Something that Rory Lowe said in one of his talks was that software developers are renovators and not innovators. This does make you start to think, what was he classing as an innovator. Yes quite often developers are asked to re-invent the wheel, but where does "renovation" stop and innovation start?
I have a different idea on this one. Innovators are people who see an opportunity, or a market and have the skills and ambition to create a product or service to fulfil that market. I would love to dare to really go ahead and do this… Unfortunately lack of funding for my venture has stopped me doing this at the moment. That and a full time job. If an investor suddenly came about however I would probably think very seriously about giving it a go.
I have to say I do look up to some of the innovators of today. The person who originally came up with the idea of RSS for example. It is such a simple thing, but so very powerful and useful. And what about instant messaging, also very useful - but also distracting.
Where are the innovations going to go next. Any ideas… I reckon a lot of GPS related data stores will come about soon enough. But that is my thought. You can add your own.