The Business Book

310

LEARNING AND

INNOVATION GO

HAND IN HAND

APPLYING AND TESTING IDEAS

R

esearch and development

(R&D) is any investigative

and creative work intended

to lead to new discoveries or to

improvements in existing products

or processes. Some companies, in

areas such as computer software

and pharmaceuticals, depend on

scientific research to bring about

Scientific research leads to technological breakthroughs,

which businesses use to...

...create new

products.

...improve

existing

products.

...update

processes.

To innovate for the future, companies must be willing to learn

about new technologies and how they can be harnessed.

Learning and innovation go hand in hand.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Research and development

KEY DATES

1790s In postrevolutionary

France the government works

with scientist Claude Chappe

to develop a nationwide

semaphore system.

1806 Isambard Kingdom

Brunel is born. The British

scientist and engineer goes

on to design and build the first

propeller-powered ship and

the first tunnel under a river.

1939–45 During World

War II, jet engines, the mass-

production of medicines

such as penicillin, and blood

transfusions are all developed.

1942 Austrian economist

Joseph Schumpeter uses the

term “creative destruction” to

describe how innovation in

industry creates new societies

by destroying old ones.

technological breakthroughs and

keep themselves on the cutting

edge of their industry. Others apply

R&D to improve existing products.

Filling a gap

In some cases, the direction of

R&D is driven by market research

findings that uncover a gap in the