Science has always been a key factor for changes. Inventing is a never-ending process bringing innovations at the core of our lives. Innovating is a challenge involving or opposing men, ideas and countries. To what extent has the English-speaking world been the cradle of our ever-changing society?
IFrom an idea to a concept
1 Inventing
Inventing means imagining, creating something new. Patenting an invention documents, through a legal process, the fact that the inventor was the first one to have the idea.
Cerebration (shared thinking and collaboration) seems to be a key component of research and scientific breakthroughs. This is what makes iconic institutions like the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) or places like the Silicon Valley in California great hubs for innovations.
Some ideas are developed over several decades or even centuries. For example, the use of compressed air as means of propelling vehicles was discovered as early as 1799, but came into being only two centuries later with the Hyperloop project.
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The Hyperloop uses pods to transport passengers through low-pressure tubes at a top speed of 750mph using magnetic levitation to reduce friction.
2 Innovating
Scientific improvements, along with an evolution of mentalities, are a constant source of inspiration which transforms some inventions into innovations. Answering a need, an innovation is an evolutionary change to an existing process or product, often synonym with commercial usefulness.
Companies such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Tesla and Facebook (now Meta)innovate for business and thanks to business. Thus Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs can be considered as a poster child for innovation (= the personification of).
IIThe race to the top
1 Pioneering Britain
Britain was the cradle of the industrial revolution in the 18th century. The British Empire soon emerged as a leading power and became the “workshop of the world”. Scottish engineer James Watt’s steam engine (1765) revolutionised transport and industry.
From the 16th to the 18th century the emergence of the cloth industry in England favoured the birth of capitalism where accumulated capital was invested to increase productivity and profit. Liberalism, based on individual rights, civil liberties and democracy, emphasised the importance of free market and freedom of entrepreneurship.
The USA soon joined the UK at the forefront of a new dynamics. American inventor Thomas Edison earned more than 1,000 patents including the phonograph, the motion picture camera and the light bulb (1879).
2 A worldwide competition
Countries have always wanted to shine and reach the best economic competitiveness. This need for recognition has triggered many innovations, blooming at the CES.
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The CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, USA, hosts the world’s most influential technology event, where business and innovations are as one.
The space race between the USA and the Soviet Union is one of the best examples. This race to technological superiority turned into unprecedented scientific and engineering collaboration of 15 countries when the construction of the ISS (International Space Station) started in 1998.
Since the 1960s robots have revolutionised industry. Artificial Intelligence is now at the core of the competition, transforming people’s lives and industries by implementing data exchange, cloud computing and cyber-physical systems in industry 4.0. The USA emerged once again as the front-runner of the AI industry, with China ranking second.