Invention, Innovation and Enterprise (part 1)

Back in my days at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, I came across two books that really gave me insights on the difference between Invention and Innovation and how they relate to entrepreneurship. The one, titled Innovation, by William Kingston, made a categorization of different creative types that drives society, and the other titled The Challenge of Innovation, by John Adair, tells of how ideas are converted into products and into profit through the combined efforts of certain characters. These books, in my opinion, are good reads and I strongly recommend them for anybody interested in knowing the nitty-gritty of Innovation. 

Kingston observed that amongst humans there are seven typologies of people that will affect the world by their creativity. 

First we have the Dreamer, the one whose ideas are too farfetched to be achieved in his time. Such a person thinks and speaks of things that are rather subliminal, too high for the everyday man to grapple with. Their ideas remain, at least during their lifetime, a perpetual abstraction.  

They are the Thinkers and Philosophers of this world. They introduce ideas and concepts that are rather alien to their culture and society. Although they are highly respected and admired, they never get to see their ideas come to fruition. They rarely earn any material benefits from their intellectual pursuits. 

I wish to add that this group of men may end up in penury. It is only in the future will society ever see and enjoy the value of their work. 

Next we have the Artist. He too is a thinker like the Dreamer. However, in his case, he is able to reduce his high thoughts into relatable terms. His outputs--paintings, figurines, poems, music, drama etc. -- are all attempts at telling the world of the wild ideas running through his mind. Although he is able to connect with the common mind, he is ahead of his society in that his outputs are still wishes. He expects society to adjust itself to his worldview. His worldview stands at the level of the ideal rather than real. He seeks a kind of detachment from the everyday life and led the life people only hear of in fairy tales. 

The next group is the Inventors. This group of men imagines what society may be lacking and work very hard to create it. Although society at that material time may never have heard or seen what the Inventor desires, his outputs are very vital because they are practical and real. They promise to help society solve problems that before now were thought insoluble.  

They make landmark achievements and breakthroughs with their inventions. And because they create new things that are very useful for societal progress, they are highly respected and admired and they are most likely to reap a bountiful harvest from their work if society eventually put their creation into use. 

Although they are very practical in their approach, they are also futuristic in that they are very concerned of how their work will be relevant in the coming times, the days ahead.  

Then we have the Innovators. These are creative men who think of new ways to solve societal problems by using what already exist therein. They look for ways of putting to use the creation of others. While the Inventor creates new things, the Innovator looks for new ways of putting them into use. The innovator seeks to relate the seemingly unrelated and connect the seemingly unconnected.  

He seeks to unlock the latent functions of other men's works and abilities. He is both practical, real, present minded and a little futuristic. He is highly respected, admired and have around him other men mentioned above. He knows that these men are relevant to his course and thus peeps through their brains in search for connections, for ideas. 

Because of his rare gift of establishing connections amongst people and things, he occupies the position of a linchpin. Others run to him in search for ways and means. Certainly, he'll be rich and successful. 

Next, enters the Entrepreneur. These are the risk takers of this world, the venturers. These men are willing to tour the length and breadth of the universe in search for markets. They take from areas of surplus to satisfy areas of need and make a profit for their effort.  

They are not really interested in creating anything new, neither are they concerned about the future of society. They are rather worried about solving the present need of society by providing what is lacking through balancing the surplus-deficit equilibrium. They rely on others to do the creation of things while they simply look for the market where it is needed.  

The strongest point of this group is that they are willing to do what others are inept at doing--wagering on hope and bearing the attendant risk therefrom. They are the ones who reap the most benefit from the creation of other men because of their willingness to venture. In the same vein, they are the ones who record the greatest loss per chance of failure. They are not only respected and admired, they are adored. 

The next group of men is Traders. These men are concerned about their daily needs. They worry about making a living just enough to cater for themselves and their immediate constituency, the family. They are neither bothered about the future of society nor the contributions their activities will bring about thereto. They only ponder over such mundane things as food, shelter, clothing and the likes.  

I personally regard these men as lesser entrepreneurs because they have a low appetite for risk bearing. If they ever attempt venturing, they do so only within their immediate environment and they rather deal on the wares created and brought to them by others--Inventors and Entrepreneurs. And because of their low appetite for risk taking, they only reap marginal benefits from their efforts. Although they are also important in society, they command but very little respect, they are the Average Joes of this world. 

Lastly, we have the Mandarins. Kinston derived the name for this group from the old Chinese scholar gentry, the bureaucrats of that ancient kingdom. The Mandarins it was who prevented China from conquering the world. They were so stuck to the status quo that they saw no need of advising the emperors on ways of exploring the planet. But for the Mandarins, China would have been the occident and Europe the oriented. However, because of their laxity, for preferring history to futurism, sycophancy over genuine counsel, they kept that great civilization stagnant until Europe came and swept her off her feet. 

In relation to our discussion, the Mandarin is an excessively fearful one, an overly conservative human being. He loathes any iota of change because he is not sure where it will leave him. Hence, he employs every fiber of his being to prevent it, every aspect of his faculty to thwart it. He'd rather die than see things different from the way he had been familiar with. This men drive society but only in the reverse. They may be materially well-off, but certainly not from their own toil, but from the handouts and bribes from their superiors and the oppressed public, and they are hated and feared by both. 

A society that have more of these men than others discussed above will certainly remain rigid, inept and of course backward.  

Kingston concluded by positing that it is possible for one man to possess more than one of the personalities discussed above. For example one man can be a dreamer and an artist, another inventor and innovator and so on. However, the highpoint of his analysis is that, of all these creative types, the most vital for society, the movers and shakers of human progress are the Inventors, Innovators and Entrepreneurs. They are the ones who ensure that positive change is possible and visible throughout the world.