My co-author, Mukund Karanjikar, suggested this demonstration of the principles of combining elements in new ways as a basic building block of inventing. It’s not explicitly discussed in the book, for the material most relevant to inventors already assumes skills in inventing, but it is a good reminder of some ways to strengthen whatever innovations are being pursued.
One can find unexpected phenomena through combinations of existing elements either by serendipity and luck, or by targeted exploration due to creative tinkering coupled with a thorough understanding an area (in this case Newton’s laws of motion and the physics of momentum transfer). The results may be entirely predictable in hindsight (this is often the cause for obviousness rejections from the Patent Office), but may actually be surprising and unexpected at the time of the discovery or invention. So here’s a 57-second clip featuring my son and a little momentum transfer to remind us of a couple basic concepts.
Jeff,
I think “innovation by adjacency” is one of the methods of innovation that should be practiced at every corporation: http://tinyurl.com/ndg23z.
Vijay Govindarajan also agrees in his recent interview with MIT Sloan School: http://tinyurl.com/kqwtma