What Is Innovation?
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Today's second topic is a book review of Invention and Innovation, A Brief History of Hype and Failure.
Word Count: About 750 words, with an approximate reading time of 3 to 5 minutes. Please share your thoughts in the comments. Please be kind and subscribe to my newsletter.
Links to purchase the books discussed in this newsletter can be found on my website's recommended reading page.
The advent of ChatGPT and other platforms represents an inflection point in what is possible with AI. Innovation is often used to describe the difference between generative AI and what came before it. Innovation is a word used often, and the definition seems fluid from author to author.
One author on LinkedIn published a list of innovations that include design thinking, data analytics, AI, sustainability, and collaboration as significant innovations for 2023. Are any of these innovations? Are any of them new for 2023? My answer is no for both questions. All of these have been around for quite some time, and companies have embraced them to varying degrees.
Quantum computing gives us another question to ponder about innovation. Nature published Quantum computers: what are they good for? Their answer is nothing, but researchers are optimistic. So is quantum computing an innovation because people are experimenting with it, or is it innovation when there are practical applications?
MIT Technology Review and Inverse also published lists of innovations to look for in 2023. All of this leads to the question, what is innovation? What is the difference between innovation and invention? How do you know when something is innovative or evolutionary?
Vaclav Smil helps us answer these questions in his book Invention and Innovation, A Brief History of Hype and Failure. Check out the review below.
Book Review: Invention and Innovation, A Brief History of Hype and Failure by Vaclav Smil
The first section of this book explores the fundamental difference between invention and innovation. Smil breaks down invention into four categories – developing simple tools, building complex machines, creating new materials, and devising new production methods. Innovation is defined as introducing inventions into existing products, processes, and ideas. Admittedly there is much overlap between the two.
The rest of the book explores the concept that exaggerated claims and indefensible fantasies are not innovation. The following three sections cover different types of inventions. The first talks about inventions that were widely adopted but later proved to be undesirable. The second group explores heavily hyped inventions that were developed but never lived up to expectations. Lastly, Smil describes hyped ideas that never moved past the concept or early testing phases.
The book's final part helps us understand how to balance optimism and realistic expectations.
This book would have been well served with a discussion of innovations and inventions that were initially rejected but years later proved to be meaningful. Two examples come to mind. Edward Jenner developed the first smallpox vaccine. The medical community, clergy, and the general public rejected his findings. Vaccines are now widely recognized as safe and effective. Galileo and many other scientists in the 17th century challenged the view of the Earth-centered universe. His ideas led to his being convicted of heresy and confined to house arrest.
Invention and Innovation is not the best of Mr. Smil’s books that I have read. There is value in the book, but in my opinion, it is incomplete. Order your copy here.
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Quotes
“Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.”
- Samuel Johnson
"There are many questions, which can be resolved only by hard work and innovative thinking."
- Luc Montagnier
You can order The Leader With A Thousand Faces on the Recommended Reading Page of my website.
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