Adjacent innovation is a form of innovation in an innovation portfolio that focuses on leveraging an organisation’s core business and value proposition in a new market space.
It involves entering a new market and connecting with a new audience by utilising something the company already does well. This type of innovation requires fresh, proprietary ideas to create something unique and valuable. Adjacent innovation can also quickly deliver business value by focusing on adjacent product innovation. This includes products and services related to existing products but offers customers more value or convenience.
The Three Horizons of Growth Model is an approach for organisations to “re-imagine” their growth opportunities. The model divides innovations into three categories: Horizon 1 (Current Core Business), Horizon 2 (Adjacent Innovation) and Horizon 3 (Breakthrough Innovation).
These three horizons represent different stages of product development and market entry which link current products, services, and markets with new ones. In short, the Three Horizons of Growth Model provides organisations with guidance for developing and accelerating adjacent innovations within their portfolio to increase speed in creating customer value as quickly as possible.
Furthermore, by understanding the power of adjacency, organisations can explore innovative solutions that will help them expand their reach, identify new opportunities for growth in existing markets, and take advantage of potential synergies between these two areas.
Further reading:
- Christina Van Houten (2016). Adjacent innovation – unlikely connections that move our world. [online] diginomica. Available at: https://diginomica.com/adjacent-innovation-unlikely-connections-that-move-our-world
- Phil McKinney (2008). Adjacent Innovations – How to use adjacencies to create killer innovations. [online] Killer Innovations with Phil McKinney. Available at: https://killerinnovations.com/adjacent-innovations-how-to-use-adjacencies-to-create-killer-innovations/
Related Terms
- Lean Innovation. Process of shortening the time and resources necessary to bring a product or service to market.
- Design Thinking. Methodology used to solve complex problems by focusing on the end user, and pushing for creative solutions.
- Business Model. A plan for monetizing an idea or concept.
- Disruptive Innovation. An innovation that has a substantial effect on existing industry and creates new markets.
- Sustaining Innovation. Innovations that incrementally improve existing products, processes and services over time.
- Incremental Innovation. Developing current products, services and processes so they work better with existing technology.
- Displacement Innovation. Completely replacing an existing solution with a new one, usually offering a significantly improved user experience.
- Transformative Innovation. Transforming or reusing existing ideas, technologies and products into something entirely new.