Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
from the local environment, whether materials, skills or services, a situation that
especially applies to the advantages provided by a big city or research environment,
compared to a small isolated town. Two other types of innovation are based on
discovering new relationships with different fields or processes. Thus
'exaptation'
involves borrowing from a related product or process that may be seen in a local
environment to solve a new problem, such as the adaptation of the perfume spray to
allow petrol to be finely dispersed in the internal combustion engine, or the way the
crucial compression function of the initial printing press mimicked the wine press.
In the
serendipity
case the invention comes not from borrowing, but by recogniz-
ing how a new application can be derived from some unexpected results found in
an experiment or procedure that was originally created for some different reason.
The final two types identified by Johnson illustrate how hard work, persistence and
support are key features of the creation of another set of ways that inventions occur.
The
'slow hunch'
describes those situations in which the exploration and solving
of a series of problems leads to the gradual recognition of how something works,
or is constructed, which then leads to a new process or product. The
'error'
type
describes those cases in which false conclusions about some process are initially
derived, which stimulates additional research to find out why they are incorrect,
leading eventually, through many trials, to a new and viable understanding.
The study of knowledge-based development should not only focus on the initial
invention but also on
subsequent developments
. Invention is only the first of many
phases of development and refinement before the invention becomes an innovation
that can be used or marketed. These various transitions require the application of
very different types of knowledge. Also Rosenberg (
1976
) noted that innovation is
not just about the big discontinuities in products or processes based on technologi-
cal breakthroughs. There can be many innovations at various stages in production
or process cycles through applying lower level knowledge, such as in revised engi-
neering procedures. These may radically improve some productive activity, trans-
forming existing products or processes into new product innovations, often in the
downstream side, rather than in the upside level of deliberate research and devel-
opment, the type of continuous improvement that Toyota pioneered (Liker
2004
).
Finally, there seems little doubt that it is a mistake to see the innovative process only
in technical terms. Morgan and Nauwelaers (
2002
) have stressed that
innovation is
a social process
that needs a strong collective endeavour to succeed, involving vari-
ous agents, people and organizations, within and between firms, cities, and regions.
It is one that must be spatially structured, since important requirements for the in-
vention or innovation usually need to be available locally to prevent interruptions
in the development process.
11.5.3
Uncertainties in Knowledge to Solve
Another reason why the invention-innovation process is so difficult to predict and
replicate is that potential inventors and innovators have many uncertainties to solve.
Firms have to learn to overcome these problems if they are to innovate successfully.
