How Innovation Works

What sparks great inventions? Not lone geniuses, but a collective, messy, and gradual process built on the exchange of ideas.

1. Innovation Is a Shared Process

Innovation is not the work of a single individual operating in isolation. Instead, it emerges from collaborations, shared ideas, and the collective knowledge of many people. Throughout history, small contributions from multiple sources have led to giant steps forward.

For example, the invention of the atmospheric steam engine in the early 1700s involved several inventors, including Denis Papin, Thomas Savery, and Thomas Newcomen. Each contributed ideas and improvements to the engine, relying on the shared scientific knowledge of their era. Similarly, Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the light bulb, but over 20 inventors had earlier patents on similar devices.

No one operates in a vacuum. Each innovation stands on the foundations of earlier discoveries. Papin and Savery deepened their understanding through shared letters with other inventors. The industrial advancements in blacksmithing technology enabled Newcomen to refine the design of the atmospheric engine. Without this progression of shared work, the modern world would look very different.

Examples

• The atmospheric engine was a group effort involving multiple inventors working on similar designs.
• Edison’s light bulb built on decades of experimentation by others.
• Newcomen relied on advancements in blacksmithing to perfect his steam engine.

2. Medicine’s Risks Lead to Great Rewards

Medical breakthroughs have advanced through risky and sometimes unscientific methods. Often, they came about from trial and error, making massive impacts despite their unpredictability.

The early practice of engraftment, an antecedent to vaccination, involved rubbing smallpox-infected pus into an open cut to induce immunity. Despite its crude methodology, it saved countless lives and led to modern vaccines. Another instance is Jersey City’s introduction of drinking water chlorination in 1908 by Dr. John Leal, a practice initially met with public outrage but which significantly reduced disease.

Today, controversial innovations like vaping could provide benefits, such as helping smokers quit, even as health experts debate their long-term effects. The risky search for solutions hasn’t slowed; it continues shaping lives and medical practices.

Examples

• Engraftment in the 1700s led the way to vaccines, though the method appeared unsanitary.
• Water chlorination in Jersey City saved lives, overcoming initial public resistance.
• Vaping remains controversial but shows promise for reducing smoking harm.

3. Travel Innovation Requires Patience

Transportation breakthroughs arise through gradual refinements rather than instant successes. Each improvement builds on previous ones, making travel faster, safer, and more accessible.

Steam locomotives such as the Salamanca, Puffing Billy, and Rocket demonstrate this pattern of slow improvement. Early prototypes were clunky and inefficient, but consistent innovation led to smoother designs like Robert Stephenson’s Rocket by 1829. Similarly, the modern internal combustion engine evolved over nearly a century, starting with Isaac de Rivaz’s unstable hydrogen engine and culminating with Karl Benz’s Motorwagen in the late 19th century.

Even the automobile reached the masses only after Henry Ford utilized assembly-line production for the Model T car in 1909. Incremental engineering success shaped the vehicles we see today.

Examples

• Early locomotives like the Puffing Billy paved the way for innovations like the Rocket.
• The internal-combustion engine improved with contributions from Rivaz, Lenoir, and Benz.
• Ford’s assembly line made automobiles widely affordable and accessible.

4. Ideas Can Be Innovations Too

Not all major advancements involve machines or physical creations; some are purely conceptual inventions. These intangible innovations often spark revolutionary changes in how we think and operate.

Take the potato: a popular food today but once shunned by Europeans in the 1500s due to fears of disease. Gradually, perceptions changed, and by the 1800s, it became a dietary cornerstone. Similarly, the Arabic numeral system, introduced to Europe in the Middle Ages, revolutionized math and trade by improving calculations, replacing cumbersome Roman numerals.

These examples show how the spread and acceptance of ideas alone can solve practical problems or create new systems of thought.

Examples

• The potato was viewed suspiciously for decades before becoming a staple European crop.
• Arabic numerals streamlined mathematics, making trade and advanced calculations easier.
• Conceptual innovations often reshape how societies approach challenges.

5. Communication Advances Transform Society

Our desire to connect has driven some of humanity’s fastest innovations. From the telegraph to the internet, breakthroughs in communication have revolutionized how we share ideas.

The telegraph in 1843 allowed news to reach places in seconds rather than days. By the 1870s, international telegraph cables connected continents. Radio and television followed similar trajectories, bringing faster global access to ideas and information. In the digital age, computing and the internet have further amplified how ideas spread by reducing barriers of time and distance.

Each leap in communication technology accelerates progress across industries, showing how innovations in one area fuel others.

Examples

• The telegraph reduced communication times exponentially, connecting cities and countries.
• Broadcast radio transformed media consumption beginning in the early 20th century.
• The internet connected the world, empowering individuals and industries alike.

6. Serendipity and Collaboration Spark Progress

Some of the greatest advances occur by accident and flourish through cooperative trial and error. When chance discoveries meet collective problem-solving, breakthroughs emerge.

PTFE, the material behind non-stick pans and Gore-Tex, was discovered accidentally when researching refrigerants. Similarly, DNA fingerprinting arose from a chance observation by Alec Jeffreys during disease research. These moments of serendipity resulted in scientists and collaborators finding practical applications over time.

The environments where cross-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged—like universities and urban centers—have historically proven fertile ground for these moments.

Examples

• PTFE’s accidental discovery paved the way for Teflon and other applications.
• DNA fingerprinting solved crimes and had major societal implications.
• Collaborations in urban hubs like trading cities foster unexpected innovation.

7. Bottom-Up Innovation Often Outperforms Top-Down

Centralized oversight doesn’t always produce the best inventions. Bottom-up innovation, where individuals or private enterprises refine ideas, tends to outperform rigid government-led projects.

The R100 airship, created by a private firm, surpassed the government-initiated R101 in performance and reliability. Similarly, while the government developed early computer networks, companies like Cisco made the internet accessible to homes worldwide. Kodak’s failure to embrace digital cameras, despite developing one internally, further highlights how top-down bureaucracy stifles innovation.

Grassroots experimentation shows how flexibility and responsiveness are key to success.

Examples

• Private firms successfully designed the R100, unlike the government’s failing R101.
• The internet was propelled forward by private-sector technology firms.
• Kodak missed the digital revolution due to internal resistance to innovation.

8. Every New Idea Faces Resistance

No innovation arrives without opposition. Fears, vested interests, and ideological resistance can delay adoption, even when the benefits are clear.

Margarine faced bans from powerful dairy lobbies in the U.S. during its early years despite its practicality. Similarly, genetic modification faces persistent resistance from environmental groups despite potential benefits like golden rice. Over-extended intellectual property laws can also stifle progress, keeping important ideas locked away longer than necessary.

That resistance has often slowed—not stopped—progress, showing resilience in inventors as they push forward.

Examples

• Margarine was demonized early on and banned in many U.S. states.
• GMOs like golden rice face ideological pushback, hindering their global adoption.
• Copyright laws now act as barriers to innovation rather than incentives.

9. Today, Innovation Thrives Globally

Western innovation has slowed in areas like transportation and business dynamism, but nations like China are taking the lead in new developments.

Increased urbanization and investment in technologies like AI are propelling countries like China ahead in the race for new ideas. Companies such as Tencent and Alibaba dominate global markets, while Chinese universities make breakthroughs in fields like gene editing.

To maintain global competitiveness, other countries need to embrace risk-taking, work harder, and encourage more idea-sharing.

Examples

• Chinese companies have excelled in social media and financial services leadership.
• Gene editing and AI research in Chinese universities rival the West.
• Western countries’ innovations stagnate in areas like commercial aircraft technology.

Takeaways

1. Encourage collaboration and open discussions in workplaces or fields of study to foster creativity.
2. Be willing to experiment and take risks; even failures can lead to transformative ideas.
3. Support diverse perspectives and cross-disciplinary work to drive progress and breakthroughs.