Joe Lukacs, a serial innovator with almost a half-century of experience as an engineer on energy technology frontiers, has invented a name for the field: “productization.” It means, “You convert a need to an idea to a gadget,” he says.

Never expect to succeed overnight, Lukacs adds in his post-retirement role of technology development coach as president of Canadian Environmental Technology Advancement Corp. West, a non-profit advice firm founded by Environment Canada and supported by its provincial counterparts. “This is a conservative industry. You have to prove things work over and over and over again.”

Eminent scholars teach the same lesson more formally in a 2009 report on a two-year inquiry by the Ottawa-based Council of Canadian Academies. The authors, an 18-member expert panel on business innovation appointed by the federally financed agency, echo an old saying that genius is one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration.

“An innovation is not simply an invention or even a practical prototype. There must be implementation to a meaningful extent,” says the 268-page document.

“Innovation is not limited to products and services, or to the direct application of science and technology. Indeed, many of the most far-reaching business innovations – such as the factory assembly line, television advertising, just-in-time inventory management, web-based commerce and artistic commercializations like rock music – have little to do with the traditional image of breakthrough products coming out of the lab.”

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