xlii Prologue: Unlearning What’s Untrue
person happens to be relative to the creative–routine divide. Paradoxically,
being an inventor for an industry or technology domain that lacks oppor-
tunities for the creative crowd may not be a good idea. To be a successful
inventor, one needs to have a critical mass of innovators around him or her.
Summary
Invention is the process of coming up with a new, useful, and nonobvious
concept, either an idea or a prototype. Innovation is the process of making
the concept work for a multitude of people in a wide variety of contexts.
Invention is a personal or small-group process or event. Innovation is a net-
work of social processes and events.
The challenges and problems one encounters during invention are di ...