Research Area
What is innovation, and what are the key issues?
What is innovation?
The term,'Innovation', is no longer an unfamiliar word. We often hear of it from terms such as, technology innovation, product innovation, or management innovation. There is even a car that is nicknamed after it.
Then, what is the innovation? While innovations imply change, it needs to be distinguished from invention. Innovation is a general term which includes not only product and technology but also abstract concepts like process and organization.
Types of Innovation
Basically, the types of innovation can be largely categorized as radical innovation like the one from typewriter to word processor and incremental innovation like the one from incandescent lamp to fluorescent lamp. Also, it can be categorized with the subject of change as innovations of product, service or process. Although it can also be categorized with the degree of novelty to the market or technology, we will not go into detail on this matter because it is similar to the contents in the section above.
The Importance of Innovation
The previous section talked about the definition and the types of innovation. Then why is innovation important, especially for technology innovation? Let's go back to the 1930's. We refer to Schumpeter's theory which insists that the driving force of economic growth is triggered by technology innovation rather than labor and capital which had been considered important in past economic theories. His theory has blossomed in present days and is applied in almost every industry although there are some differences in frequency or degree. For instance, corporations with high technology capabilities focus on technology innovation through in-house R&D as their long-term survival tactic. For this reason, technology has become more important especially in fields such as management, economics, and administration.
Important Issues of Technology Innovation
Even though the scope of technology innovation is very broad, it can defined as a study which strives to figure out various types of technology innovation that function as the driving force of economic growth. For this purpose, its studies range largely from the theory of innovation to innovation pattern of firms, technology management, strategy for technology development, sectoral innovation systems for the industry which a firm belongs to, and the regional innovation systems like Silicon Valley of the US or Dae-duk Valley, national innovation systems, or technology policy.
