Innovation Lag by Gary Polson

Today we are talking about product technology. We are talking about major innovations, not model year changes.

Quotations from noted economists

Technological Innovation and the Great Depression.
Rick Szostak. 1995.

"With each innovation, the potential for new combinations increases."

"... while the order of stages of technological innovation is logical, the timing of any innovation is indeterminate."

Each new innovation builds upon existing knowledge and prior art. Once they are in place, the new innovation can come forth - but it does not actually come forth until it has been conceived, tested, refined for production, and mass produced. It is well known the process from conception to successful mass production has been greatly shortened in recent times. I suggest a similar reduction has occurred in Innovation Lag, the time between the existence of art and prior knowledge upon which the innovation is built and the conception of the innovation. Innovation Lag may be decreasing due to improved access to information, improved communications, increased cross-fertilization between industries and facilities such as yours.

In addition to suggesting that Innnovation Lag is decreasing, I also suggest the rate of decrease is different for specific industries. Highly competitive industries with many players might be more likely to be pushing for an advantage. Slower moving industries with few players and minimal competition, may not yet be making significant reductions in Innovation Lag.

One way of investigating Innovation Lag is to examine industry time lines such as the "Time Line for U.S. Automobile Industry" which appeared in the December 1996 issue of Compressed Air magazine. It is obvious that several of the early innovations such as mechanical windshield wipers, windshield defrosters and flashing turn signals were technically feasible much earlier than they arrived on the scene.

SHOW AUTO TIME LINE CHART

Another indication of Innovation Lag is the time period between the application date of a patent and the application date the most recent patent it cites as a reference. Select a specific patent class or patents dealing with a specific technology, determine the lag time between application dates and chart it against the date of the patent. The resulting Innovation Lag Chart can then be observed for trends.

The lag between conception of an idea and its mass production has significantly decreased in recent years. I expect Innovation Lag (time from art and knowledge being present) to conception of the idea to be decreasing as well. Improved communications, better access to informational databases, increased competition and facilities such as yours are driving forces in reducing Innovation Lag time.

OKIE GRIP

Show coupling and finished part.
Frost patent applied for 21 Jan 1959
Mine applied for 30 May 1984

In the automobile industry, improvements in crashworthiness by utilizing the latest materials, high speed photography, finite element methods and crash dummies on expects innovations are coming to the scene shortly after the prior art and knowledge are in place. Crash dummy innovations might be an indicator or work in this field.

Put html of us pat search here!!!!!!!!!