One often hears about distinguishing between innovations based on whether they enable customers to do something new, or whether they allow them to do what they are already doing, only better or cheaper.

We argue that any a priori judgment of markets on suchcriteria is counterproductive. Any innovation that successfully addresses a real market need or desire will cause a change of human behavior, resulting in an economic or social benefit.

The only objective measure is the quantitative assessment of the benefit, reflected in how many people will buy the innovation and how much they are willing to pay. And neither the quantitative parameters nor the optimum target market can be forecast with much certitude at the start of the innovation process.

We thus increase our chances of innovating successfully by keeping our market options as open as possible at the beginning.