ABSTRACT
Beneath the surface of the Small Business Innovation Research program which helped the American science-based industries flourish is the ideology that “small businesses give rise to innovation.” This chapter examines the process to determine which scientific discovery creates economic and social value and get to the bottom of the principle underlying innovation. Innovation that leads to a breakthrough is always triggered by “night science” occurring beneath the soil. Paradigm sustaining innovation is achieved by incorporating external technologies under a competitive environment and consolidating them to give shape to new technologies. The patent system was created to prevent imitations. The patent artificially protects the innovator, and the innovator tries to monopolize the market for a limited time period, thereby encouraging inventions. There are common characteristics for paradigm disruptive innovation. The paradigm disruptive innovation of blue light emitting diode was a significant consequence of the central research laboratories in Japan, and “end of the era” meant the death of paradigm disruptive innovation.
