How To Become A Successful Inventor In Nigeria — The Crux Of Inventing, Getting A "Buildable" Idea 2

Image of open human head with various objects belongs to IPOwatchdog.com

By Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okafor

Welcome to the fourth installment in this serialized blog post.

The big question we began treating in the third installment is: HOW DO YOU SOURCE GOOD IDEAS?

How did some people who have gone ahead do it? Or even you perhaps, how did you do it the first time?

Various people have received great ideas through all sorts of sources and agencies — by accident, from technological exhibitions/demonstrations, from joint research (through working collaborations), through imitation (Reverse engineering may be considered here), by intuition, by studying local environment and observing missing links, by thinking and pursuing hunches, from reading books and other publications, through meditation and others. While some would not disclose how they got their own ideas.

A prospective inventor in Nigeria might not readily have access to the following three ideas’ sources but they are no less valid as veritable source of "buildable" ideas. They are namely: a) Reverse Engineering, b) University-Industry Collaborations, and c) National Science Festival/International Technological Exhibitions/Demonstrations

Reverse Engineering

From a review of literature, Reverse engineering is simply "trying to figure out how something works."

It is the process of discovering the technological principles of a human (or non-human) made device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation.

It often involves taking something (e.g., a mechanical device, electronic component, biological, chemical or organic matter or software programme) apart and analyzing its workings in detail to be used in maintenance, or to try to make a new device or program that does the same thing without using or simply duplicating (without understanding) the original.

Reverse engineering is said to be fundamentally directed to discovery and learning, as engineers learn the state of the art by reverse engineering others’ products, and has been described as the important supporting technology which digests and absorbs advanced technology and shortens the cycle of product design development. It leads to creation of new goods/products, new processes and new knowledge, which are major sources of technical change.

The process is mainly undertaken with the end aim of learning how to build a technology or make improvements to it and It is one of the endorsed and legally acceptable means of extracting know-how or knowledge for creation of innovation from a human-made artefact or product, even if the intention is to make a product that will draw customers away from the original product.

In its purest form, an innovator following this path buys, begs, borrows, or steals a product or a system, takes it apart to understand how it works, and duplicates it, usually making it better or upgrading it. By doing this the innovator avoids the design and engineering phase of independent, new or original innovation by using a design originated by somebody else.

When a new product is created as a result of reverse engineering, same is regarded as innovation as well and can be protected by patent under intellectual property in order to generate profit which can be reinvested to create more innovation or channeled into other sectors of the economy to generally boost same.

It has therefore been seen as a source of vast development of technology all over the world, and an economically proven as well as legally acceptable way of boosting economic growth. Here, we recall, that it is well known that one of the influential factors that could lead to economic growth is the improvement of technology. This could increase productivity with the same levels of labor, thus accelerating growth and development.

In under developed countries therefore, reverse engineering is viewed as a short-cut method for access to technology, its development and completion. By use of this method, underdeveloped countries can decrease the technologic gap between themselves and industrial countries. This is because it has been shown to be one of the fastest ways to discover what is in a component, in order to improve on it and use the knowledge gained there-from for further advancement of technology. It thrives where there is a good working system that boosts Research and Development (R&D) and its existence helps nations to develop new technologies, create opportunities and improve their technological positions on the global scene.

Black and white sketch portrait of the famous inventor, physicist and engineer Nikola Tesla Image source: wespenre.com

University-Industry Collaborations

Individuals and countries can take advantage of the opportunities which University-Industry collaborations present. Though the university system in Nigeria, for a variety of reasons, is lagging here, yet prospective inventors who get into higher education and graduate studies when they travel overseas could chance upon this University-Industry linkage.

A review of literature indicates we are now living in a time of global business activity and knowledge economy. Capital, which was once the major constraint to growth, is now mobile on a global scale. Natural resources can be shipped to anywhere they can be used in the most efficient way. What really matters is the knowledge that enables a company to differentiate and generate competitive advantage. The advent of digital technology and biotechnology in the ’90s has amply demonstrated the way in which the nature of competition today differs from the earlier paradigm.

A high number of new information technologies originated from academic circles and venture businesses rather than from the laboratories of large firms. An increased call for the value of money and reduced time to the market added to the pressures on firms to use the output of R&D that takes place outside laboratories of companies. All of these forces came together to create growing incentives for firms to work with universities for research and development.

From the perspective of the universities, there is a growing interest to join forces with the private sector. Universities are being called upon to make tangible contributions to society. In many economies, governments are coming under the strain of allocating limited resources over divergent requirements such as providing for the aging population, combating environmental degradation, and maintaining education and social welfare. The university is no longer a sacrosanct investment, free from the critical evaluation of cost effectiveness. To work with industry is now a very attractive option for universities, as the laboratories of the private sector are often better funded and better equipped with research instruments. The level and quality of their research is as high as those of universities. In addition, students tend to wish to attend universities that have close working relations, since such universities offer chances of finding good jobs after graduation.

The experience of the United States has been examined carefully across the world. The US industry lost its leadership position largely to Japan during the ’80s, but revived since the middle of the ’90s. During the ’80s, the US introduced many measures to facilitate the commercial use of scientific knowledge that was in the hands of the universities. The Bayh-Dole act of 1980 was the best-known legislation for that purpose. The Act permitted the universities to retain their new knowledge that resulted from publicly funded research activities and where possible to commercialize such knowledge through licensing to industry or to start-up companies.

National Science Festivals/International Technological Exhibitions

Science and technology history is replete with science festivals, technological exhibitions and demonstrations.

I will not treat these exhaustively. Rather what I would prefer is to whet your curiosity and give you fodder to explore; knowledge is key.

According to the Encyclopaedia 2016, a science festival is a festival that showcases science and technology with the same freshness and flair that would be expected from an arts or music festival. Events can be varied, including lectures, exhibitions, workshops, live demonstrations of experiments, guided tours, and panel discussions. There may also be events linking science to the arts or history, such as plays, dramatized readings, and musical productions. The core content is that of science and technology, but the style comes from the world of the arts.

The modern concept of a science festival comes from the city of Edinburgh where in April 1989 the first Edinburgh International Science Festival took place. Edinburgh's success led to the development of science festivals in many other parts of the world. The British Science Association restructured its annual meeting, originally established in 1831 as a discussion forum for scientists, to turn it into the British Science Festival of today. The town of Cheltenham—famous for its jazz, music, and literature festivals—added science to its portfolio with the creation of the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2002.

The concept spread to Sweden in 1997 with The International Science Festival in Gothenburg which is an annual festival in central Gothenburg, Sweden with thought provoking science activities for the public.

The spread of science festivals within the United States is relatively recent. One of the earliest examples is Wonderfest, an annual Bay Area science festival that began in 1998. Additionally, the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science includes a number of public events. Focusing on one particular science, the physics festival "Mastering the Mysteries of the Universe", was held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999 in association with the centennial of the American Physical Society.

TO BE CONCLUDED

How To Become A Successful Inventor In Nigeria — The Crux Of Inventing, Getting A "Buildable" Idea

Image of open human head with various objects belongs to IPOwatchdog.com

By Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okafor

Welcome to the third installment of this post.

I had great excitement over the second part of this post which showed how the world economy had at various times benefitted from world-changing inventions. The point is unmistakable: INVENTIONS HAVE PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN GROWTH OF GLOBAL ECONOMIES AND NATIONAL WEALTH.

What significance does this hold for Nigeria?

A lot.

Perhaps we should expatiate this significance.

I want to treat in this following post how you get an idea for a feasible and "buildable" idea for your invention. This is the most important part of this post so far.

The big question is: HOW DO YOU SOURCE GOOD IDEAS?

NAIJAGRAPHITTI BLOG has an excellent post although it was referring in the broader context to Africa (as you read think of Nigeria in your mind), I would share (please permit me) in its entirety here:

Source: "How Big Ideas Are Built" by Rowan Gibson

Creativity & Innovation — "Standing On The Shoulders of Giants"

By Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okafor

Ideas are ineluctable inputs and outputs of both the creative and innovative processes. Ideas in essence are the business of the blog on creativity and innovation; it would be a recurring theme and topic as long as NAIJAGRAPHITTI BLOG exists.

Starting March 10 to April 15, 2015, we posted three separate articles on how they emerge, preparing the ground for teaching blog readers and enthusiasts how to harvest their ideas. 

This post is the third of three posts which we wish to use to establish the collaborative nature of ideas birthing.

In the article, Where Original Ideas Come From, Greg Satell (CLICK HERE) made the point on the nature of and results of communal effort in the emergence of scientific revolution. With clear examples he defines the collaborative nature of ideas which have transformed human history across millennia.

Rowan Gibson established in How Big Ideas Are Built (CLICK HERE) that Einstein stood on the on the shoulder of more giants to revolutionize physics among other facts.  In this post, Steven Johnson in this 2010 TED talk Where Good Ideas Come From takes us through history to show even more examples of collaborative idea birthing and growing. People often credit their ideas to individual "Eureka!" moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story. His fascinating tour takes us from the "liquid networks" of London's coffee houses to Charles Darwin's long, slow hunch to today's high-velocity web. 

In this post, I wish to build on the theme of collaborative pursuits for ideas birthing and highlight the gaps in the African ideas marketplace going back as far back as 5,000 years ago.

Winning Ideas – Outcomes of Collaborations

In his article, Where Original Ideas Come From, Greg Satell named Sir Isaac Newton and made reference to how Sir Newton, the greatest scientist of his age and not one known for his false modesty, acknowledged, "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Newton wrote this line in his famous letter to his friend, Robert Hooke, himself an English natural philosopher, architect and polymath, in February 1676.

Several scholarly and mainstream studies and other works exist which were undertaken to establish the collaborative emergence of ideas.

Singh and Fleming (2010) in the work Lone inventors as sources of breakthroughs: Myth or reality? published in Management Sciences journal stated "The “lone inventor” is a myth: even geniuses benefit from exposure to ideas of others."

While a number of other scholars and practitioners in creative design practice including Dow, Fortuna and Schwartz agreed that "Seeing ideas different from their own broadens people’s perspectives, sheds light on obscure connections, and inspires people to come up with ideas they might not have thought of alone."

Scholars Pao Siangliulue, Kenneth C. Arnold, and Krzysztof Z. Gajos all of Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and Steven P. Dow of Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, Pasadena, USA reiterate the same point in their work Toward Collaborative Ideation at Scale—Leveraging Ideas from Others to Generate More Creative and Diverse Ideas.

Now let me elaborate on Sir Newton’s works. Science historians explain that Sir Isaac Newton’s work had built on a long chain of theory and works including those of Nicolas Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, Johannes Kepler, and Galileo Galilei.

Specifically, they believe that Newton's work represents the finale in a long chain of theory and discovery that evolved throughout the Scientific Revolution. The beginnings of progress had come in the sixteenth century. Nicolas Copernicus suggested that perhaps the ancient concept of the Earth's position in the universe was flawed. Giordano Bruno went one step further to claim that the universe itself was far different than the ancients and the Church perceived, and that it stretched out infinitely. Next, Johannes Kepler reduced the motions of the planets to intelligible mathematical rules. Galileo developed the system of earthly mechanics that he hinted might be applied to the heavens. Newton's work was the culmination of this chain of science, inspired by the ideas of these men and the methods and tools developed by them and others of his predecessors. Sir Newton’s seminal work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy") linked the last two remaining pieces of the puzzle—Galileo's physics and Kepler's astronomy—and emerged with the 'grand design' so many before him had sought. The design seemed not to have been established by any planning or simple geography, but rather by the interaction of the forces of nature, principally gravitation, on an enormous scale (SparkNotes, 2014). In the long run, Sir Newton set off FOUR scientific revolutions. 

In turn, Rowan Gibson in How Big Ideas Are Built wrote how Albert Einstein studied the work of his predecessors and peers—from Isaac Newton to James Clerk Maxwell, David Hume, Ernst Mach, Hendrik Lorentz, Henri Poincaré, and Max Planck—either building on or refuting their ideas.

Culture Enables, Deters Or Euthanizes Ideas Emergence

What is less explicit from Satell’s and Gibson’s write-ups is the influence of culture in enabling or disabling ideas birthing.

Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From gives us a good expose to how culture fosters ideas birthing or leads to idea refining. He shares how the London’s coffee houses played significant role in the age of The Enlightenment.

From experience, this blog and its publishers have established that this has not been the case for efforts in the African ideas marketplace even from prehistoric times. It should bother every African.

Africa lost out on key advantages where great ideas are concerned. There are ample proofs ancient Africa empires’ lost their learnings, knowledge stores, sciences and wasted competitive advantage. How?

Did you know that this brilliant man Euclid who theorized Euclid’s geometry though Greek actually spent a lot of time in Africa at the Royal Library in Alexandria, Egypt, one of the most ancient places of learning in the world at the time?

Euclid was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He wrote the most enduring mathematical work of all time, the Stoicheia or Elements, a thirteen volume work. This comprehensive compilation of geometrical knowledge, based on the works of Thales, Pythagoras, Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Menaechmus and others, was in common usage for over 2,000 years.

At the time of its introduction, Elements was the most comprehensive and logically rigorous examination of the basic principles of geometry. It survived the eclipse of classical learning, which occurred with the fall of the Roman Empire, through Arabic translations. Elements was reintroduced to Europe in 1120 c.e. when Adelard of Bath translated an Arabic version into Latin. Over time, it became a standard textbook in many societies, including the United States, and remained widely used until the mid-nineteenth century. Much of the information in it still forms a part of many high school geometry curricula (Encyclopaedia.com, 2014).

Euclid was active in Alexandria during the Ptolemaic Dynasty in reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC). Again from history we learn that Ptolemy I Soter I was the person credited with creating the Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt. Ptolemy I Soter I was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt (323–283 BC) and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty. In 305/4 BC he demanded the title of pharaoh. The Royal Library was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. It was dedicated to the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts. It functioned as a major centre of scholarship from its construction in the 3rd century BC until the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC. With collections of works, lecture halls, meeting rooms, and gardens, the library was part of a larger research institution called the Museum of Alexandria, where many of the most famous thinkers of the ancient world studied. The Library at Alexandria was in charge of collecting the entire world's knowledge, and most of the staff was occupied with the task of translating works onto papyrus paper. It did so through an aggressive and well-funded royal mandate involving trips to the book fairs of Rhodes and Athens (Wikipedia, 2014).

Euclid’s contemporaries include Archimedes (287 BC - 212 BC), Ptolemy I (born 367/366, Macedonia – died 283/282 BC), Egypt, Conon of Samos (280 BC - ca. 220 BC), and Apollonius of Perga (born c. 240 BC, Perga, Anatolia – died c. 190 BC).

Archaeologists have not found evidence that Euclid’s works enjoyed wide spread familiarity in ancient Egyptian society which was more interested in promoting aesthetics, mysticism and magical knowledge, and revelling in promoting the grandeur of these knowledge.

Euclid’s work was also not renowned in the neighbouring kingdom, Aksum.

Archaeologists have determined that the Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum), also known as the Aksumite Empire, was a trading nation in the area of Eritrea and northern Ethiopia, which existed from approximately 100–940 AD. Historically, the ruins of the ancient city of Aksum are found close to Ethiopia's northern border. They mark the location of the heart of ancient Ethiopia, when the Kingdom of Aksum was the most powerful state between the Eastern Roman Empire and Persia. The massive ruins, dating from between the 1st and the 13th century A.D., include monolithic obelisks, giant stelae, royal tombs and the ruins of ancient castles. Long after its political decline in the 10th century, Ethiopian emperors continued to be crowned in Aksum.

The Kingdom of Aksum was ideally located to take advantage of the new trading situation. Adulis soon became the main port for the export of African goods, such as ivory, incense, gold, slaves, and exotic animals. In order to supply such goods the kings of Aksum worked to develop and expand an inland trading network. A rival, and much older trading network that tapped the same interior region of Africa was that of the Kingdom of Kush, which had long supplied Egypt with African goods via the Nile corridor. By the 1st century AD, however, Aksum had gained control over territory previously Kushite. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea explicitly describes how ivory collected in Kushite territory was being exported through the port of Adulis instead of being taken to Meroë, the capital of Kush. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries the Kingdom of Aksum continued to expand their control of the southern Red Sea basin. A caravan route to Egypt was established which bypassed the Nile corridor entirely. Aksum succeeded in becoming the principal supplier of African goods to the Roman Empire, not least as a result of the transformed Indian Ocean trading system (Wikipedia, 2014).

In spite of the greatness of these civilizations there are no records of educational and scholastic knowledge interactions, no exchange of learning between ancient Egypt, Kush and Aksum!  

Now what bothered me was why with all this rich resource of manpower, learning and viable platform of learning in ancient Egypt, Kush and Aksum, why did no African built on what Euclid did while in Egypt?

Gaps in the African Ideas Marketplace

The answer that came to me was an admixture of several concepts: culture; curiosity; purpose and access to the works of other great minds.

If you wish to stand on the shoulders of giants, you need to be curious, purposeful, collaborative and systematic; the prevailing culture must also engender clement environment and motivation.

There were other compelling reasons. A study of the historicity and social geography of Egypt reveal that the Royal Library of Alexandria and the whole notion of scholastic excellence was first and foremost a prestige factor to the grandeur and wealth of Egypt than anything else. Ancient Egypt’s elite and leadership were more enamoured of esoteric arts and mystical writings in that era.

Then there was the emergence of writing which did not spread uniformly for all the kingdoms, to enable their knowledge workers capture their learnings and knowledges. Some wrote things down and others still depended on oral history and folklores with confining limitations.

There were other reasons like atomistic ethnic cleavages, cultural alienation and linguistic barriers.

For me, curiosity is key; interestingly I recall the words of a controversial American advertising magnate Carl Ally of Ally & Gargano (formerly Carl Ally Inc) who had thoughts of why curiosity is vital in birthing ideas when he said "The creative person wants to be a know-it-all. He wants to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth-century mathematics, current manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and hog futures. Because he never knows when these ideas might come together to form a new idea." 

Still on curiosity, it was possible that others around Euclid in Africa were not interested in what he was doing, perhaps because they did not place much store by it. Or his African contemporaries did not have the same purpose as to add to the store of human knowledge.

Or, lastly, Euclid’s brilliant scholarship was not readily accessible to his contemporaries and scholars within his immediate environment, by geographical limitations or by language barriers.

Access is a big challenge for a number of reasons some of which are closely tied to language (Okafor, 2015).

Language as Barrier for Ideas Cross-pollination

Even from prehistoric times, Africa never has a language of tinkering, social thought and scholarship like Latin and later English. Arabic would come the closest in the last 5,000 years (Okafor, 2015).

Translation of foreign languages has proven to be a particular hurdle to scholarship (Okafor, 2015).

Sir Newton’s book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica was published in Latin, the language of scholarship in his day. Later when English would overtake Latin in importance, there were grants made available by wealthy patrons and governments to undertake massive translation projects which would make these books and their contents widely accessible.

Africa has endured many stitch-ups in this instance. African ideas exchange has been hobbled by strictures of mother tongue and foreign languages, with no structures and funding specifically for rapid translations (Okafor, 2015).

For instance, the Timbuktu manuscripts (large number of historically important manuscripts that have been preserved for centuries in private households in Timbuktu, Mali; the collections include manuscripts about art, medicine, philosophy, and science of the late Abbasid Caliphate, as well as priceless copies of the Quran; the number of manuscripts in the collections has been estimated as high as 700,000) written mostly in Hula and Arabic have yet been completely transcribed for African (and other) scholars!

Africa Rising?

We have new vistas to reverse the generations of wasted opportunities, if we should refuse to believe our own myth.

Try as much as you can, Africa cannot leapfrog critical thinking and problem solving. These are empirical.

Shimon Peres the former Israeli President gave an insight into Israel making oasis out of a desert, when he said "In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology."

Now can you dust up your tucked away ideas and let’s head to the NAIJAGRAPHITTI BLOG "coffee house" or any other place we can keep these ideas conversation going?

NB: All reference to "Okafor, 2015" is part of ongoing research which findings would also be published here.

TO BE CONTINUED

How To Become A Successful Inventor In Nigeria — Profitability Of Inventions And Innovations

Image of open human head with various objects belongs to IPOwatchdog.com

By Kenneth Nwachinemelu David-Okafor

Welcome to the second installment of this post.

I know you are anxious to get to the end — so am I. Nonetheless first things should come first.

In truth, if you indeed have a “gripping” concept or idea, all your mind and attention would be concentrated on how to get it from your imagination and into your hands as soon as possible. Now that is completely understandable.

However as I signed off in the first blog: LET US NOT RUSH INTO ANYTHING. 

In this blog post I wish to expand on the potential and profitability of Inventing and inventions.

I completely understand if anybody is more anxious to satisfy themselves with the fact of having something of note attributed to their persons as achievement. There is absolutely nothing wrong with accomplishing bragging rights. But there is also profit and returns on investments to be considered, at individual and national levels.

Here I am even keener of the ramifications at the national level. Indeed, increasing her inventiveness and national inventive capacities is one of the ways by which Nigeria can turnaround the country’s economic and national development.

In a blog post, titled "Inventors, Inventions, Creativity, National Inventiveness and Nigerian Society" published in the NAIJAGRAPHITTI blog on February 24th, 2016, I noted that,

From the history of science and technology as well as other varieties of historical accounts from multiples sources, some of the most inventive and creative countries in the world have been driven by namely and not necessarily in any particular order: 1) personal ambition/vision; 2) environmental challenges; 3) territorial expansion/domination; 4) bid for high national competitiveness/competitive advantage; 5) intellectual property rights/advanced patent administration; 6) educational support; 7) policy support and 8) intentional government. …The importance of inventions include that inventions creates new industries, spurs innovation, fuels patents culture, creates employment and improves quality of life. Inventions can catapult the wealth of a nation.

Recall from the first installment of the series, I wrote,

There are numerous lists of the most important inventions and innovations which have most affected mankind compiled by several writers for several periods of human history. Whatever inventions make up the composition of any list is not as material as the fact that man has invested his creativity and innate ability to create devices that improve and facilitate his livelihood to great advantage.

In truth several of these inventions and innovations also involved increment of wealth.

How can inventions and innovations can catapult the wealth of a nation?

For this purpose I will step BEYOND Nigeria. And this is the thing: I WANT YOU TO CONSIDER THE WHOLE WORLD AS YOUR POTENTIAL AREA OF GATHERING MOTIVATION, IDEAS, INPUTS AND ANCILLARY RESOURCES FOR THIS VENTURE ON INVENTIVE THINKING, INVENTING AND INVENTIONS.

This is a healthy attitude to develop from the beginning; geography should be ruled out as a constraint in a globalized world!!!

I will refer to a time which economic historians and economists have agreed was crucial for global wealth increment of the past ¾ the Industrial Revolution. There is consensus that the major impact of the Industrial Revolution was that the standard of living for the general population began to increase consistently for the first time in history, although others have said that it did not begin to meaningfully improve until the late 19th and 20th centuries.

In the work "Inventions of the Industrial Revolution", edited by Noreen Gunnell, the author wrote,

One of the most important and productive periods of history was the Industrial Revolution. Many of the inventions made during this time make our everyday life possible. Below is a list of some of the most important. The Industrial Revolution was the period of time during the 18th and 19th centuries when the face of industry changed dramatically. These changes had a tremendous and long lasting impact on the economies of the world and the lives of the average person. There were hundreds of inventions during this time period. Below are a few of the most important: 1) Spinning Jenny - James Hargreaves developed the spinning jenny in 1764. This machine allowed workers to spin more wool at one time greatly increasing productivity. This invention was necessary for the industrialization of the textile industry; 2) Steam Engine - James Watt created the first truly reliable steam engine in 1775. Other, less efficient models had been developed in the 1600s. Watt’s version included a crankshaft and gears and is the foundation for modern steam engines. This invention made locomotives and many of the textile machines possible; 3) Power Loom - Edmund Cartwright invented the power loom in 1785. It dramatically changed the way cloth was woven by making it much easier. It would take almost another fifty years and several alterations by other inventors before it would become commonly used; 4) Cotton Gin - Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin (short for cotton engine) in 1794. Prior to the invention of the cotton gin, cotton seeds had to be removed from the cotton fiber by hand. This invention made cotton a much more profitable crop for farmers. With this invention, many more farmers turned to cotton as their main crop, greatly increasing the amount of cotton plantations in the South. These expanding farms needed cheap labor, which also resulted in an increased use of African slaves; 5) Telegraph - Samuel F. B. Morse created the telegraph in 1836. This invention changed the face of communication. Instant communication became possible between the east and west coasts and allowed people to know what was happening almost as it happened. This would revolutionize media and personal communication; 6) Sewing Machine - Elias Howe created the sewing machine in 1844. This forever changed the way clothes were made and allowed the mass production of clothing. Before this it was most common for women to make all of the clothes for their families. Only the very wealthy could afford to have a tailor or seamstress make custom clothing of the latest fashion. It was later improved upon and patented by Isaac Singer in 1855; 7) Internal Combustion Engine - Jean Lenoir invented the internal combustion engine in 1858. Eventually this engine was used in mass transportation; 8) Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone in 1876. The telephone further improved communications and eventually led to the various communications devices used today; Phonograph - Thomas Edison created the phonograph in 1877. Prior to the creation of the phonograph the only option for entertainment was for live musicians or actors to perform. This allowed people to listen to music anywhere; 9) Airplane - Brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright created the first airplane in 1903. The ability to fly had long been a dream of the human race. Within a few decades planes had changed the face of personal and business travel and had dramatically altered warfare."

Image source: www.clker.com; Quote source: Researched from Edison Archives

Then from a review of history of the Industrial Revolution itself, the Encyclopaedia 2016 records,

The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in the period from about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines, new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, improved efficiency of water power, the increasing use of steam power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system. Textiles were the dominant industry of the Industrial Revolution in terms of employment, value of output and capital invested; the textile industry was also the first to use modern production methods.1:40

The Industrial Revolution marks a major turning point in history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. In particular, average income and population began to exhibit unprecedented sustained growth. . . .At approximately the same time the Industrial Revolution was occurring, Britain was undergoing an agricultural revolution, which also helped to improve living standards.

The Industrial Revolution began in the United Kingdom and most of the important technological innovations were British. Mechanized textile production spread to continental Europe in the early 19th century, with important centers in France. A major iron making center developed in Belgium. Since then industrialization has spread throughout the world. The precise start and end of the Industrial Revolution is still debated among historians, as is the pace of economic and social changes. GDP per capita was broadly stable before the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of the modern capitalist economy, while the Industrial Revolution began an era of per-capita economic growth in capitalist economies. Economic historians are in agreement that the onset of the Industrial Revolution is the most important event in the history of humanity since the domestication of animals and plants.

The First Industrial Revolution evolved into the Second Industrial Revolution in the transition years between 1840 and 1870, when technological and economic progress continued with the increasing adoption of steam transport (steam-powered railways, boats and ships), the large-scale manufacture of machine tools and the increasing use of machinery in steam-powered factories.

James Watt FRS FRSE (30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist whose Watt steam engine, an improvement of the Newcomen steam engine, was fundamental to the changes brought by the Industrial Revolution in both his native Great Britain and the rest of the world.

While working as an instrument maker at the University of Glasgow, Watt became interested in the technology of steam engines. He realized that contemporary engine designs wasted a great deal of energy by repeatedly cooling and reheating the cylinder. Watt introduced a design enhancement, the separate condenser, which avoided this waste of energy and radically improved the power, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of steam engines. Eventually he adapted his engine to produce rotary motion, greatly broadening its use beyond pumping water.

In 1781 James Watt patented a steam engine that produced continuous rotary motion. Watt's ten-horsepower engines enabled a wide range of manufacturing machinery to be powered. The engines could be sited anywhere that water and coal or wood fuel could be obtained. By 1883, engines that could provide 10,000 hp had become feasible. The stationary steam engine was a key component of the Industrial Revolution, allowing factories to locate where water power was unavailable. The atmospheric engines of Newcomen and Watt were large compared to the amount of power they produced, but high pressure steam engines were light enough to be applied to vehicles such as traction engines and the railway locomotives.

Watt attempted to commercialize his invention, but experienced great financial difficulties until he entered a partnership with Matthew Boulton in 1775. The new firm of Boulton and Watt was eventually highly successful and Watt became a wealthy man. In his retirement, Watt continued to develop new inventions though none was as significant as his steam engine work.

In 2009, a United States Television show  Nightly Business Report, the Emmy Award-winning PBS business program, and Knowledge@Wharton set out to answer determine which 30 innovations have changed life most dramatically during the past 30 years, to celebrate NBR’s 30th anniversary this year. NBR partnered with Knowledge@Wharton to create a list of the "Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years." The show’s audiences from more than 250 markets across the country and Knowledge@Wharton’s readers from around the world were asked to suggest innovations they think have shaped the world in the last three decades. After receiving some 1,200 suggestions — everything from lithium-ion batteries, LCD screens and eBay to the mute button, GPS and suitcase wheels — a panel of eight judges from Wharton reviewed and selected the top 30 of these innovations, which were revealed on air and online February 16, 2009.  The list published was as follows, in order of importance: 1) Internet, broadband, WWW (browser and html); 2) PC/laptop computers; 3) Mobile phones; 4) E-mail; 5) DNA testing and sequencing/Human genome mapping; 6) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); 7) Microprocessors; 8) Fiber optics; 9) Office software (spreadsheets, word processors); 10) Non-invasive laser/robotic surgery (laparoscopy); 11) Open source software and services (e.g., Linux, Wikipedia); 12) Light emitting diodes; 13) Liquid crystal display (LCD); 14) GPS systems; 15) Online shopping/ecommerce/auctions (e.g., eBay); 16) Media file compression (jpeg, mpeg, mp3); 17) Microfinance; 18) Photovoltaic Solar Energy; 19) Large scale wind turbines; 20) Social networking via the Internet; 21) Graphic user interface (GUI); 22) Digital photography/videography; 23) RFID and applications (e.g., EZ Pass); 24) Genetically modified plants; 25) Bio fuels; 26) Bar codes and scanners; 27) ATMs; 28) Stents; 29) SRAM flash memory; and 30) Anti-retroviral treatment for AIDS. Before the winners could be selected from the vast number of entries, the Wharton judges first had to define what innovation means in an age dominated by digital technology, medical advancements and mobile communications.

I will close this post with this quote from Woodford.

Chris Woodford wrote in Inventors and inventions that,

Think of inventions in the 19th century and you'll come across lone inventors like Charles Goodyear, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, George Eastman (of Kodak)—and many more like them. But think of inventing in the 20th and 21st century and you'll come across inventive corporations instead—such companies as DuPont (the chemical company that gave us nylon, Teflon®, Kevlar®, Nomex®, and many more amazing synthetic materials), Bell Labs (where transistors, solar cells, lasers, CD players, digital cellphones, commercial fax machines, and CCD light sensors were developed), and 3M (pioneers of Scotchgard textile protector and Post-It® Notes, to name only two of their best-known products). It was Thomas Edison who transformed the world of inventing, from lone inventors to inventive corporations, when he established the world's first ever invention "factory" at Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876.

These days, corporations dominate our world, and they dominate the world of inventing in exactly the same way. If it's your dream to become a great inventor, go for it and good luck to you—but be prepared to take on some very stiff, very well-funded, corporate competition."

TO BE CONTINUED