Neuroscience

Mapping a life's worth of changes in a mysterious brain structure

Until recently, scientists didn't know much about perivascular spaces (PVS), fluid-filled regions in the brain involved in clearing waste and toxins—mainly because it's tough to get a clear look at them using neuroimaging. ...

Health informatics

How a failure to understand race leads to flawed health tech

A new study focused on wearable health monitors underscores an entrenched problem in the development of new health technologies—namely, that a failure to understand race means the way these devices are developed and tested ...

Gastroenterology

Innovative gel offers new hope for treating gastrointestinal leaks

In a major advancement in medical technology, researchers at the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation have developed an adhesive gel, offering a revolutionary treatment for gastrointestinal leaks, a condition clinically ...

Alzheimer's disease & dementia

'Smart patch' could be used to detect Alzheimer's

A leading Swansea University scientist has developed a new "smart patch" that can detect proinflammatory biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases (such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's) through the use of microneedle technology.

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Innovation

The term innovation refers to a new way of doing something. It may refer to incremental, radical, and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations. A distinction is typically made between invention, an idea made manifest, and innovation, ideas applied successfully. (Mckeown 2008) In many fields, something new must be substantially different to be innovative, not an insignificant change, e.g., in the arts, economics, business and government policy. In economics the change must increase value, customer value, or producer value. The goal of innovation is positive change, to make someone or something better. Innovation leading to increased productivity is the fundamental source of increasing wealth in an economy.

Innovation is an important topic in the study of economics, business, design, technology, sociology, and engineering. Colloquially, the word "innovation" is often synonymous with the output of the process. However, economists tend to focus on the process itself, from the origination of an idea to its transformation into something useful, to its implementation; and on the system within which the process of innovation unfolds. Since innovation is also considered a major driver of the economy, especially when it leads to increasing productivity, the factors that lead to innovation are also considered to be critical to policy makers.

Those who are directly responsible for application of the innovation are often called pioneers in their field, whether they are individuals or organisations.

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