5.4. Lesson 36: Innovate Without Inventing
Edison amazed the world with his inventions, but even the most radically civilization-altering of them were typically innovations based on existing technologies or on analogies with existing technologies. Late in his creative life, beginning in 1927, Edison embarked on a project of innovation aimed at exploiting not an existing technology—but nature itself.
With the automobile industry rapidly expanding, the demand for rubber grew greater every year. Various experimenters were on the trail of methods of manufacturing synthetic rubber. Like these others, Edison saw tremendous potential in the rubber market, but instead of leaping into a quest for an artificial alternative to natural rubber, he turned ...
Get Edison on Innovation: 102 Lessons in Creativity for Business and Beyond now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
