and unity during World War III. It is enough to realize that billions of these little paper clips are distributed all over the world. 

What we would like to emphasize finally is that innovation is innovation – whether small or large. And the concept of small innovation does not only mean improvement innovation, nor is it limited to developing existing procedures, processes or products. Rather, there are actually simple and unexpected innovations. 

So, if you can't invent a broom to collect garbage, invent a paper clip and collect papers. The size may differ, but the benefit remains!