Home Courses Responsible Innovation Subjects 3. How Innovations Come About

3. How Innovations Come About

This lecture set, we will look more closely at what innovation means and how innovations come about. The exact definitions have implications for responsible innovation.

We start with distinguishing between incremental and radical innovations. While radical innovations are sometimes required to deal with social and ethical issues, they may also give rise to new ethical issues and dilemmas.

We will discuss how radical innovations in general come about with a case-study on ‘Coolants’. After this session, you will be able to distinguish incremental innovations from radical innovations, and be able to put forward the ethical issues when it comes to radical innovation.

This brings us to the second main topic of this lecture set: the determinants of innovation. We will discuss which (economic) determinants are important for bringing about innovations, and what additional factors may be important for responsible innovation.

The third main topic is the management of innovation. How do companies manage innovations and what are the pre-requisites for responsible innovation?  We will give you a basic insight into innovation management and discuss what challenges RI brings for the management of innovation. In the suggested readings we will also pay attention to standards and innovation.

  • 1. Incremental & Radical Innovation
  • 2. Case Study: Coolants
  • 3. Determinants of Innovation
  • 4. Mannagement of Innovation
  • 5. Bonus: TU Delft Research Exhibition

Readings are provided in the Readings section.

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