Serendipity, Errors, and Exaptation
Definition - Serendipity
Serendipity is discovering something when you are not seeking out the discovery. Serendipity is typically described as stumbling across something unexpected.
Definition - Errors
Discovery through errors is when a mistake leads to something new and interesting. This can seem somewhat related to serendipity, but I differentiate the two because an error implies a mistake was made, while serendipity is more based on a chance observation.
Definition - Exaptation
Exaptation is when something existing is used for a different purpose.
Innovation Example - Serendipity
Some examples of serendipity are Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin's effects on bacterial growth and Pfizer's discovery of Viagra (De Rond, 2014). Fleming was a notoriously untidy scientist, leaving his experiments out until his bench got overcrowded and forced him to clean up (De Rond, 2014). One day Fleming noticed that one of the culture plates looked interesting, which led to the groundbreaking discovery (De Rond, 2014). In the case of Viagra, Pfizer was researching an Angina treatment when it noticed that trial participants had some unrelated side effects that were ultimately harnessed for an effective erectile dysfunction treatment (De Rond, 2014).
Innovation Example - Errors
The Post-it note was created through error and failure to make a superior adhesive (Nyak & Ketteringham, 1997). Spencer Silver used the wrong amounts of ingredients and achieved something unexpected that was sticky but not aggressively sticky (Nyak & Ketteringham, 1997).
Innovation Example - Exaptation
GPS technology was initially developed for military use, but now it is used in everything from smartphones to navigation systems. This expansion and repurposing of the technology has led to a global reliance on GPS technology for geolocation.
References
De Rond, M. (2014). The structure of serendipity. Culture and Organization, 20(5), 342-358.
Nayak, P. R., & Ketteringham, J (1997). 3M's post-it notes: A managed or accidental innovation. The human side of managing technological innovation, 367-377.