The Clorox Company, Research and Development: We define innovation as the implementation of creative ideas to produce new or improved processes or products. We do not limit our view of processes and products to those that are related to goods sold to consumers. Instead, we also include better ways of doing our jobs and new tools that make us more productive. This broadened view allows us to fully engage all employees in our creativity/innovation program and to tap into the creativity that is in us all.

Dell University: Innovation is the ability to use experience, creativity, and inspiration to design alternative methods that will increase productivity, improve processes and people .... to name a few. Another important component of innovation is implementation. Creativity and implementation are the foundation of innovation.

Richard Saunders International's Eureka! Ranch: Innovation is the creation of ideas that are relevant yet unexpected. Innovation is creativity put to productive use.

YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago: We define innovation in terms of developing and implementing our dreams - developing and implementing new programs, products, and services that have value related to our mission and the needs of our markets.

IdeaVerse: We view one kind of innovation as the fulfillment of a connection-making process that not only creates something novel, but "pays off" in some way. The pay off may be in the creation of a new product, a beautiful work of art, an idea that advances a body of work, a collaborative effort, a valuable new way to do things.

IdeaVerse focuses on what Jim Collins calls innovation "squared" or "social innovation" -- the innovation that creates an environment for the above mentioned innovation to occur. IdeaVerse is a social invention that is creating a climate for first-level innovation to flourish.

Marshall Industries: Innovation is the constant pursuit of new ideas, methods and devices that produce non-linear breakthroughs, improvements in customer satisfaction, productivity and the intellectual capability of our organization.

SleepNet Corporation: Broadly speaking, we define innovation as the courageous act of creating something unique. It takes true courage and passion to attack conventional wisdom -- including your own ideas -- and fail your way to the achievement of something truly different.

Washoe Health System: At Washoe Health System innovation is defined as a culture or an attitude we are constantly striving to create that encourages new and different ways to blend caring, quality and service for our customers.

Ford (MP&L) Team Learning Center: Innovation is the relentless application of our natural ability to create new and better ways of enjoying life and working together. Successful innovation lies in our willingness to harness the power of chaos at the individual, team and organizational level. The innovative spirit is truly in every one of us and it can only be fully released in a supportive, team oriented culture. Clearly, the focus of 21st century business will be the transformation of its workforce into a culture that brings out the most innovative and collaborative thinking of everyone at every level - harnessing the power of chaos.

RJ Reynolds Research and Development: Innovation is the transformation of novel, different and useful thoughts to ideas, the application of those ideas toward targeted endpoints and the implementation of those endpoints to either improvements in the current business products and processes or the creation of new businesses and revenues.