Rhetorical Invention and
Technology Innovation
in Business Settings
Dr. Frankl held technical, marketing,
and management positions with IBM
Canada. He later joined Desjardins
as Director of Clearing Systems.
While with Desjardins and through
CIDA he spent some time in Latin
America, implementing a generalized
financial infrastructure project for
the Latino-American Cooperative
Movement (COLAC) out of Panama
City. Next, he joined CGI as a Director
of Consulting services and partner
where he participated in a large
number of strategic projects in the
private and public sectors. After
moving to Victoria in the early 90’s he
became respectively CFO, President,
and CEO of several hi-tech businesses
on Vancouver Island. He is presently a
Professor of Business with University
Canada West (UCW), a member of
Global University Systems (U.K.).
© Business Expert Press 978-1-94784-396-7 (2018)
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Milan Frankl
Abstract: In this article, I explore the effects of r­ hetorical
invention and technology innovation. I propose some
­definitions of those terms and examine their ­application in
business. Similarities and differences between those two
approaches are analyzed. Suggestions of the way r­ hetorical
invention flows into technology i­nnovation are posited.
I conclude that rhetorical invention, as a c­ onception of
new ideas, is the starting point for t­ echnology innovation.
Keywords: Invention, Innovation, Invention flow
research & development, Intellectual property,
Rhetoric, Technology innovation
Introduction
A comprehensive definition of innovation and invention
is proposed as follows:
Innovation is not a single action but a total
­process of interrelated sub-processes. It is not just
the c­ onception of a new idea, nor the invention
of a new device, nor the development of a new
­market. The process is all these things acting in
an ­integrated fashion. (Myers and Marquis 1969)
According to Wikipedia1:
“An invention is a distinctive or original apparatus,
method, composition or process.”
The invention process is a procedure within a p­ roduct
development progression. It may be an improvement
upon an existing product or a new process for making
a new object or achieving a result. An invention that
achieves a unique function or result may be a ­radical
breakthrough. Such inventions are not necessarily
­evident to other people trained in the same field.
1 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention
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 Rhetorical Invention and Technology Innovation in Business Settings
An inventor may be taking a big step in
success or failure.
Some inventions can be patented.
A patent protects the intellectual
­property rights of the inventor j­uridically
and legally recognizes that a claimed
­invention is genuinely an invention.
The rules and requirements for ­patenting
an invention vary from country to country,
and the process of obtaining a patent can
be tedious and expensive.2
Similar to a rhetorical invention, tech-
nological innovation is also regarded as
a process (Trott 2005). If one accepts that
­inventions are new ways of e ­ xpressing ideas
or “doing things,” discoveries and products
are the outputs from those ­inventions. Trott
posits that “products are the eventual out-
puts” from those inventions (Trott 2005).
Arguing the differences between new,
creativity, and discovery could result in a
futile exercise of semantics because those
terms are ambiguous in their ordinary or
even philosophical uses. For what is to one
creative, can be anything but to those who
fail to grasp the depth (or shallowness) of
that term as applied to their respective
context.
It may be useful to clarify the term
“new” in the context of innovation, which is
­proposed nicely by Rogers and Shoemaker:
It matters little, as far as human
­behavior is concerned, whether or
not an idea is “objectively” new as
measured by the lapse of time since
its first use of discovery [. . .] if the
new idea seems new and different
to the individual, it is an innovation.
(Rogers and Shoemaker 1972)
3 role in the European tradition. Its best-known
Invention (be it rhetoric, scientific, or
commercial), often requires the awareness
2 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent
3 
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, wherein a writer
or speaker strives to inform, persuade, or moti-
vate particular audiences in specific situations.
As a subject of formal study and a productive
2 © Business Expert Press 978-1-94784-396-7 (2018)
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that an existing concept or method can be
modified or transformed into something
new or different.
Some Innovation Examples
Sometimes inventions can become com-
plete novelties or radical scientific and
technological breakthroughs.
ABC News Top 10 Innovations
ABC News top 10 innovations during the
period of 2000 through 2010 are follows: 4
1. May 2000: GPS goes mainstream
2. July 2000: Toyota introduces to the U.S.
the Prius, grows market for hybrid car
3. October 2000: AT&T introduces text mes-
saging to the U.S.
4. January 15, 2001: The launch of ­Wikipedia
sparks the rise of user-generated content
5. July 2001: Napster’s demise leads to
dawning of file-sharing
6. March 2003: Friendster kicks off the
­social networking revolution
7. April 2003: Human Genome Project
completed
8. August 2004: Google goes public, makes
search a way of life
9. November 2006: Nintendo Wii launches,
revolutionizes video game play
10. June 29, 2007: Launch of Apple’s iPhone
introduces smartphone frenzy
One can notice that, in the above list,
only three innovations represent products
(Toyota’s hybrid car, Nintendo’s Wii, and
Apple’s iPhone). The others are services
closely related to Internet technologies.
civic practice, rhetoric has played a central
­definition comes from Aristotle, who considers
it a counterpart of both logic and politics, and
calls it “the faculty of observing in any given
case the available means of persuasion.” source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric
4 
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahead-
o f t h e C u r ve / to p - 10 - i n n o va t i o n s - d e c a d e
/story?id=9204931
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 Rhetorical Invention and Technology Innovation in Business Settings

Figure 1: The Scientific Method as a Cyclic or Iterative Process

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method#cite_note-Garland2015-1.

Science Magazine’s Top Innovations
Science magazine has chosen a different list of
top innovations during a similar period. Its list
includes “[. . .] avian i­nfluenza, ­gravitational
waves, RNAi-based ­treatments, ultra-high-en-
ergy cosmic rays, microbial genomics, super-
solidity, and high-Tc superconductors, and
the ivory-billed woodpecker” (Science 2005).
Listverse’s Technology and Science
Breakthroughs of the 2000s
Even more diverse cases are described
by Listverse,5 claiming to seek out the
5 
https://listverse.com/about-listverse/
most fascinating and rare gems of h ­ uman
­knowledge. As an example, the technol-
ogy and science breakthroughs of the
2000s listed by Listverse are, in sequential
order:
1. The first self-balancing electric-powered
transportation machine invented by Dean
Kamen, known as the Segway Human
Transporter was invented in 2000. 
2. The bio-artificial liver invented in 2001
by Dr. Kenneth Matsumura and Alin
Foundation invented the artificial liver
by designing a device that utilizes ­animal
liver cells.

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