Beneficial innovation is the development of new features of goods that are a benefit. Examples include the invention of interchangeable parts, the power loom which makes textiles better quality and more cheaply, the invention of the point-and-click interface (by Xerox, not Apple) that fundamentally changed computer operating systems and productivity software.

Contrast malignant innovation such as shrinkflation packaging, software as a service or lobbying government to get subsidies and pass anti-competitive legislation. ETA: A lot of malignant innovation we see in the present day as enshittification but we also see it at the enterprise end, say when Enron pivoted from managing power to manipulating the market after it got overvalued to preserve the illusion of growth, and in so doing defrauding power consumers of California.