Innovation and Financial Markets

3Innovation and Its Challenges for the Company

3.1. Introduction

Innovation is a malleable concept: it is often distorted according to need. Let us not confuse creativity, inventiveness and innovation:

• – creativity is a set of techniques for generating ideas which can be acquired;
• – inventiveness is the ability to produce inventions, often an individual talent;
• – innovation is not just the preserve of start-ups, but an invention that is sold or exploited profitably and may not necessarily be technical;
• – innovation seems to have variable content: content varies according to the need for action. It has long been the focus of attention for economists and other leading entities. To understand and, ultimately, to master it, many have tried to determine the content. For example:
  • - Schumpeter: innovation can concern the process, the organization, the product, new sources of raw materials and new markets. He stressed that innovation must be distinguished from invention. The reason Schumpeter emphasized this difference is because he considered innovation to be a specific social activity, or “function”, carried out in the economic sphere and with a commercial purpose, whereas, in principle, inventions can be made anywhere and without any intention of commercialization. Thus, for Schumpeter, innovations are new combinations of knowledge, resources, etc., which are subject to attempts at commercialization – essentially the process by which new ideas are generated and put into commercial ...