First, Vega has an interesting view of what innovation is – and what it’s not. Here is how he describes the beauty of innovation, at least to “those who care”:

Traditionally, Vega points out, innovation is seen as something startling, even revolutionary, something that shocks people’s worlds. This, he says, is a “monochromatic view that only leads to frustration.”

If you were to define innovation as the initial idea (which, by the way, is not how Vega defines the word), then innovations often come ahead of their time. This means that the world at large often isn’t ready for them. “If the creator can’t articulate its relevance,” Vega asks, “how alienating is that?” Innovation, then, is intricately connected to something’s relevance. “Once something is given a practical application,” he says, “then the value of the innovation becomes obvious.”

Vega shares another common misconception about innovation. “People usually connect innovation with a product, but that’s not necessarily so. Sometimes, it’s the packaging that’s the true innovation or how something is formatted or marketed, because context can be what actually provides the benefits to the consumer.”

He also differentiates between creativity and innovation. Thinking is the most important part of innovation, no doubt, and that’s the creative process. But, he emphasizes, it’s in the doing, not in the thinking, where innovation happens.

Using Food Waste to Illustrate Varying Needs for Innovation

Worldwide, we’re wasting too much food. Few people would debate that statement. Where it happens, though, depends upon where you live: a developed country or one still in development.

In developed countries such as the United States, most people have a refrigerator and so can store food beyond what will immediately be used – and most people have enough money to buy food beyond what they can eat in just one meal. So, our food waste happens in our homes, where we throw away leftovers and food with expired shelf lives.

Contrast that with India. Food is being grown to feed its people, but the quality isn’t what it should be – and the food isn’t fully accessible to the people who need it. Some of the crops are lost because of management challenges, or because of issues with sun or shade or the lack of culverts, and sometimes roads aren’t available to transport the food in a timely way. So, about 40 percent of India’s food grown isn’t used.

The food that does make it to the market, Vega explains, is priced based on quality. A shopper could go to a market in India and have the choice of 20 to 30 different types of rice. There are only four or five actual varieties of rice, but each is graded by how much is broken (50%? 60%?) and how much is clean – or even semi-clean – among other factors.

Shoppers in India buy what they can afford, which is often just enough to eat the next meal. And, even if someone has enough money to buy food for multiple meals, does he or she have a refrigerator? Maybe not. Because food is dished out so sparingly, consumers waste very little food in their homes, in contrast to where it happens in developed countries.

This example alone illustrates how an innovation needed in a developed country – perhaps a new way to keep food fresher longer at home – would be of little use in a still-developing country, and vice versa.

You can watch the entire Roots 2016 video of César Vega. He wishes to note that all opinions expressed are his alone, not those of Mars, Incorporated.