ABSTRACT
This chapter examines invention as shorthand for a commercially promising product or service idea, based on new science or technology that is protectable. Understanding the invention-to-innovation transition is essential in the formulation of both public policies and private business strategies designed to convert the nation's research assets more efficiently into economic assets. If ever there were a poster child for innovation, it would be former Apple chief executive officer (CEO) Stevenson Jobs. In 2002, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a report from a comprehensive study of the differences between invention and innovation. State governments, while providing a relatively small portion of total early-stage technology development (ESTD) funding, play a critical role in establishing regional environments that help bridge the gap from invention to innovation. A parallel set of definitions emphasizes the stage of technology development, abstracted from institutional development, although any division of the innovation process into temporal stages is bound to be arbitrary and imperfect.
