It’s relatively easy to identify high profile examples of technologies within the sustainability field which have been reintroduced (or reinnovated) and commercialised: wind power, electric cars and bioplastics are examples.
However, many good ideas never reach the market at the time of their invention, and disappear off the innovation pathway due to prevailing circumstances. Reinventing these previously overlooked technologies for today’s world is becoming increasingly relevant as new technology makes them feasible, and as sustainability considerations (like the rising price of oil and demands for greener products) cause us to give them a fresh look.
Oakdene Hollins is running a new project to investigate:
- How many useful inventions lie forgotten, dormant or lost in research archives or elsewhere?
- What is the potential impact of these technologies on sustainability?
- How can the best of these ideas be identified and exploited?
Within this project we aim to:
- produce a clear definition and model defining reinvention in this context,
- develop and implement methodologies for identifying forgotten technologies,
- assess the potential impact of reinvention on sustainability,
- establish a community of practice in this field.
Our previous seminar in 2006 at the Science Museum's Dana Centre brought together researchers in and practitioners of the science and art of 're-inventing traditional technologies', and was a precursor to this project.
|
|
Reinvention Workshop
A workshop is being held on the 5th October at the Dana Centre (Science Museum, London) to disseminate and discuss the findings of this project. Please contact us to register your interest.
Project Information
 The Reinvention of Technologies for Sustainability
(195kB)
Project Reports
The Economics of Invention and Innovation (610kB)
This article discusses the topic of the economics of invention and innovation and explores its relevance
to the reinvention of forgotten technologies.
The following pdfs are converted from presentations and contain speech.
 "Spring Power" by Duncan Grant & Trevor Bayliss (19MB)
"Sustainable Lime Based Composites" (21MB)
"Reframing Business Opportunities In The Development Of Traditional
Technologies" (13MB)
"Re-inventing Traditional
Technologies for Sustainable Innovation" (9MB)
|
