A person who develops and puts useful new ideas or methods into practice.
Reach for it when praising someone for applied originality rather than novelty or fame
The young innovator designed a cane attachment with replaceable local parts.
| playful | |
|---|---|
| everyday | |
| warm | |
| professional | |
| formal |
playful
disruptor
Fits when challenging an established market is part of the intended persona
Careful Disruptor celebrates disturbance and may misstate cooperative innovation.
everyday
creator
Fits when making something original is the broad distinction
Careful Creator is too broad for someone improving processes or systems.
everyday
Fits when creating a specific new device or process defines the person
Careful An inventor may not bring the creation into successful use.
warm
Fits when courage in making a new path deserves energetic praise
Careful Trailblazer centers bold precedent more than the quality of the innovation.
professional
Fits when the person opens a field or practice others later follow
Careful Pioneer makes a priority claim that innovator does not require.
professional
Fits when the new approach deliberately improves an institution
Careful Reformer is about correcting systems and may use established methods.
formal
Fits when unusual foresight is the admired contribution
Careful A visionary may never turn the vision into a working innovation.
leading innovator
A leading innovator in low-cost lenses opened the new laboratory.
local innovator
The local innovator built a grain dryer from common roofing panels.
social innovator
As a social innovator, she paired empty shops with new community services.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated
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