Innovation is the buzzword du jour in tech, but what does it really mean?

Actor, writer and director Jon Favreau talks with Los Angeles Times Assistant Managing Editor for Arts and Entertainment Mary McNamara during the Los Angeles Times summit “The Big Idea: Innovating for Tomorrow,” held inside Korn Convocation Hall in the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Members of the audience applaud during the Los Angeles Times summit “The Big Idea: Innovating for Tomorrow,” held inside Korn Convocation Hall in the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.

Oscar-nominated film director Werner Herzog, right, talks with moderator Sanjay Sood. The topic was life in a connected world, and Herzog discussed his most recent film, “Into the Inferno,” an exploration of volcanos around the world.

Alice Waters, chef, author and food activist, greets moderator and Los Angeles Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold during the Los Angeles Times summit “The Big Idea: Innovating for Tomorrow.” Waters is a pioneer of farm-to-table cuisine. The conversation covered her groundbreaking work in launching the slow food movement and how one woman can change the world.

Oscar-nominated film director Werner Herzog, right, and moderator Sanjay Sood look at a clip from Herzog’s latest film, “Into the Inferno.”

Piyush Tewari, who in 2008 founded the SaveLIFE Foundation to provide rapid emergency care to road accident victims in India, talks to audience members during the Los Angeles Times summit “The Big Idea: Innovating for Tomorrow.” Projected on the screen is an image of his cousin, Shivam Bajpai, left, who died in a 2007 car crash in India at age 16.

Moderator Michael Montgomery, left, talks with Neville Spiteri, co-founder and CEO of Wevr, a leading virtual reality studio and distributor. The topic of conversation was taking the next virtual step. Montgomery is an advisor and investor in early stage companies and a lecturer at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Arthur Zang, a 28-year-old software design engineer from Cameroon and the inventor of the Cardio Pad, believed to be Africa’s first medical tablet to help diagnose heart disease, talks about his invention.