From TRIZ Journal:
“A variation innovation is a tertiary-level innovation that requires less time to develop and is a slight variation of the next-level products or services based on a derivative innovation. For example, variation innovations in cell phones are various color covers, ring tones, camera feature and additional software-based optional features. In the case of Microsoft software, variation innovations are applications developed and based on the Microsoft platform and derivative innovations. Typically, the variation innovation occurs close to the customer and may be the candidate for reaching the ultimate in speed of innovation or innovation on demand in real-time.”
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