# Understanding innovation

**Source**: https://www.fau.eu/university/innovation/innovation-profile/innovation-at-fau/understanding-innovation/
**Parent**: https://www.fau.eu/

Exploring the diversity and reach of innovation is fascinating: Innovation can be found in methods and theories, in positions and paradigms, in technologies and processes, in systems and solutions. FAU is home to innovation in all its guises, and in all its diversity, in all faculties, disciplines, units and fields of action.

Sometimes a radical new medical approach saves the life of a single patient with an incurable illness. Sometimes a new audio codec finds its way into billions of pockets around the globe in our digital devices. Sometimes changing methods (for instance moving away from observation to experimenting or designing) not only leads to unexpected new perspectives but opens up new doors to knowledge for whole disciplines. Sometimes our innovative journey is driven exclusively by inquisitive minds, sometimes by a global mission.

Innovation can be pursued at the most unexpected locations by individuals or – as is more and more frequently the case – by teams or even huge consortia.

## Learning innovation

There is a discipline dedicated to investigating what drives innovation: innovation research. This discipline not only explores how individuals, teams or organizations come up with innovative ideas, but also tries to understand the potential for innovation in regions and nations, as well as the science of science.

At FAU, no matter your discipline and your role, you can study innovation in all its dimensions. As a taster, we have gathered some nuggets of information in our “innovation” playlist.

To the FAU INNOVATION playlist:Explore innovation in all its diversity, and let yourself be inspired to make the leap from learning to designing.

[FAU INNOVATION on Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgLLPe5VGhcKwBMhk-oJVaDpIea7nFdos%20)

## Discover more

- [### Experiencing innovation

  FAU is changing the world for the better by moving knowledge and fostering innovation. Recently, approximately 100 additional professorships were established, funded by a mixture of public and private sources, and strengthening FAU’s position with three new departments (AI in Biomedical Engineering, Data Science, Digital Humanities and Social Sciences), agile teams and shared services. Student […]

  Read more about Experiencing innovation](https://www.fau.eu/university/innovation/innovation-profile/innovation-at-fau/find-out-more/)
- [### Shaping innovation

  In the 21st century, universities can no longer afford to act as ivory towers or perpetuate a silo mentality focusing exclusively on their own subject areas. Universities shoulder responsibility for their communities, their ecosystems, society as a whole. They address global developments and the challenges facing our planet. At the same time, they have to […]

  Read more about Shaping innovation](https://www.fau.eu/university/innovation/innovation-profile/innovation-at-fau/shaping-innovation/)