Question

1. Innovation is often referred to as the translation of new ideas into processes, products or services (Thompson, 1965). This is an example of a new product but can we explain the innovation process without considering the wide range of stakeholders that were involved, the time and context under which activities and events occurred, and the external/internal dynamics in shaping the speed and direction of innovative change? Provide a summary of the key shapers of these changes and evaluate their contribution to our understanding of innovation.

Answer 1

Innovation as a phenomenon is defined by the environment in which it happens. For example, during the industrial revolution, the invention of the steam engine was considered a key innovation because it completely changed the paradigm in which firms and labour force operated thus paving way for greater efficiency and productivity.

Thus, changes that have happened over a period of time needs to be evaluated in their context to better understand the impact that these might have on the society and the world.

Thus we can say that key shapers of change or innovation are the following:-

1) Need for innovation: The need is the most important factor. For example, to win the WW 2, it was imperative that Allied forces develop the nuclear weapon earlier than the Axis forces. And this forced them to innovate and this clearly brings out the importance of the need.

2) Adoption of innovation: In spite of the availability of renewal sources of energy, the adoption has been low. This is primarily due to commercial factors and thus any good innovation may be impacted the adoption preferences that consumers ultimately may exercise.

3) Speed of innovation: Another importance factor is how fast the innovation happens. In world of machine and deep learning, innovations are happening very fast and this has implied that all researchers and applied scientist needs to be able to track the changes and evolve quickly to ensure that they are able to deploy these useful innovations in an effective manner.

Thus, the above few factors of innovation captures the dynamics related to innovation and these needs to be considered while evaluating and measuring the impact of innovation.