Reflection Report Chapter 2

By- Vijay Sai Somayajula

In this chapter we look into the sources of Innovation. Innovation can

originate from the individual inventors, research efforts of universities,
private nonprofit organizations, firms and government-funded research. An
even more Important Source of innovation however does not arise from one
of these sources, but rather the linkages between them. We can thus think of
sources of innovation as composing a complex system wherein any particular
innovation may emerge primarily from one or more components of the
system or the linkages between them. In this report the concepts that I will
be discussing about are creativity, research efforts of universities and
Research and Development by Firms.
Creativity:
Creativity is defined as the ability to produce work that is useful and unique.
It is the underlying process for innovation. Creative individuals generate
unique and useful ideas which is very important for the organizations. For an
organization or an individual to be creative requires intellectual abilities,
knowledge, thinking styles, personality traits, intrinsic motivation, and
environment. An individual in order to be creative, should have moderate
degree of knowledge of a field, think in a unique ways and be self-efficient.
The creativity of the organization depends on creativity of the individuals
within the organization and the different factors that shape the way those
individuals interact and behave. For example, The automobile giant Tata, the
team at Tata came up with an innovative idea of launching a car which is
affordable by people with very low income, making it a grand success. Tata
Nano, was the name given to this car.
Research and Development by Firms:
Firms research and development is considered a primary driver of
innovation. Firms spend a lot of money on Research and Development than
most of the government institutes. Each firm has an R&D department which
is the main source of most of the innovations in a firm. The Firms collaborate
with a lot of external organizations (or individuals) in their innovation
activities. Firms are most likely to collaborate with customers, suppliers, and
universities, though they also may collaborate with competitors, producers of
complements, government laboratories, nonprofit organizations, and other
research institutions. For example, Arch rivals Apple and Samsung
collaborate to dominate the mobile industry, Samsung makes the highly
praised Apple A7 processor.
Universities Research:
Universities encourage their faculty to engage in research that may lead to
useful innovations. They publish the research findings of their faculties,
thereby contributing to innovation. Many universities have a research
mission, and in recent years universities have become more active in setting

up technology transfer activities to directly commercialize the inventions of

faculty. The university retains sole discretion over the rights to commercialize
the innovations made by their faculty. For example, Boston University
College of engineering, came up with the genetic "toggle switch" that turns
specific cellular functions on and off.