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The Invention of Innovativeness: From Anonymity through Individualization to Collectiveness

Summary/Abstract: This study focuses on the history of technological innovation from the medieval period in Europe to the present day. Until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, innovators remained anonymous. This stemmed in part from the belief that knowledge was a divine gift, only to be discovered by humans, and in part from the monopoly of craft guilds on technical knowledge. The first turning point was the creation of patent legislation; however, the first real breakthrough came with the Industrial Revolution, although not immediately. Only by overcoming the fear of innovation as a cause for loss of livelihood did inventors become heroes of the collective imagination. The dominance of independent inventors came to an end at the turn of the 20th c., thanks to the integration of science into the innovation process. The first steps in this direction were made in Wilhelmine Germany. The Patent Act of 1877 encouraged the establishment of research laboratories within corporations and the identification of innovations with corporate brands rather than the names of the innovators. In the United States, a similar process occurred in the first half of the 20th c. through changes in court decisions. During World War II, the state became the coordinator of innovation processes. The model of an active state innovation policy persisted after the war. To this day, developed countries continue to allocate ever greater resources to supporting scientific research aimed at fostering innovation.

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