Happenstance, repurpose, or rejected failure?


While intent serves as the motivation or driving force for invention and discovery, innovation often results from unwarranted and unintended actions. Many critical and innovative findings resulted from accidents, happenstance, and unintended results.  

Serendipity, often defined as the unintended discovery of something good or useful.  While the association of luck may be considered synonymous with serendipity, the concept could be more easily characterized by the observation of reality occurring amid expectations.  When a specific incident occurs in anticipation of a different outcome, acknowledging and observing the reality of the situation can result in discovery despite a biased or expected result.  In Alexander Fleming's case, credited with the discovery of penicillin as a remedy for halting bacterial growth, the discovery resulted from observing the lack of growth of bacteria on a plate due to the presence of a fungal colony (Taylor, 2020).

While many errors are often perceived as failures, the accidental miscalculation or errant part may result in an innovative solution for a different problem.  The commission of mistakes can negatively connotate, and associated failure has inherent educational aspects of discovering what does not work and provides a valuable lesson.  In the case of the pacemaker development, Wilson Greatbatch used an incorrect component to record patients' heartbeats (Donnelly, 2012).  As a result of this error, the invention emitted a regular pulse or rhythm and assisted in regulating, not recording heartbeats.

Exaptation, or the repurposing of discovery for new innovative use, refutes the existence of error and seeks to find utility in the unexpected result.  Spence Silver, a scientist/engineer with 3M, attempted to develop a stronger adhesive; however, his discovery fell short of expectations (Donnelly, 2012).  While others may have perceived the outcome as a failure, Silver noted the adhesive had utility in its characteristics of an adhesive that could be used to lift off and repeatedly used to stick to other surfaces (Donnelly, 2012).  As a result of not accepting failure, 3M successfully marketed Silver's discovery with Post-It notes.

As seen in the three mentioned scenario's innovation often results from the unintended results of a particular endeavor or discovery.  Whether in error, by happenstance, or a failure to accept failure or defeat, each of these discoveries resulted in an innovative solution that impacted life in varying levels of significance.


Blogsite: Innovations & Solutions (intrinsicinnovations.blogspot.com)

References

Donnelly, T. (2012, August 15). 9 Brilliant Inventions Made by Mistake. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://www.inc.com/tim-donnelly/brilliant-failures/9-inventions-made-by-mistake.html

Taylor, A. (2020, December 02). Five serendipitous medical discoveries – starting with the Oxford vaccine dose. Retrieved January 13, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/five-serendipitous-medical-discoveries-starting-with-the-oxford-vaccine-dose-150768#:~:text=Perhaps%20the%20most%20famous%20serendipitous%20discovery%20in%20medicine,fungal%20colony%20that%20had%20started%20in%20the%20plate.




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