"One of the main reasons innovation is difficult is because your potential users need to change their behaviour. They will have to find, buy and use your innovation. And why should they? That’s the question! You will have to give them a strong reason why! This applies both to consumers and B2B markets.

Ask yourself the question: when was the last time I changed my own behaviour? We are all stuck in our habits; doing things in fixed patterns. We as innovators do this as well. For years, we go on reading the same newspapers, buying the same cars and staying with the same insurance company. The only reason for us to change is if a new, simple and attractive solution comes along that is relevant to our lives. I guess I can make it as simple as that.

Simply put, effective innovation is all about matching relevant problems with simple solutions. You can approach it two different ways. One way is to create the ideas and solutions first and later try to match these to target groups with problems relevant to your solutions. Or you can do it the other way by first identifying the relevant problems of the target groups and then creating ideas and solutions to solve those problems."

Gijs van Wulfen offers free download of maps and checklists on his website www.forth-innovation.com.