Innovation is a ubiquitous term, and its use to promote neoliberal values such as competition, efficiency and its privileging of technology driven initiatives has been critiqued by educational researchers, including adult literacy researchers. This article argues that innovation in adult literacy (and perhaps in education generally) is a concept that needs to be problematized. While there appears to be a general agreement in the education and wider social science literature about the definition of innovation, the problem is the lack of specificity in "what the innovation is better for" when celebrating innovation as if it is inherently good.