One of the problems with any study of innovation, is; "What does the term mean?"
Unfortunately the mainstream media's hickledy-pickledy use of terms such as innovation, idea and invention causes a great deal of confusion. Personally I find Professor Jan Fagerberg's definition simple and precise: innovation is the first attempt to carry out an idea into practice.
An innovation doesn't have to be successful or financially viable, it is merely the first attempt. However, it should always be remembered that first is a fairly fluid term because of the law of firsts.
So generally I find "first-ish" is good enough.
