1Technological Innovation SAGE Pub（1技术创新鼠尾草酒吧）.pdfVIP

chap01.qxd 11/27/04 1:46 PM Page 1 1 Technological Innovation Variety in the Meaning Attributed to Invention, Innovation and Technology and the Organisation of this Book This chapter begins with a review of definitions of technology and innovation. This is then used to develop the device of the ‘technology complex’, a device that is exploited in the organisation of the rest of this book. This preference for the logical development of an argument from first principles does mean that dis- cussion of the organisation of the book is postponed to half-way through the chapter. The second half of this chapter demonstrates the value of the technology complex as an intellectual tool by arguing for the comparative inad- equacy of the more readily available concepts applicable to innovation and technological change. Invention, Innovation and Technology There appear to be almost as many variant meanings for the terms ‘invention’, ‘innovation’ and ‘technology’ as there are authors. Many use the terms ‘invention’ and ‘innovation’ interchangeably or with varying degrees of precision. At an extreme, Wiener prefers ‘invention’ to describe the whole process of bringing a novelty to the market (Wiener 1993). In contrast, Freeman prefers to restrict the meaning and increase the precision of ‘innovation’ by only applying it to the first commercial transaction involving a novel device (Freeman 1982: 7). Some definitions are in order. In this book ‘invention’ will be restricted to describe the generation of the idea of an innovation. Innovation will describe some useful changes in te