Innovation is often celebrated as the engine of progress, yet just as often it stumbles, leaving behind abandoned projects, wasted resources and frustrated ambitions. This chapter begins by challenging the comforting notion that failure is merely accidental. From an evolutionary lens, failure is shown to be part of the natural turbulence of technological change, where uncertainty and selection shape winners and losers. The narrative then moves into the realm of innovation systems where the absence of coordination or weak absorptive capacities can transform individual setbacks into systemic paralysis. Institutions, with their legacies and rigidities, add another layer of constraint, while globalisation and the rise of value chains and platforms reveal how opportunities can be offered but kept just out of reach. By weaving these perspectives together, the chapter tells a larger story that innovation failure is not an exception, but a recurring shadow that accompanies every promise of progress.