Innovation refers to the use of existing knowledge and materials to improve or create new things (including products, methods, elements, paths and environment) in a specific environment to meet the needs of idealism or society and obtain certain beneficial effects.

Innovation ability, innovation ability is divided according to the main body, and the most commonly mentioned are national innovation ability, regional innovation ability and enterprise innovation ability. , and there are several innovation index rankings to measure innovation ability.

Basic connotation

Looking at the research results in recent ten years, although domestic scholars have different understandings of innovation ability, their explanations of the connotation of innovation ability can basically be divided into three views: the first view, represented by Zhang Baochen, Li Yan and Zhang Peng, holds that innovation ability is the ability of individuals to use all known information, including existing knowledge and experience, to produce a unique, novel and valuable product for society or individuals.

It includes three parts: innovative consciousness, innovative thinking and innovative skills, and the core is innovative thinking. The second view, represented by An and Tian Huiyun, holds that innovation ability is manifested in two interrelated parts: one is the acquisition, reorganization and application of existing knowledge; The other part is the research and invention of new ideas, new technologies and new products.

The third viewpoint starts with the knowledge structure that innovation ability should have, represented by Song Bin, Zhuang Shouqiang, Peng Zongxiang and Yin Shilong, and holds that the knowledge structure that innovation ability should have includes basic knowledge, professional knowledge, tool knowledge or methodology knowledge and comprehensive knowledge.