DIGITAL INNOVATION
A1 - The Purpose of Innovation
On the essence of engineering and technology and its relationship with human prosperity and well-being.
It’s Time to Build. - Marc Andreessen (who wrote 1st web browser as his master thesis, then commercialized as NetScape
but could not complete then became open source)
On Innovation
• Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or
improvement in offering goods or services.
• Innovation is related to, but not the same as, invention: innovation is more apt to involve the practical
implementation of an invention. (make it useful and available to people)
• Technical innovation often manifests itself via the engineering process when the problem being solved is of a
technical or scientific nature.
— Wikipedia
→ Innovation is related to, and has a similar purpose as engineering and technology.
On Engineering
• Engineering is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to design, build,
maintain, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes. It may encompass
using insights to conceive, model and scale an appropriate solution to a problem or objective. The discipline of
engineering is extremely broad, and encompasses a range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a
more specific emphasis on particular areas of technology and types of application.
— Wikipedia
• Engineers focus on how things should be, not just how they are --> they build solutions to make it better
o Example: Scientists study how planes fly, while engineers design and build airplanes to make flying
possible.
• Arnold Burms and Herman De Dijn distinguish three fundamental human interests:
1
A1 - The Purpose of Innovation
On the essence of engineering and technology and its relationship with human prosperity and well-being.
It’s Time to Build. - Marc Andreessen (who wrote 1st web browser as his master thesis, then commercialized as NetScape
but could not complete then became open source)
On Innovation
• Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or
improvement in offering goods or services.
• Innovation is related to, but not the same as, invention: innovation is more apt to involve the practical
implementation of an invention. (make it useful and available to people)
• Technical innovation often manifests itself via the engineering process when the problem being solved is of a
technical or scientific nature.
— Wikipedia
→ Innovation is related to, and has a similar purpose as engineering and technology.
On Engineering
• Engineering is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in order to design, build,
maintain, and improve structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes. It may encompass
using insights to conceive, model and scale an appropriate solution to a problem or objective. The discipline of
engineering is extremely broad, and encompasses a range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a
more specific emphasis on particular areas of technology and types of application.
— Wikipedia
• Engineers focus on how things should be, not just how they are --> they build solutions to make it better
o Example: Scientists study how planes fly, while engineers design and build airplanes to make flying
possible.
• Arnold Burms and Herman De Dijn distinguish three fundamental human interests:
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