IB Design and Technology Invention and Innovation

Definitions Invention  The process of discovering a principle. A technical advance in a particular field often resulting in a novel product. Innovation  The business of putting an invention in the marketplace and making it a success.

The Inventors Story Watch the video tracing the process Sir Clive Sinclair followed when developing his electrical bicycle – The Zike – and answer the following questions: 1.What is the importance of science to invention? 2.Why didn’t this invention become a successful innovation? 3.Explain why the majority of inventions fail to become innovations. Video clip – Zinclair Zike Video clip – Zinclair Zike 2

The Innovation Cycle Developing an idea into a viable product It’s Production Marketing and sales Redesign

Design and Innovation For continued innovation (re-innovation), products and processes are constantly updated (re-designed) to make them more commercially viable and to give consumers choice and improved products. Science plays an integral part to the designer as science explains how the world works.

Failure of Inventions to Innovations The majority of inventions fail to become innovations due to: Marketability Financial support Poor marketing The demand for the invention Price Consumer resistance to change. Aversion to risk

More Definitions Dominant Design  The design containing those implicit features of a product which are recognised as essential by a majority of manufacturers and purchasers. Diffusion into the marketplace  The wide acceptance (and sales) of a product Market Pull  The initial impetus for the development of a new product is generated by a demand from the market. Technology Push  Where the impetus for a new design emanates from a technological development.

“Market Pull” and “Technology Push” It is difficult to determine whether market pull or technology push is the impetus for the design of new products. “Push” and “Pull” are present in most successful innovations. The explanation should apply only to the first origin of the idea or where the idea appears to have been generated.

Dominant Design The design containing those implicit features of a product which are recognised as essential by a majority of manufacturers and purchasers. Coca Cola I pod Apple

Diffusion onto the market place Local Competition – what is available in the area of the country where you live. National completion – What is available in the Country where you live. Global competition – What is available in the world where you live. World Wide Web

Lone Inventor A lone inventor is someone working outside or inside an organisation who is committed to the invention of a novel product and often becomes isolated because s/he is engrossed with ideas which imply change and are resisted by others. Most products are now quite complex and rely on expertise from various disciplines. The amount of investment required is often too much for one individual and, as a result, the lone inventor is becoming rare! Lone inventors often find it difficult to work in design departments of large companies as they are often used to setting their own targets rather than working as a member of a team. They can be dogmatic in their methodology and less flexible than team workers.

James Dyson In 1978 James Dyson first had the idea for a vacuum cleaner that used a cyclone instead of a bag and did not lose suction. 15 years and 5127 prototypes later, having been turned down by all the big multinational appliance manufacturers, he launched the Dyson DCO1 Dual CycloneTM vacuum cleaner. Within two years this became the number one selling vacuum cleaner in the UK. Dyson has gone on to produce many different Dual CycloneTM vacuum cleaners which are sold all over the world. In 1998 Dyson opened its own £20 million research and development centre in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Around a quarter of the Dyson workforce are designers, engineers and scientists who are researching and developing new products with new technologies.

Video clip – Dyson 2.mpg

Video clip – Dyson.mpg

Trevor Baylis In the middle of a BBC documentary on AIDS in Africa, inventor Trevor Baylis jumped up from his chair and hurried to his research laboratory. If poor communications in Africa was the biggest barrier to health education, Baylis reasoned, then he should find a way to improve the information flow. And what was the real obstacle? Batteries! Before the TV show was over, Baylis had produced, "a bark of sound out of an instrument". His simple idea for a wind-up radio set in motion what was to become an extraordinary commercial journey back to Africa. The resulting South African venture, BayGen, has swept up entrepreneurs, nongovernmental organizations, development agencies, former anti-apartheid campaigners, disabled groups, and corporate foundations. The Free play® Radio, endorsed by no less than 20 international humanitarian organizations, is assembled largely by a workforce of the disabled.

Baygen A desire to bring communication to disease and war stricken regions, gave rise to the invention of the Freeplay® radio and the formation of the BayGen Company. In the words of Baroness, Chalker of Wallasey, Minister for Overseas Development for the British Government: "In much of the developing world, communication by radio is far and away the most important way of disseminating information, especially where levels of illiteracy are high. It can be vital in providing early warning of problems, in keeping large populations informed in times of crisis, in widening education and in controlling the spread of disease. The largest barrier to radio's widespread use has always been the cost and availability of providing a means of power - most notably through batteries. I hope that this radio. powered ingeniously by a hand-wound motor, will give many of the world's poorest people access to the information they need to improve their lives and safeguard their families,"

Baygen Radio #1.mpg

Video clip Baygen #2.mpg

The Product Champion An influential individual, usually working within an organisation, who develops an enthusiasm for a particular idea or invention and “champions” it within the organisation. While the lone inventor might lack the business acumen to push the invention through to innovation, the product champion is often a forceful personality with much influence in the company. S/he is more astute at being able to push the idea through the various business channels and is often able to consider the merits of the invention more objectively.

The Lone Inventor versus the Product Champion The lone inventor may lack the business acumen to push the invention through to innovation. The product champion in often a forceful personality with much influence in a company. He or she is often more astute and is able to consider the merits of invention more objectively.

Financial support challenges faced by Inventors Taking a risk. Most people with money to invest will be inclined to wait until it is clearer whether the invention is going to be successful before inventing.

Task Choose an invention from the last 30 years that failed to become and innovation. Analyse why you think this happened. Consider dominant design, diffusion onto the market place, market pull and technology pus.