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Innovation and emerging technologies

Factors that Influence Success or Failure in Innovation

HSC Outcome: H3.1 Analyses the factors that influence innovation and the success of innovation

Studies of organisations that have been consistently successful innovators indicate that these organisations place great importance on managing and investing in the following ingredients, which are their principal assets for innovation:

information; systems for obtaining reliable, current information about markets, technologies, research, etc in the area in which they operate
skills; formal and informal learning for skilling, reskilling, and multiskilling of staff
intellectual property; developing and protecting their knowledge base through patents, design registrations, trademarks, copyright, and, where necessary, secrecy
funding; innovation is risky and it usually requires considerable investment of time and money either from previous profits or from external funding, eg loans, grants, commissions, share issues, licences, royalties
networks; all organizations rely on networks of other organizations to make and supply materials, components, equipment, and often to provide services such as design, distribution, training, and advertising
reputation; innovations continue or fade away according to their reputation for style, quality, service, performance, status, etc.

by Robert Renew, Chief Curator Engineering and Design, The Powerhouse Museum, Sydney,

The ‘Innovation and emerging technologies’ component of the design and technology HSC course must include a case study of an innovation worth 20%. The Australia innovates site of the Powerhouse Museum is an excellent place to start, identifying Australian innovations for the case study. Further information may be found in Making It: Innovation and success in Australia's industries, published by the Powerhouse Museum in 1993.

Activity

Technologies like mobile phones are constantly changing as they adopt new design features. Read the article “Rise of the smartphone ” by TechicAL and answer the following questions.

Describe the factors which have influenced the success of smartphones.
Explain how an agency such as IP Australia may influence the development and success of the smartphone.
Identify the positive and negative impacts of smartphones on individuals, society and the environment.

Other resources

Answers

1. Describe the factors which have influenced the success of smartphones.

Smartphones are essentially computers small enough to fit in a pocket and as such are highly technical devices that combine telephone function and some computer capabilities. This makes them very flexible devices that enable people to access their computer files from the mobile phone and share infromation from computers or other interfaces. It allows people to continue to use or work on computer files when they do not have access to their main computer.
Smartphones allow people to work in a variety of locations, are mobile, allow people to stay in contact when out of the office and have some handy functionality.

2. Explain how an agency such as IP Australia may influence the development and success of the smartphone.

IP Australia assists by providing a standard patent. Patents gives long-term protection and control over an invention for up to 20 years or an innovation patent which is a relatively fast, inexpensive protection option, lasting a maximum of 8 years.
IP Australia assists by registering a trademark. A trade mark can be a word, phrase, letter, number, sound, smell, shape, logo, picture, and aspect of packaging or a combination of these. A trade mark can also protect your brand name.

3. Identify the positive and negative impacts of smartphones on the individual, society and the environment. From this table, you can construct an extended response to analse the impact of smartphones on the individual, sociey and the environment.

Individual	Society	Environment
Positive
Flexible work environment Complements the desktop or laptop by sharing files One less bag to carry Phone and computer in one small package Can easily coomunicate and collaborate	Companies may be able to use smaller office spaces as people can work from home Companies can design their own applications to meet the needs of employees on the move (iPhone) Increased productivity of employees	Smaller components use less material Less office space required
Negative
Small screen hard to work on Design, editing, presentation work difficult Internet browsing difficult and expensive	Security features Increased or ill defined work hours	High disposal rate leads to wate issues