5.1 Introduction to key concepts
Before I go any further I will establish the meaning of some of the key concepts that you will encounter throughout this unit.
The key concepts elaborated in this unit are:
inventor
invention
design
product champion
entrepreneur
improver
innovation
dominant design
robust design
lean design
radical innovation
incremental innovation
sustaining innovation
disruptive innovation
process innovation
diffusion and suppression
intellectual property and patents.
Although innovation is the term applied to one particular stage, it is also common to talk about the whole process from invention to diffusion as the innovation process.
To illustrate these concepts I will use the example of a significant invention with which you are familiar and that has come to symbolise the inspired moment at the heart of invention – the electric light. This example also illustrates the range of factors behind the success of one of the most famous inventors of all time, Thomas Edison. The irony, as you will discover, is that there was no clear ‘Eureka!’ moment in this invention. It was the product of sheer hard work and demonstrated Edison's famous saying in a newspaper interview, ‘Genius is 1 per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration’.