The aim of this research is to analyze the cognitive structures of gifted students regarding the concept of innovation. The phenomenology design, one of the qualitative research method designs, was used in the study. The criterion sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used to determine the study group of the research. In the 2018-2019 academic year, 25 (15 male, 10 female) gifted students at the 7th and 8th grade level of secondary school in a Science and Art Center (BILSEM) in Ankara Province formed the study group of the research. The word association test (WAT) and drawings were used as data collection tools in the research. While the data obtained with the drawing-writing technique in the research were analyzed by using the content analysis method, the data obtained through the word association test were analyzed by using the descriptive analysis method. Participants' associations to the concept of innovation were analyzed by using the cut-point technique. In addition, concept networks that show the associations at each breakpoint as a whole were drawn. Mind maps were drawn by using the frequency table prepared from the students' responses to the selected key concepts. Research data were collected under 7 categories. These were Definition and characteristics of innovation (f = 78), innovation and development (f = 52), stages of innovation (f = 46), innovation and business (f = 27), innovation-oriented skills (f = 18), innovation and product (f = 17), other (non-category concepts) (f = 13). It was determined that students produced 38 different answer words about the concept of innovation 251 times and they most associated the concept of innovation with the concepts of "newness", "development" and "technology". In the sentences they wrote together with the drawings, explanations emphasizing more technological products and development processes were observed.