Ideation, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation

The origin of ideas is an important topic to be addressed by eminent disciplinary scholars, and then debated, and then debated, and then debated yet again. Even addressing the narrower topic of the origin of entrepreneurial or innovative ideas is a bold if not presumptuous undertaking. In this paper, which forms the basis of my keynote address, I set the stage with a brief summary statement about how two historical scholars viewed the source of ideas and then I move to a brief discussion about what academic researchers in the field of entrepreneurship and innovation know about sources that influence innovative behavior. In the final section, I present some inaugural findings from my own research in this area, or more accurately, the research on which I have just begun to embark. I conclude with a question: Why do scholars of entrepreneurship, innovation, and enterprise dynamics need to know about the sources of ideas that lead to new technology and innovation, and I offer a suggestive answer.