Scalable Innovation

5

2

Understanding Inventions

A Brief Introduction to

the System Model

Let’s describe the key elements of Silverstein’s “invention” in more general

terms, using the elements’ functions rather than their implementation as a

guide [2]

*

(Figure2.1).

The main function of the light bulb is to turn a dark room into a comfort-

ably lit one. As long as the bulb produces the desired outcome—the light—

we can consider the purpose of the whole system fullled. We are going to

call such an element the Tool.

In our model (Figure2.2), the Tool is responsible for producing the main

useful output of the system as a whole. In the poem, the light bulb is an

instance ...