The innovation trap

[deponti]

Harish Bhat, who is a friend on Facebook, and posts a lot of interesting stuff, posted about

the flexible e-paper display launch Though I am impressed by the innovation in terms of material use and invention, I still feel that products like this fall into what I call the classic Innovation Trap

Comments

[prashanthchengi]

Deepa'd said 'Every great thought that occurs to me has already been thunk' or something similar. I remembered that as I saw an echo of Ayn Rand's thoughts in Deepa's thoughts. This is about copying design without giving due thought to utility. The below excerpt is from Rand's 'Fountainhead'. As far as the device in question is concerned, I don't really see how a 40 degree flexing capability is going to revolutionize anything. If it could have been folded up to put in a pocket, or rolled up into a cylinder, it might have been more useful, but in its current avatar, I guess it's just a cool looking gadget that one'll quickly get bored of. Over to Ayn Rand now

[deponti]

Hmm, while I am glad that I think thoughts that Ayn Rand thought, it's sad that, as usual, my thoughts have already been thunk..and as usual, much better expressed. This is like the "Origin of the Broad Gauge Railway Track width in India" quiz question.

[dineshmr]

In an ideal world all people would spontaneously understand that what political scientists call path dependence explains much more of how the world works than is apparent. Path dependence refers to the fact that often, something that seems normal or inevitable today began with a choice that made sense at a particular time in the past, but survived despite the eclipse of the justification for that choice, because once established, external factors discouraged going into reverse to try other alternatives

[deponti]

Very well-analysed and written post...I didn't know this explanation of the qwerty board...thank you.

My point was that new paradigms are needed, and one needs to think "out of the box"...but the box persists in our minds!

I'm not a rocket scientist..

[beast_666]

Re: Keyboards.. There still ARE a lot of other Keyboards still in use (though it's more a niche consumer group) - the AZERTY, the DVORAK, the stenographer keypad with just shorthand symbols, etc

Re: I'm not a rocket scientist..

[deponti]

I was told by a NASA staffer (yes, a rocket scientist) that only-in-space craft do not need the streamlined shapes, that's why the Lunar Module of Apollo, for example, or the Voyager craft, looked all bits-and-pieces.

I agree with the rest of what you say...but sometimes a leap into the unknown is needed, and the magic is that occasionally, we have it!

Would you rather spend a billion dollars on the iPhone or a solar panel with more efficiency?

[killjoy_20]

eople aren't willing to spend money on research. In fact research funding is probably at it's lowest right now across the world. People throw money at only something that they see a marketable future for. True innovation therefore is stifled. Innovation that brings in money is encouraged. That's the line every major corporation is toeing these days

[deponti]

Such a well-written response...and it was recorded as a "suspicious comment"...I can't stop laughing!

I'm not talking about any innovation being a waste of time...I agree with you that "peripheral innovation" is often useful. I'm just saying that for something new, a designer has to think laterally, and sometimes, hampered by existing forms and shapes, that leap forward doesn't happen....for a while.

[locks]

Enjoyed reading this one! Will come back and read the comments; seems like they're equally detailed and well thought out.