Invention Vs Innovation

(a) With the lecture ideas on Invention v innovation in mind, explain the difference

between invention and innovation. (150 words)

There is a distinct difference between the idea of invention and innovation as explained in simple terms Tom Grasty explains. Firstly Grasty’s take on innovation is ““Innovation,” on the other hand, occurs if someone improves on or makes a significant contribution to an existing product, process or service”. This is a clear and concise definition for innovation. Innovation is used to describe the development of an invention that is already present just enhancing the performance of that specific invention. This gives us a clear distinct viewing point of how these two terms have completely different meaning.

Grasty defines invention as ““invention“ can be defined as the creation of a product or introduction of a process for the first time”. This idea is suggesting that an invention is something completely new and unique to anything else before therefore meaning that there cannot be anything better than it at the time as it is the first of its kind. This makes it completely unique to anything that has been before consequently making it a new concept that has not yet been improved or innovated.

(b) The UK government currently faces a dilemma with respect to investment related to the production of reliable sources of Electricity supply for the future. Outline a case for innovation or invention (i.e. power stations, renewable, etc). Include in your

answer an example of one innovation you would support or indeed suggest, or one

invention. (350 words)

        I firmly believe that the UK government should invest in trying to innovate the current methods of energy that are being used as they do not have the time nor money to invest in inventing a new solution. Invention requires lots of creativity and hundreds of hours in order to try and come up with a reliable solution. We can see how invention is timely using the example of James Dyson. I. Mochari states “It took Dyson not just 15 years, but 5,127 attempts”. The effort it takes in order to invent is immense especially on such a large scale regarding the electricity solution.

        In addition to this I believe the innovation of renewable energy is the way to go. We are starting to see that renewable energy resources are starting to overtake coal in providing electricity for the first time ever this current quarter providing 25% of the UKs electricity making it the second biggest provider. Not only this but there have been significant improvements in the quantity of energy being provided by renewables due to the innovation and investment. D. Carrington states “The renewable surge was led by solar energy, which more than doubled between the second quarters of 2014 and 2015. Electricity from wind rose by 65%, helped by the expansion of several large-scale offshore wind farms, while electricity from biomass rose 26%, mainly due to a switch from coal to wood chips at a unit of Drax power station.”, the increases shown from the investment in the quantity of wind farms and from the innovation of the biomass switching materials are very high. Due to the fact that there is so much room for improvement and make renewable energy resources much more efficient than coal and gas are as they have been optimized to give the most productive use for the quantity however this is not the case with renewable energy as it is a relatively new concept and there are still improvements to be made.