Unit 5: Innovation and Design

• Invention


  The process of discovering a principle which allows a technical advance in a particular field that results in a novel/new product
• Drivers for Invention/Motivation for Invention


  • Personal motivation to express creativity/for personal interest
  • Scientific or technical curiosity
  • Constructive discontent
  • Desire to make money
  • Desire to help others
• Lone Inventor


  • An individual working outside or inside an organization who is committed to the invention of a novel product and often becomes isolated because he or she is engrossed with ideas that imply change and are resisted by others
  • Have ideas that are completely new and different
  • May not comprehend or give sufficient care to the marketing and sales of their product
  • Are usually isolated, and have no backing towards their design
  • Are having a harder time to push forward their designs, especially in a market where large investments are required for success
  • Their ideas, because of how different they are are often resisted by other employees and workers
• Intellectual Property (IP)


  A legal term for intangible property such as "creations of the mind" such as inventions and designs that are used in a commercial setting. Intellectual property is protected by law.
• Benefits of IP


  • Differentiating a business from competitors
  • Allowing sale or licensing, providing an important revenue stream
  • Offering customers something new and different
  • Marketing/branding
  • Establishing a valuable asset that can be used as security for loans
• Effective strategies for protecting IP


  • Patents
  • Trademarks
  • Copyright
• Patent pending


  An indication that an application for a patent has been applied for but has not yet been processed. The marking serves to notify those copying the invention that they may be liable for damages (including back-dated royalties), once a patent is issued.
• First to market


  When a company or a person has or think they have a innovative idea or product, therefore will rush to have it on the market before anyone else. Some innovators decide not to protect their IP as an alternative strategies to ensure success by allowing them to get first to market rather than spend money on patents or waste time.
• Technology that is shelved for various reasons. Sometimes shelved technologies will be rediscovered or taken off the shelf.
• Innovation


  The business of putting an invention in the marketplace and making it a success.
• Reasons why inventions become innovations


  • Marketability - Low product demand or not readily saleable
  • Financial support - There is little monetary backing from the organisation or an outsider. The invention would need more sponsors to financially aid the product.
  • Marketing - Is the process of getting products from the producer or vendor to the consumer or buyer, which includes advertising, shipping, storing, and selling. Poor marketing strategies or wrong target markets. Invention would need to be advertised as a product the public would want.
  • The need for the invention - Examples include alternative energy resources to combat our insatiable need for oil however if oil prices are low or there is a ready supply of oil then the alternative energy invention will not take hold.
  • Price - Affordable, cost effectiveness or value for money … therefore it may be too expensive to purchase, or to manufacture and the consumer may not see it worth its cost compared to its use. Keep in mind, the product's price needs to be equivalent to the income of the specific age group that would buy the majority of the product.
  • Resistance to change - People and organisations can be resistant and reluctant to change, feeling comfort and security in the familiar thus resist new ideas/products.
  • Aversion to risk - "Risk aversion is a concept in economics, finance, and psychology related to the behaviour of consumers and investors under uncertainty".
• Sustaining Innovation


  Innovative ideas that are constantly updated in order to maintain their success. A new or improved product that meets the needs of consumers and sustains manufacturers.
• Disruptive Innovation


  A product or type of technology that challenges existing companies to ignore or embrace technical change. Examples include the iPod which changed the way we managed and listened to music. Mobile phones so we were no longer restricted to landlines.
• Process Innovation


  An improvement in the organization and/or method of manufacture that often leads to reduced costs or benefits to consumers. Example is in the automobile industry such as Ford with the introduction of assembly line production and Toyota with lean manufacturing.
• Architectural Innovation


  The technology of the components stays the same, but the configuration of the components is changed to produce a new design. Putting existing components together in novel ways. Examples include: electric cars, Sony Walkman
• Modular Innovation


  The basic configuration stays the same, but one or more key components are changed. Example include a new type of switch/button on a toaster. Also known as incremental design.
• no longer restricted to landlines
• Process Innovation


  1. Improvement in the organization and/or method of manufacture that often leads to reduced costs or benefits to consumers

  2. Example is in the automobile industry such as Ford with the introduction of assembly line production and Toyota with lean manufacturing
• Architectural Innovation


  The technology of the components stays the same, but the configuration of the components is changed to produce a new design
• Modular Innovation


  The basic configuration stays the same, but one or more key components are changed
• Configurational Innovation


  Modifying arrangements of components to improve performance, usability and function
• Radical Innovation


  Changing the paradigm of the market that the new product is produced in
• Radical innovation might not be successful as it might not be accepted into the marketplace e.g. Sinclair C5 electric car
• Diffusion


  A process where a market will accept a new idea or product
• Suppression


  A process where a new idea or adoption of a product by the market is actively slowed
• Act of insight


  A sudden image of a potential solution is formed in the mind, usually after a period of thinking about a problem
• Adaptation


  A solution to a problem in one field is adapted for solving a problem in another field
• Technology transfer


  Technological advances that form the basis of new designs may be applied to the development of different types of products/systems
• Analogy


  An idea from one context is used to stimulate ideas for solving a problem in another context
• Chance


  An unexpected discovery leads to a new idea
• Technology push


  Scientific research leads to advances in technology that underpin new ideas
• Market pull


  A new idea is needed as a result of demand from the marketplace
• Lone Inventor


  An individual working outside or inside an organization who is committed to the invention of a novel product and often becomes isolated
• Product Champion


  An influential individual, usually working within an organization, who develops enthusiasm for a particular idea or invention and "champions" it within the organization
• Entrepreneur


  An influential individual who can take an invention to market, often by financing the development, production and diffusion of a product into the marketplace
• Sometimes an inventor may have developed skills or profiles of a product champion and/or entrepreneur. James Dyson and Thomas Edison are two examples
• Entrepreneur


  • Business acumen
  • Self-control
  • Self-confidence
  • Sense of urgency
  • Comprehensive Awareness
  • Realism
  • Conceptual Ability
  • Status Requirements
  • Interpersonal Relationships
  • Emotional Stability
• Product champion


  An influential individual who can take an invention to market, often by financing the development, production and diffusion of a product into the marketplace
• Sometimes an inventor may have developed skills or profiles of a product champion and/or entrepreneur. James Dyson and Thomas Edison are two examples.
• Edison (later it was discovered that Swan invented the light bulb) used profits from his earlier inventions to bring the light bulb to market.