1. The definition of innovation
Innovation refers to the conceptualization process characterized by new thinking, new inventions and new descriptions. Innovation is defined in the "Modern Chinese Dictionary" as "putting aside the old 's, create new ones". Innovation originated from Latin. It is an activity in which people use known information to continuously break through routines to discover or produce new things and new ideas that are novel, unique and have social or personal value for the needs of development. It can be a change in the structure, performance or external characteristics of the product, it can also be the creation of styling design, content expression forms and means, or the enrichment and improvement of the content. Its original meaning has three meanings: first, to renew; second, to create something new; third, to change. Innovation is based on existing thinking patterns and putting forward insights that are different from conventional or ordinary people's thinking. It uses existing knowledge and materials to improve or create in a specific environment based on ideal needs or to meet social needs. New things, methods, elements, paths, environments, and behaviors that can achieve certain beneficial effects. In China, the word "innovation" is often used to refer to the results of reforms.
We call "scientific discovery", "technical invention" and "technological innovation" innovative activities in the field of natural science and technology. Academic papers, research reports, new materials, and new products are all the results of innovative activities. "Innovation" can be understood from two aspects: first, innovation is understood as a new achievement; second, innovation is understood as the "process" that produces new results.
Innovation is the unique cognitive and practical ability of human beings, an advanced expression of human subjective initiative, and an inexhaustible driving force for national progress and social development. It plays a decisive role in research in the fields of economics, business, technology, sociology and architecture. With the development of society, the advancement of science and technology, and the improvement of economic level, people's understanding of innovation has continued to expand and deepen. Many new concepts have emerged in all aspects from economy to science, politics, culture, and education, such as knowledge innovation, Scientific and technological innovation, technological innovation, process innovation, organizational innovation, management innovation, market innovation, policy innovation, institutional innovation, etc.
2 Innovative Countries
At present, there are about 20 recognized innovative countries in the world, including the United States, Japan, South Korea, Finland, etc. The innovative country was first proposed at the Fourth National Science and Technology Conference held in 2006, which means that the country regards scientific and technological innovation as a basic strategy and greatly improves its scientific and technological innovation capabilities, thereby forming a country with increasingly strong competitive advantages. The comprehensive innovation index of innovative countries is significantly higher than that of other countries. Their investment in R&D accounts for more than 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP). The number of tripartite patents (patents authorized by the United States, Europe and Japan) obtained by innovative countries accounts for 1% of the total. The vast majority of the world total. At present, my country's scientific and technological innovation capabilities are at a medium level of development among 49 major countries.
The country’s innovation ability is mainly the creative ability of its citizens. Former President Hu Jintao announced China's goal for science and technology development in the next 15 years at the National Science and Technology Conference on January 9, 2006: to build an innovative country by 2020 and make science and technology development a strong support for economic and social development. The basic indicators of China's scientific and technological innovation are that by 2020, the contribution rate of scientific and technological progress to economic growth will increase from 39% to more than 60%, and the proportion of society's R&D investment in GDP will increase from 1.35% to 2.5%.
Innovation has increasingly become a common phenomenon in the progress of human society. If a nation wants to be at the forefront of the times, it cannot stop innovating for a moment. If the Chinese nation wants to become an innovative country, it must adopt the path of innovation with Chinese characteristics. The path of independent innovation.
3 Related concepts of innovation
1) Creation
Creation is defined in "Cihai" as "the first unprecedented physical object", "Webster's English Dictionary" 》The definition is "to create something out of nothing" or "to be the first". From a broad concept, there is not much difference between creation and innovation; from a narrow concept, or in a specific research field, there is a difference, or even a big difference, between creation and innovation. Creation focuses on "first creation" and each specific new achievement; innovation focuses more on "re-engineering" and focuses on the expanded application of creative achievements.
2) Scientific discovery
Scientific discovery is generally understood as the process of discovering new scientific facts and creating new scientific theories. Discovering new scientific facts without creative thinking does not constitute a scientific discovery in the full sense. It is not entirely equivalent to "seeing" or "finding" certain facts or phenomena, but more importantly, understanding these facts or phenomena. And those who have made such innovative scientific discoveries can be called scientists.
For example, in the history of chemistry, although Scheler and Priest independently discovered and produced oxygen, they were bound by the traditional phlogiston theory and believed that the gas discovered experimentally was just a gas more powerful than ordinary air. It was just pure air, so this new fact did not bear the creative fruits of scientific discovery in their hands. Later, the French chemist Lavoisier repeated Priest's experiment and not only produced oxygen, but also formed the correct theory of oxidative combustion based on this new scientific fact, and made major scientific discoveries.
3) Technological invention
Technical invention refers to engaging in practical activities for the first time that others have never done before. The basic form of technological invention is a novel and creative technical solution; it belongs to creative activities in the technical field, which is different from scientific discovery; it is based on the discovery of people to further purposefully obtain new things and new results. Inventors are more concerned about whether the invention results can be transformed into new products and new processes to generate direct economic and social value. People who make technological inventions can be called inventors.
For example, the invention of the "five-stroke font". The invention of computers has extended the human brain. However, it has not taken into account the thousands of Chinese characters and the complex glyphs. Wang Yongmin, who was assigned to a national defense research institute in Sichuan after graduating from university, overcame this world problem when he was transferred to his hometown and worked as a general science and technology management cadre at the Nanyang Earth Science and Technology Commission. The "five-stroke" Chinese character input method invented by Wang Yongmin built a magical colorful bridge between ancient Chinese characters and modern computers, creating another miracle in the history of human civilization.
4) Creation
Creation is a kind of creation in the field of culture and art. The basic definition of creation is: creating literary and artistic works, which can also be literary and artistic works, such as various novels, poetry, music, dance, film and television, etc. Creation is definitely innovation, but innovation is not necessarily creation.