Jani Saarinen - Changes in Innovation: Towards an Improved Understanding of Economic Renewal

Changes in Innovation

Towards an Improved Understanding of Economic Renewal

Edited by

Jani Saarinen

and

Nina Rilla

Selection and editorial matter Jani Saarinen and Nina Rilla 2009
Individual chapters contributors 2009

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First published 2009 by
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ISBN 9780230577442

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Juha Oksanen is a research scientist and the team leader of the VTT Innovation Policy Research and Impact Assessment of R&D unit. His research interests include development of innovation policy, knowledge flows and user involvement in innovation processes, innovation in experience economy, and the links between entrepreneurship and innovation. He has been involved in the evaluation of national and EU programmes aimed to promote R&D and innovation, and public innovation service organizations.

Pekka Pesonen is a research scientist at VTT within the Innovation and Industrial Renewal research team. His research interests pertain to various aspects of the innovations themselves, and to the link between innovation, technological development, and the competitiveness of firms and industries. His research has been mainly focused on innovation in and dynamics of the forest sector, and on innovation management issues, as well as managing SFINNO, the Finnish innovation-based database.

Nina Rilla works as a research scientist at VTT within the team Innovation and Industrial Renewal. Her research interest lies in the field of industrial innovation, as well as on internationalization of companies and their innovation activities, and R&D in general. She has focused on investigating the changes in the innovation process, particularly from an innovation networks and innovation failures perspective.

Jani Saarinen works as innovation and technology policy manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Trained in both research policy and economic history, Saarinen studies innovation at the intersection of science, technology, and industry. His work includes extensive studies of industrial research and development, commercialization and business models of innovation, the development of manufacturing technology in Finland, and studies related to innovation and technology policies. In addition, he has expertise in innovation activities and technological evolution of firms and industries, long-term changes in the nature of R&D activities of firms and research centres, and also various issues related to patents and human capital.

Robert van der Have is employed as a research scientist at VTT within the team Innovation and Industrial Renewal. His expertise is in economic-geography issues such as agglomeration externalities, industry clusters, and the measurement and analysis of spatial phenomena, especially innovative activity. His research interests include interorganizational knowledge creation in innovation, spatial evolution of industry and innovative activity, the interplay of regional environments and organizational dynamics, dynamics of entrepreneurship, as well innovation in services.

Thomas Alva Edison created several inventions in the field of telecommunications during the 1860s and 1870s. After realizing the commercial potential of his inventions, and with the help of the money he received in exchange for the rights for many of his patents, Edison decided to support and manage the creation of novel solutions more professionally. In 1876 he set up an R&D laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, being the first of a kind in the USA, bringing together multidisciplinary knowledge and resources needed to facilitate innovation.

After a few years Edison introduced his most well-known achievement, the electric light bulb. Although Edison and his workers did not invent the first electric light bulb, with the help of a clear strategy of combining the existing knowledge and the capabilities of his laboratory, they created the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb. Edisons vision of electric lighting having the potential to be utilized by common people came to fruition after continuous improvement.

However, the lack of an energy supply and distribution system hindered the wider diffusion of innovation. Thus Edison needed to come up with new types of innovations supporting the core product. In 1878, he formed an electrical company in New York City, and couple of years later introduced a process innovation: the worlds first economically viable system of centrally generating and distributing electric light, heat and power. This enabled the wide implementation of single light bulbs and can be regarded as the innovation having far greater impact on society than the light bulb used in the electrical system. Furthermore, it enabled Edison to create new services such as providing electricity to street lamps.

Despite the success in inventing and innovating, Edison encountered challenges and even failure, both in developing an innovation and in business. For instance, in the case of light bulb, Edison tested thousands of filaments before he discovered a carbonized bamboo filament that could last over 1200 hours. However, he saw failure quite differently, saying that, I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. In business, his idea to create a practical way to mine iron ore was never realized, leading Edison to lose the money he invested in the company behind the development. Yet, Edison can be regarded as a distinguished innovator. Not because of the many inventions he developed or of the many patents he possessed, bought and sold, but most of all because, unlike his peers developing new technology at the time, he focused on creating applicable and commercial solutions.