ABSTRACT
Innovation is nothing new. Humankind has been innovative in one way or another since time immemorial; it is a state of introducing something new but not necessarily introducing that concept to anyone else. In today’s language, however, innovation has taken on further meaning in the common parlance of our commercial world. Innovation has become much more than ‘creation’; it has become synonymous with successful exploitation of new ideas and this success is measured in financial terms. Innovation for financial return lies in the incorporation of new technology, business methods and best practice. As the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry states, such innovation requires companies ‘to bring to the market a stream of new and improved, added value, products and services that enable the business to achieve higher margins and thus profits to re-invest in the business’.1 Such innovation usually emanates from a considerable investment of human and financial resources: Research and Development (R&D).
