Viewpoint: The 'invention illusion' means new rarely is new

BBC News, Paul Martin, Chief technology officer, Plextek, 1 February 2013

Inventions need predecessors to build on

Today, with very few exceptions, there is no such thing as a truly new invention.

Despite what marketers would have us believe, recycling inventions and the cross-pollination of technologies for new applications are at the heart of all developments in the 21st Century.

Rather than waiting for light-bulb moments, true innovators today are looking at other sectors and applying existing technologies in unexpected ways.

Here's an example. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell is famously credited with inventing the telephone.

Many years later, in 2007, Steve Jobs introduced us to the iPhone. Despite all the hype though, the iPhone was not a new invention - it was just a much better telephone than any we'd seen before.

By the time the iPhone hit our shops, we'd already seen plenty of mobile versions of the humble telephone, and smartphones had been around since the 1990s.

The iPhone caused such a stir because it included a few perceived "firsts" - it was commonly regarded as the first touch-screen phone, for example. However, touch-screen technology itself wasn't new - it first appeared in the 1960s, and had actually appeared in other mobile handsets before.

Similarly, when Apple introduced the accelerometer to its mobile handsets, it was widely believed that this was a new technology.

Before the iPhone, accelerometers were already found in vehicles, medical devices, navigation systems and more - but, by applying this technology to their smartphones and aggressively promoting its benefits, Apple changed consumer perceptions of what was possible with a smart phone.

The reaction was overwhelmingly positive - just look at the abundance of popular iPhone apps that have been developed and sold that take advantage of the accelerometer's capabilities.

What Apple achieved with the first iPhone was truly groundbreaking, but it was the result of very clever innovation, with existing technologies applied in new ways. It was not a new invention.

More than semantics

In case there is any doubt, this type of innovation is absolutely a good thing.

It is the reason that the speed of technological progress continues to snowball.

Most industry sectors no longer work in isolation. Instead they learn from each other's successes and mistakes.

Using existing technology and applying it differently can also be a cheaper and easier way to get to market than "re-inventing the wheel".

Not so good, however, is the lack of recognition and awareness of these processes.

Consumers are presented with an "invention illusion", which is really little more than a marketing tool to give the impression of "breakthrough" products. This is a difficult cycle to break, particularly with the media's appetite for sensational stories, and it is hampering opportunities for credible companies without sexy stories.

It also means that many entrepreneurs are looking for innovation in the wrong places and pursuing new product design ineffectively.

There is a common misconception that great ideas come from a blank sheet of paper, but this is simply not true - good developers will come up with better, smarter product designs if they know what they are trying to achieve and where they can look for existing know-how.

The best ideas require information, not just inspiration, and this information should be drawn from a much wider pool of sector experience.

Damaging our economy

Worse still, some entire industries remain closed-off to this type of cross-sector innovation and this, partnered with constrictive supply chains, is stifling technological progress.

Lack of recognition for real innovators
is a problem, Paul Martin says

An example is the global automotive supply chain, which has historically been difficult to penetrate, as manufacturers have been closed-off from exposure to new ideas from technology providers.

Greater recognition for innovation and more opportunities to encourage cross-sector research and collaboration would be of huge benefit to the global technology industry.

Multi-sector product design and development consultancies are "innovation hubs" where the transfer of sector skills happens under a single roof, but this concept could be rolled-out on a national or even international scale with government or trade organisation-backed events and networks.

In the UK automotive industry, for example, the NMI Automotive Electronic Systems Innovation Network was established and gained real traction in 2012, specifically to tackle these issues and open up the innovation chain.

Ultimately, we should be proud of our ingenuity in applying existing know-how in completely unexpected and exciting ways.

In this hyper-connected world, insular industries will be left behind.

Paul Martin is chief technology officer at technology design and development consultancy Plextek.

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"2013 - What Now ?" – Jan 6, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version) - New

“… New Ideas - You Don't Know What You Don't Know

In recent past channels, we told you some of the new inventions to look forward to in this new era. But now we speak of new ideas and new paradigms of thinking. After these things happen, and when you look at them in retrospect, you're going to say, "Why didn't we think of that before?" The reason is because you weren't ready for it. So that brings up a process that is difficult for us to explain to you, because Humans do not want to hear this.

Human Beings believe that their brains are capable of any thought that is thinkable in the Universe and that the sky is the limit. They believe that at any given time, any intellectual can come up with whatever is needed, which is the next step in evolved thinking. Yet history doesn't show that, does it? In the past messages we pointed this out, and we gave you something to think about. We brought up the fact that it should have been obvious to you how to fly and, of course, now it is. As we speak, thousands of Human Beings are in the air, flying from one place to another with principles that the birds showed you thousands of years ago. Yet it's new to humanity, having only been developed recently. Now, how long have you been looking at birds and longed to fly? How long have certain cultures been flying kites? Yet you never figured it out! How's that for being a Human Being with unlimited thought? You never figured it out!

Finally, about 100 years ago, two bicycle makers finally did it. I ask you, does it look like something happened here that is just a little out of the ordinary? Did you know (and I'll say it again) that those bicycle makers only beat the record of first Human flight by a week or so? Others on the earth were also working on it simultaneously. Did you know that? Here's why - because Spirit implants ideas and inventions when you're ready, and not before. These seemingly obvious ideas are invisible and blind and unattainable to the Human Being because they can't think of it. You're seeing this attribute everywhere with humanity, whether you know it or not.

How many years did you feel you had to build a fortress around your city-states and block out other Human Beings in other cities? Humans built walls and had regular battles so that the other guy wouldn't get your possessions. So how long did it take you to figure out that maybe you could share your resources, or perhaps even trade with the other one so that you'd both have each other's resources, and everybody wins in the process? What a concept! Well, really, you only just did it. Putting things together instead of tearing them apart has only occurred to you in the last 75 years. Why didn't that occur to you 1,000 years ago? Instead, you continued to sequester your borders and build armies to keep you safe. Now, suddenly there is the idea of "country groups" that share common resources, trade without tariffs, and have a common defense in consciousness. Have you noticed this? Well, get ready for more, since there will be entire continents who will do this in the future. But why did it take so long?

Until very, very recently, you were conquerors. That's all you did, since that's all that occurred to you. Armies wiped out other Human Beings so that where they stood, they now owned the land and the resources. That was the thinking of the day. Now you say, "Well, we're beyond that." Not much. Not really, but you will be.

New ideas are things you never thought of. These ideas will be given to you so you will have answers to the most profound questions that your societies have had since you were born. Inventions will bring clean water to every Human on the planet, cheaply and everywhere. Inventions will give you power, cheaply and everywhere. These ideas will wipe out all of the reasons you now have for pollution, and when you look back on it, you'll go, "This solution was always there. Why didn't we think of that? Why didn't we do this sooner?" Because it wasn't time and you were not ready. You hadn't planted the seeds and you were still battling the old energy, deciding whether you were going to terminate yourselves before 2012. Now you didn't…. and now you didn't.

It's funny, what you ponder about, and what your sociologists consider the "great current problems of mankind", for your new ideas will simply eliminate the very concepts of the questions just as they did in the past. Do you remember? Two hundred years ago, the predictions of sociologists said that you would run out of food, since there wasn't enough land to sustain a greater population. Then you discovered crop rotation and fertilizer. Suddenly, each plot of land could produce many times what it could before. Do you remember the predictions that you would run out of wood to heat your homes? Probably not. That was before electricity. It goes on and on.

So today's puzzles are just as quaint, as you will see. (1)How do you strengthen the power grids of your great nations so that they are not vulnerable to failure or don't require massive infrastructure improvement expenditures? Because cold is coming, and you are going to need more power. (2) What can you do about pollution? (3) What about world overpopulation? Some experts will tell you that a pandemic will be the answer; nature [Gaia] will kill off about one-third of the earth's population. The best minds of the century ponder these puzzles and tell you that you are headed for real problems. You have heard these things all your life.

Let me ask you this. (1) What if you could eliminate the power grid altogether? You can and will. (2) What if pollution-creating sources simply go away, due to new ideas and invention, and the environment starts to self-correct? (3) Overpopulation? You assume that humanity will continue to have children at an exponential rate since they are stupid and can't help themselves. This, dear ones, is a consciousness and education issue, and that is going to change. Imagine a zero growth attribute of many countries - something that will be common. Did you notice that some of your children today are actually starting to ponder if they should have any children at all? What a concept! ….”

"THE NEXT 18 YEARS"–  Dec 2, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) (Subjects: You are looking  at a Quantum event, clearing a filter - Portal pineal , Higher self to step forward and communicate to You, Still remains in 3D but exposure to multi dimensions, Evolution of humanity, Intent, Mayan Calendar, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, 26.000 Years, Milky Way, Nostradamus, 1987, Beginning to a New Time, Channellers/Teachers, Center of Galaxy – Black hole, Bridge of Swords, Pleiadians, Children, Inventions – The discoveries (e.g. : Airplanes - Medicines – Radio ...): These new Discoveries were given all over the planet when Human consciousness was ready for it, New Inventions are coming, the timing depends on how the middle East problems are solved, Biology reaction of quantum energy; new radio of the future, seeing quantum energy, when it is revealed all science books will have to be rewritten, This will be an AHA moment – be possible to communicate with the rest of Galaxy, NASA, Church/religion will be effected the most by these discoveries, The quantum discovery will see the grid, life, gardens and will redefine life, DNA (3 billion pieces) evolving piece DNA are chancing, Gaia/Humanity are linked, new instruments will start to reveal the DNA variance, Evolution revealed: Autistic children have born with the removal of their 3D structure in the brain, Gaia/Spirit are testing these quantum beings  (Evolved DNA), Universe central clock = Rifs,  Globally there will be only 5 currencies, Wars on earth will be declared barbaric, Middle East, Global Unity, .. etc.)