12 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Canadian-American economist at George Mason — co-founder of Marginal Revolution (with Tyler Cowen) — co-author of Modern Principles of Economics — who writes on innovation policy, FDA regulation, and healthcare economics.
American technology policy researcher — who works on innovation policy, science funding, and technology governance — associated with the Institute for Progress and other centers.
American business theorist — Harvard Business School — author of The Innovator's Dilemma — who created the disruptive innovation theory — the most influential business theory of the last 30 years.
Clayton Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David Duncan's 2016 book presenting the Jobs to Be Done theory — arguing that customers 'hire' products to do specific jobs in their lives, and that understanding the job (not the customer demographic) is the key to innovation.
French entrepreneur and engineer who co-founded Michelin with his brother Andre — and whose engineering obsession with the detachable pneumatic tire transformed cycling and later automotive transportation — making Michelin the dominant tire company through technical innovation.
Benoit Godin's 2015 book tracing the history of the concept of innovation from antiquity to the present — arguing that innovation was for centuries a dangerous term associated with heresy and political subversion before becoming the defining positive concept of the modern economy.
American education policy expert and co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation — who wrote Disrupting Class (with Clayton Christensen) — arguing that online education represents a disruptive innovation that will transform K-12 schooling.
American entrepreneur who founded Atari in 1972 — creating the video game industry with Pong — and who hired Steve Jobs (and later Steve Wozniak) as an employee, making Atari the training ground for Apple's founders.
Vannevar Bush's 1945 report to President Truman arguing that government should fund basic scientific research as a long-term national investment.
Clayton Christensen's 1997 theory of disruptive innovation — arguing that established companies fail not from incompetence but from rationally serving existing customers while neglecting low-end entrants that eventually displace them — the most influential business theory book of the last 30 years.
Tom Kelley's 2005 account of ten roles that drive innovation in organizations — from the Anthropologist and the Experimenter to the Collaborator and the Storyteller — as a counter to the devil's advocate who kills ideas.
American author and IDEO partner who wrote The Art of Innovation and Creative Confidence (with his brother David Kelley) — capturing IDEO's design thinking philosophy for a general audience and making design thinking the dominant innovation methodology in business and education.