Page 312 - (DK) The Business Book

310

LEARNING AND

INNOVATION GO

HAND IN HAND

APPLYING AND TESTING IDEAS

IN CONTEXT
Scientific research leads to technological breakthroughs,
FOCUS which businesses use to...
Research and development

KEY DATES
1790s In postrevolutionary
France the government works ...improve
with scientist Claude Chappe ...create new existing ...update
products. processes.
to develop a nationwide products.
semaphore system.
1806 Isambard Kingdom
Brunel is born. The British
scientist and engineer goes
on to design and build the first To innovate for the future, companies must be willing to learn
about new technologies and how they can be harnessed.
propeller-powered ship and
the first tunnel under a river.
1939–45 During World
War II, jet engines, the mass-
production of medicines Learning and innovation go hand in hand.
such as penicillin, and blood
transfusions are all developed.
1942 Austrian economist
Joseph Schumpeter uses the esearch and development technological breakthroughs and
term “creative destruction” to (R&D) is any investigative keep themselves on the cutting
describe how innovation in R and creative work intended edge of their industry. Others apply
to lead to new discoveries or to R&D to improve existing products.
industry creates new societies
improvements in existing products
by destroying old ones.
or processes. Some companies, in Filling a gap
areas such as computer software In some cases, the direction of
and pharmaceuticals, depend on R&D is driven by market research
scientific research to bring about findings that uncover a gap in the