1.2 Name three innovations and entrepreneurs
In the following activity, you will continue to examine your existing ideas about innovation and entrepreneurship.
Activity 2
- Think of the first three innovations and the first three entrepreneurs that come into your mind and note them in the boxes below. These can be recent or historical examples. When you’ve noted your examples, click the Save button under each box.
- Now review your list. How many of the innovations that you have selected would you regard as a ‘success’? Likewise, how many of the entrepreneurs have had a ‘successful’ career? Note your reactions in the box below.
Discussion
It would not be surprising to find that there are very few cases of failure on these lists. People tend to be attracted to success stories and they are a common feature of most popular media coverage, especially in the case of ‘celebrity entrepreneurs’, although there are some notable exceptions. For example, journalists and politicians sometimes highlight a failed innovation, particularly if it has proved costly to large numbers of consumers or taxpayers (e.g. a new product that has to be withdrawn from the market because it is dangerous, or a new government computer system that is cancelled because it does not work properly). There are many reasons why individuals and organisations are tempted to concentrate on enterprises and innovations that have succeeded rather than those that have failed. For example, it is generally much easier to gather evidence about an organisation or venture that is still operating.
OpenLearn - First steps in innovation and entrepreneurship
Except for third party materials and otherwise, this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence, full copyright detail can be found in the acknowledgements section. Please see full copyright statement for details.