Innovation: Its Nature and Significance

One of the most striking phenomena of the twentieth century has been the accelerated tempo of technological change.* Although it is thought of as an essentially recent development, historical analysis soon reveals that this trend may be traced back to the dawn of civilisation itself. Such analysis also reveals that change due to technological innovation exhibits all the characteristics of an exponential growth curve with the implication that we may anticipate that changes in the final quarter of this century will be of equal magnitude to those which have occurred between 1925 and 1975.