Mega illustrates how innovation differs from invention

Mega chief technology officers Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk reminded me of an earlier discussion about innovation and invention not being the same.

Kim Dotcom is Mega’s front man. Ortmann and van der Kolk do the background business development work.

This month the company released an Android app allowing customers to browse and deal with files stored in Mega’s New Zealand-based data storage cloud.

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Like other aspects of Mega’s technology, the Android app is innovative. But it wasn’t Mega’s invention. The company brought the app from its developers and have since weaved it into Mega’s offering.

There’s no question Mega is innovative. Adding encryption to consumer cloud storage was a smart move. The company is also innovative about the way it talks to its customers.

However, as Ortmann and van der Kolk make clear, there is little in Mega’s technology that the company invented. Mega’s skill is bringing together other people’s inventions in new and creative ways, then getting it to market. That’s the essence of innovation.