innovation

innovation, the creation of a new way of doing something, whether the enterprise is concrete (e.g., the development of a new product) or abstract (e.g., the development of a new philosophy or theoretical approach to a problem). Innovation plays a key role in the development of sustainable methods of both production and living because in both cases it may be necessary to create alternatives to conventional ways of doing things that were developed before environmental consideration was central to most people’s framework for making decisions.

Because innovation plays a central role in business success as well as in scientific progress, considerable research has focused on specifying the working conditions that are likely to produce useful innovations. In general, scholars have noted that the best model for producing useful knowledge about the empirical world (i.e., knowledge based on observation and experimentation rather than theory or belief) is to foster the work of many relatively autonomous specialists whose work is judged by its merits rather than its conformity to pre-existing beliefs or traditional ways of doing things. This reflects the attitude that enables the creation of modern scientific practice, an attitude that may be traced back to 17th-century Europe.

Several attitudes and practices from that period also apply to fostering modern scientific and technical innovation. Scientific or innovative contributions should be evaluated on the basis of impersonal criteria (that is, according to the contribution’s accuracy in describing the world and the degree to which it works more efficiently than the old method) rather than according to who produced them or the personal characteristics (such as race, gender, nationality) of the person who produced them. Knowledge should be shared rather than kept secret so others can apply it to their work and the general level of knowledge can increase. Furthermore, scientists should act in a disinterested manner, seeking to increase knowledge rather than focusing purely on personal gain, and scientific claims cannot be made on the basis of authority but are open to challenge and should hold up under scrutiny. Of course, some of these rules are somewhat modified in the modern world—for instance, people do profit from their own discoveries, both directly in terms of holding patents and indirectly in terms of career success—but the basic principles hold true.

Scientific innovation

In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), American philosopher and historian Thomas Kuhn made a distinction between what he called normal science and episodes of scientific revolution. He defined normal science as the process of solving puzzles within the paradigms currently established for one’s particular science. For instance, in astronomy, it was believed for centuries that the planets orbited around the Earth (the geocentric model) and complex models and calculations were developed to try to explain the observed movements of the planets within this model. In contrast, scientific revolutions involve challenging or changing the dominant paradigms, as Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus did when he proposed a heliocentric universe in which the Earth as well as the other planets orbited around the sun. Most science in any time period is normal science, with people working within an existing framework that includes methods, assumptions about nature, symbolic generations, and paradigmatic experiments. Even observations that do not seem to fit the existing paradigm will be explained within it (as planetary motion was for centuries in the geocentric model) or ignored as anomalies. At some point, however, the contradictions and anomalies may become too obvious and trigger a scientific revolution, as happened in the 16th century in Europe (notably not recognized by a powerful social institution, the Catholic Church, until centuries later).

Most scientists and technical employees today are analogous to normal scientists, working to discover practical applications or to illuminate small areas of knowledge within a given scientific model. For instance, many scientists in the United States are employees of corporations, government agencies, and so on, and are expected to work within accepted models rather than challenge them. This leads to conflict between the scientist’s desire for autonomy and the organization’s desire for practical results, and can stifle innovation that could lead ultimately to greater breakthroughs. One way this problem is dealt with is to have people specialize in either basic or applied science, with different evaluative criteria for each, and to have part of an organization’s budget reserved for basic research that may challenge the existing paradigm rather than work within it.

Another conflict for scientists and technical employees, particularly those working in for-profit companies, is their desire to communicate their discoveries to others versus their employers’ desire to keep such discoveries confidential in order to protect their profitability. Patent law is intended to allow both desires to be met. The purpose of the patent system is to stimulate scientific and technical invention by reserving the right to profit from a discovery for a period of years to the patent holder (which may be an individual or organization such as a company or university) while also making the information from the discovery public so that others may learn from it. The patent holder may sell or license the right for others to use his or her discoveries and collect fees from them.