4

Invention and Innovation

Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity, not a threat”.

I have frequently been asked, ‘What is the difference between an invention and an innovation?’ I will attempt an answer to this question with a classical story. Some of you may have heard of Chester Carlson but I am sure that most of you would have heard of Xerox Corporation and the Halloid Corporation I will recount the story.

The story of Chester Carlson begins in 1935. At that, time he was working at the patent office of P. R. Mallory and Company. Using his technical background, Carlson began experimenting with electrostatics which ultimately resulted in his invention of a new way of creating a copying process. His basic idea was to project ...

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