Necessity is the mother of invention.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention : Input Supplies and Directed Technical Change ONLINE APPENDIX ∗

The engineering needed for particle physics.

Today's particle accelerators and detectors are among the most complicated and expensive scientific instruments ever built, and they exploit almost every aspect of today's cutting-edge engineering technologies. In many cases, accelerator needs have been the driving force behind these new technologies, necessity being the mother of invention. This paper gives an overview of some engineering requ...

The evolution of innovation-enhancing institutions

This chapter applies an integrated approach to decision-making and cultural evolution to explore some of the characteristics that influence population-level differences in innovativeness and to understand how such differences emerge. In laying the foundation for subsequent arguments I begin by summarizing research showing how evolutionary theory can direct and inform our understanding of decisi...

The Necessity of Others Is the Mother of Invention: Intrinsic and Prosocial Motivations, Perspective Taking, and Creativity

Although many scholars believe that intrinsic motivation fuels creativity, research has returned equivocal results. Drawing on motivated information processing theory, we propose that the relationship between intrinsic motivation and creativity is enhanced by other-focused psychological processes. Perspective taking, as generated by prosocial motivation, encourages employees to develop ideas th...

‘necessity the Mother of Invention’ a Reflection on the Requirements for Successful Innovation in the Metallurgical Industries

The complexities that exist in the nature of the basic feedstock to the metallurgical process call for a high degree of ingenuity from the extractive metallurgist in seeking the best possible treatment method for a particular ore. Drawing from personal experience the author presents four case studies that demonstrate the value of creative thinking in addressing the challenges typically encounte...