Innovation in Action

Essay on an innovation
 Plan your structure –
you can show the tutor if you bring an outline

• Minimum requirements:
(Give bullet points of indicative contents)
– Title of the essay
– Introduction
– Literature Review
– Background and history of the selected innovation
– Impacts of the innovation on society
 Example Title: Digital Camera
Technology as a Radical Innovation
– Introduction
• The innovation that I want to discuss is the Digital
Camera
• What do I want to include about this innovation?
Examples of contents:
– Why the Digital Camera is a radical innovation
– Under what conditions was
» This technology developed
» This technology widely spread (diffused and adopted)
– How has it changed industry ?
– How it has changed the life of billions of people ?
• Why is this technology significant?
– What are the important lessons we could learn from it ?
 Title: Digital Camera as a Radical
Innovation
– Literature Review Examples of contents:
• Definition of innovation –
– E.g. The definition of innovation is xxxxxx ggggg kkkkk (Chan,
1995)
• Explain and provide definitions for all types of
innovation (proper citations required)
• (in this case, define and elaborate on radical
innovation)
• Why can we say the Digital Camera is a radical
innovation?
– Background and history of the selected
innovation
Title: Digital Camera Technology as a
Radical Innovation
– Under what conditions was the Digital Camera developed?
Which companies developed it? Is it Market pull? Or
Technology push? (provide definitions too)

– This technology was widely spread (diffused and adopted) ,

why? Under what conditions? How quickly? And how
widely diffused?

– How it has changed the photo capturing industry? Who are

the losers? Who are the new winners? Why they can win?

– Impacts of the innovation on society? Is it national, global?

 Guidance on BUSI 1322
Innovation in Action Essay
Assignment

Submission date on Moodle

 Essay Assignment (worth 80% of
total mark for the course)
• Write an essay on ONE innovation which you
consider to have made a significant impact on
modern life (maximum, excluding references – 3000
words)

– What type of innovation is it? How did it come

about (i.e. by what processes or strategies)?
– How do you know it has made such an impact?
 Essay Assignment
• This is a research based piece of work but does not
require primary research. It should include:
• An academic literature review:
Shows how you have searched for journals papers
relating to the innovation or innovation process.
No minimum or maximum number of references (try
for a minimum of 8)
Consult databases such as Business Source Premier
and the business press – Financial Times, Economist
An academic literature review
REFERENCES are ESSENTIAL

Shows your reading of the subject and helps

answer these questions–

What is the study of innovation

[definitions]?
What type of innovation am I writing about?
What aspect of innovation have I used?
What would be part of an academic literature review
in an innovation essay?

The review may consider one or more of the following aspects depending
on the innovation:
1. Typologies [Lect. 2] – review the characteristics of those useful to you
2. Invention processes [L3] – may be relevant to radical innovations
3. Design [L4] – particularly for product innovations
4. Risks [L5] – for the innovating firm or for society at large?
5. Complex products [L6] and Large technical systems [L9] – if you are
looking at component innovation or infrastructure change
6. Sustainable innovation [L7] - topic has an environmental impact
7. Controversy [L8] – there are public disagreements about technology
8. Technology transfer [L10] – international impacts
9. Success and failure factors [L11] – explains what happens over time
What would be part of an academic literature review
in an innovation essay?

Define the different types of innovation- expand on

one type which is relevant to your particular
innovation

Research and write about the concepts covered in the

lecture – eg design, risk, technical systems

Review and write about the different models of

innovation from linear to socially embedded
 Essay Assignment
• Report on the innovation case study of your
choice – but don’t use report format – this is
an essay. Also you don’t need to find a
published case study
• A discussion and reflection on the
relationship between the ideas in the
literature consulted and the details of the
case.
• Conclusion – aim for 10-15% of word count
 Essay Marking Criteria
20% for Focus
Does the essay set up a clear essay question
to address? Does the essay stay within and
fulfill the topic parameters?
30% for Synthesis
Does the essay bring together the literature
in a significant manner that addresses an
essay question?
 Essay Marking Criteria
• 30% for Soundness
Does the essay indicate a comprehensive
understanding of the topic area and literature
discussed?
• 10% for Clarity of structure
Is the essay well organised and logically
constructed to achieve synthesis while being
mindful of the needs of the reader?
 Essay Marking Criteria
• 10% for Mechanical Soundness
Is the essay clearly written, spell checked and
grammatically sound and referenced
appropriately?
Choose a coursework topic

Examples
Current or future

Satellite navigations systems

Social networking sites Internet
Large Hadron collider Wind power

Short term (analysing developments over 10-20 years)

Television
Mobile phones
Digital music
Long Term (over 50 years)

Typewriter
Model Ford production line
Newspaper printing
Shoes
Sanitation
Innovation Types
Radical innovation – a completely new technology which is not
replacing something that already exists e.g. Aeroplane
Incremental innovation – small improvements of a technology
that exists e.g. Television
Product innovation- an new addition to the range of products on
the market
Process innovation – improvements to production or
manufacturing technologies
Systems innovation– changes to heterogeneous structures
which perform key social functions, infrastructural systems
e.g. National grid
Service innovation - new or improved service products which
have technological elements.
Modular innovation – changing one or more components of an
existing innovation which extends its current function
Favourite inventions (Australia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoCWz
vQ7S-M