What is Discontinuous Innovation?
On this page we provide a number of videos that feature physical and engineering examples of discontinuous innovation.
The Folsbury Flop is a great example.
A really good high-jumper just cannot jump any higher. He trains daily with best high-jumper in the world, and he cannot consistently win. He needs a totally new approach to his problem. He has a idea. Instead of facing the problem, he literally turns his back on it. Making the idea become reality takes a multiple year commitment to a unique training method and practice. He has to unlearn what he knows, and simultaneously both create and learn something new. That is a genuine risk to his personal health, career, and reputation. At first, he is an eccentric media curiosity - but he continues to improve consistently. He diligently prepares for his moment on his sport's greatest stage and his competitors are watching. Innovation triumphs over ability. Today, no one high jumps differently.
Fosbury Flop
InstantOn
Bob Beamon 1968
Roger Bannister 1954
Mike Melville - Rocket Man
Laird Hamilton