The importance of industrial innovation can be measured in terms of its impact on both the private and public interest. Perhaps as much as one-third to one-half of all manufacturers' profits are generated by products less than five years old. In addition, nearly half of all new jobs created in the last several decades have been the result of industrial innovation. Innovation is essential to our present standard of living; without it, we face a future of inevitable decline.

Recent studies show that, in spite of skyrocketing costs, increased risks and market complexity, independent inventors, technological entrepreneurs and small businesses still contribute somewhere between one-half to two-thirds of the major industrial innovations occurring in the United States. Other studies show that they do it much more efficiently than their corporate and institutional counterparts.

Industrial innovation may be defined as a complex series of activities, beginning with an idea and followed by a succession of interwoven steps -- research and development, financing, marketing and production. However, it does not bear fruit until a product, process or service is accepted by the marketplace.