From Invention to Innovation
摘要
An invention has achieved a significant result. This achievement—as significant as it may be—is initially just the starting permission for another challenging hurdle race, which should ideally end with a successful introduction to the market. To support and encourage this new challenge, we will present ten rules of innovation in this chapter. A necessary prerequisite for achieving an innovation is professional project management, coupled with an effective management control system. However, it should first be estimated what chances of success the innovation could have on the market and which strategy for its realization is sensible and promising. A market growth-market share matrix can serve as a decision-making tool. This matrix can simultaneously serve as a basis for developing an intellectual property protection strategy. The work of protecting rights is significantly facilitated if an appropriate infrastructure is available, in which both patent engineers and patent attorneys are involved. In many cases, it is advisable to first test the mode of operation of the proposed innovation with a sample or functional model. This allows important conclusions to be drawn for the continuation of this project, and misdevelopments can be more easily excluded in advance. A particular hurdle on the way to market introduction is the approval of the products. This applies to both the clinical approval of medical devices and the general CE marking. The preparation for the approvals is not a one-time action, but extends through all phases of product development. The most important criterion for whether an idea becomes an innovation is decided when moving from the manufacturer to the user. The decision is made in the step from manufacturer to user. The necessary implementation and distribution include both marketing and sales, as well as service. Accompanying all steps from recognizing a problem to introducing a product to the market, is the acquisition of the necessary innovation competence among all involved actors. Lifelong learning and project-integrated competence acquisition play an important role in this. Learning, in turn, requires the availability of suitable teaching and learning materials as well as the creation of conditions conducive to learning. In this chapter, practical experiences from the authors’ long-standing research and design work are conveyed.