Innovation Niche illuminates how the change is new, novel, or adapts and interprets old wisdom to new contexts.

Part of the developmental task is to find out what innovation and adaptation means to those who are trying to bring about change, helping to identify the degree and nature of change happening and evolving.
It’s important to recognise that sometimes what seems ‘innovative’ is actually recognition and support of old wisdom and practice.

Questions to ask ourselves:

How can Developmental Evaluation help track the changes in basic routines, resources and/or information flows, beliefs and behaviours in systems?
How do we manage the tensions between innovation and learning and the push for accountability?
How might Developmental Evaluation balance support for innovation and emergence and also support initiatives to demonstrate their value empirically and robustly?