The invisible power of the word "innovation"

Some words describe the world. And some words end up organizing it. I think "innovation" belongs to the second category

Think about it. Today everything needs to be innovative. Countries. Universities. Companies. Hospitals. Cities. Even coffee shops. Nothing deserves to exist unless it first proves it can innovate

But was it always this way? When exactly did that happen? A different word used to matter

For much of the XX century, the big promise was progress. It would make our lives better, solve humanity's problems and justify the future. Over time that word lost its power. Wars, environmental crises and a complex reality made it hard to believe in inevitable progress

But societies need promises. And little by little another word took its place: innovation

It seems more technical, neutral and modest. But it serves a very similar purpose. It still tells us where to look to find the future

That explains something we rarely ever think about

Why does every country want to be innovative? Why doesn't any university brag about educating wise people? Why does no city proudly say: "We've done the same thing for a century because it works"?

Only luxury brands can afford to say something like that. For everyone else, continuity looks like a flaw

That’s interesting. Because it means innovation doesn't just describe change. It turns it into an obligation. It's no longer enough to do things well. You have to change them. It's no longer enough to just exist. You have to prove you are innovating. And if you don't change, you start to look outdated. Slow. Irrelevant. Almost guilty

Let's try an experiment. Let's try to point to innovation. Not an example of it. Innovation itself

We can't. We can point to a phone. A medicine. An algorithm. A bridge. But never to innovation. Because innovation isn't a thing. It's a word we put on top of certain things

And that difference completely changes the conversation. Because then the question is no longer what innovation is. The question is who decides what deserves to be called innovative

And that decision matters much more than it seems. Because the label doesn't just describe. It also classifies

It divides the world into innovative companies and companies that aren't. Into innovative countries and backward ones. Into universities representing the future and those belonging to the past

All without anyone being able to explain where the line is

Maybe that's why the word has so much power. It doesn't need a clear definition. It just needs to sound unquestionably good. The more it does, the less we ask what it means

I think that has been the real product of the innovation industry. It wasn't a technology. It was a way of looking at the world. A way of deciding, almost without realizing it, what deserves to exist and what deserves to be left out

And ways of looking at the world are dangerous for one simple reason

When they really work, they stop looking like a way of looking

And they start looking like reality