ABSTRACT
Innovations that do occur tend to be forced by new requirements. The arrival of fresh challenges demands new solutions. This route to innovation has been termed as 'demand pull'*2), indicating that the impetus for change comes from the market place, which drags creative solutions from the designers and technologists. Innovation in this case is an inevitable response to more exacting and demanding problems. But there is nothing inevitable about an alternative route to innovation. Discoveries in science and technology can create unexpected opportunities for improvement in both the design and manufacture of engineering artefacts. This route can be termed as 'science push'^2), indicating that here the impetus for change comes from the development of new technology, before the arrival of a market need.
