Innovation

[7] Based on their survey, Baragheh et al. attempted to formulate a multidisciplinary definition and arrived at the following:"Innovation is the multi-stage process whereby organizations transform ideas into new/improved products, service or processes, in order to advance, compete and differentiate themselves successfully in their marketplace"[8] In a study of how the software industry considers innovation, the following definition given by Crossan and Apaydin was considered to be the most complete.

American sociologist Everett Rogers, defined it as follows:"An idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption"[9]According to Alan Altshuler and Robert D. Behn, innovation includes original invention and creative use.

These writers define innovation as generation, admission and realization of new ideas, products, services and processes.

[11]Peter Drucker wrote: Innovation is the specific function of entrepreneurship, whether in an existing business, a public service institution, or a new venture started by a lone individual in the family kitchen.

[18] This means that the current hegemonic purpose for innovation is capital valorisation and profit maximization, exemplified by the appropriation of knowledge (e.g., through patenting), the widespread practice of Planned obsolescence (incl.

[23] Sustaining innovation is the improvement of a product or service based on the known needs of current customers (e.g. faster microprocessors, flat screen televisions).

This is the point in time when people started to talk about technological product innovation and tie it to the idea of economic growth and competitive advantage.

Schumpeter argued that industries must incessantly revolutionize the economic structure from within, that is: innovate with better or more effective processes and products, as well as with market distribution (such as the transition from the craft shop to factory).

[42] Schumpeter's findings coincided with rapid advances in transportation and communications in the beginning of the 20th century, which had huge impacts for the economic concepts of factor endowments and comparative advantage as new combinations of resources or production techniques constantly transform markets to satisfy consumer needs.

Organizations can also improve profits and performance by providing work groups opportunities and resources to innovate, in addition to employee's core job tasks.

For example, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOPE VI initiatives turned severely distressed public housing in urban areas into revitalized, mixed-income environments; the Harlem Children's Zone used a community-based approach to educate local area children; and the Environmental Protection Agency's brownfield grants facilitates turning over brownfields for environmental protection, green spaces, community and commercial development.

R&D help spur on patents and other scientific innovations that leads to productive growth in such areas as industry, medicine, engineering, and government.

Information technology and changing business processes and management style can produce a work climate favorable to innovation.

[65] This technique was famously used by Thomas Edison's laboratory to find a version of the incandescent light bulb economically viable for home use, which involved searching through thousands of possible filament designs before settling on carbonized bamboo.

Thousands of chemical compounds are subjected to high-throughput screening to see if they have any activity against a target molecule which has been identified as biologically significant to a disease.

Promising compounds can then be studied; modified to improve efficacy and reduce side effects, evaluated for cost of manufacture; and if successful turned into treatments.

Technological competitiveness may have a tendency to be pursued by smaller firms and can be characterized as "efforts for market-oriented innovation, such as a strategy of market expansion and patenting activity.

"[70] On the other hand, active price competitiveness is geared toward process innovations that lead to efficiency and flexibility, which tend to be pursued by large, established firms as they seek to expand their market foothold.

[72] Innovation is generally framed as an inherently positive force, delivering growth and prosperity for all, and is often deemed as both inevitable and unstoppable.

This business-as-usual approach would mean continued and increased globalization as well as quick innovation cycles which supposedly will maximize the competitiveness of processes, in the end leading to Eco-economic decoupling or Green growth.

'[17] From this viewpoint, innovation is primarily driven by the imperative of capital accumulation, serving the sole purpose of increasing returns, neglecting societal needs such as a clean environment or social equality and in general the biophysical limits of our planet.

Other ways of measuring innovation have traditionally been expenditure, for example, investment in R&D (Research and Development) as percentage of GNP (Gross National Product).

[84] Some academics claim cost-effectiveness research is a valuable value-based measure of innovation which accords "truly significant" therapeutic advances (i.e. providing "health gain") higher prices than free market mechanisms.

[102] However, studies may vary widely; for example the Global Innovation Index 2016 ranks Switzerland as number one wherein countries like South Korea, Japan, and China do not even make the top ten.

[109] John Smart criticized the claim and asserted that technological singularity researcher Ray Kurzweil and others showed a "clear trend of acceleration, not deceleration" when it came to innovations.

[121] Given its effects on efficiency, quality of life, and productive growth, innovation is a key driver in improving society and economy.

Instead of being solely driven by profit motives, a counter-hegemonic understanding sees innovation as a means to create user-value, with a focus on satisfying societal needs.

This view on innovation is underpinned by open access to knowledge, adaptability, repairability, and maintenance of products as well as Eco-sufficiency, defining progress not by efficiency but by staying within planetary boundaries, thereby challenging the hegemonic belief in limitless growth.

This perspective is exemplified by commons-based peer production (CBPP), offering an alternative vision of innovation that prioritizes conviviality over relentless competition.

In essence, this counter-hegemonic view describes a more socially and ecologically conscious approach to innovation, striving for a balance between technological progress and human wellbeing.