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No. Groundbreaking innovations like that have and will continue to come from basic research; the type that's really only done at universities.

giovannibonetti 7y ago
So, say, the iPhone was not a groundbreaking innovation since it didn't come from an university?
- rjyoungling 7y ago
  I think the point they were making is that universities often create big breakthroughs and then companies put it together in a way such that it has commercial value. At least that's how I interpreted that comment. But Xerox PARC immediately came to mind, which was a breeding ground of innovation.
- chongli 7y ago
  The iPhone is not a groundbreaking innovation, it's a product. Like many modern products, it is extremely complicated with thousands of different components. Did Apple invent all of those components from scratch? No. Did Apple invent the key components that made the iPhone different from its competitors at the time? No. The capacitive touch screen was invented by Bent Stumpe at CERN [1]. The software technology that arguably made the iPhone possible, multi-touch, was developed by U of T, Bell Labs, and CMU. Steve Jobs visited CMU in 1985, though that obviously didn't translate into much back then. The actual multi-touch software that went into the iPhone was developed by FingerWorks founders John Elias and Wayne Westerman at the University of Delaware [2]. Apple bought FingerWorks and incorporated the technology into the iPhone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch#History [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    I think it's too strict of a definition. Assembling a tons of known knowledge into something that wipes a market (and zero history in it..) is not a normal event either. Maybe it's innovation at the consumerism layer.
grenoire 7y ago
I'm pretty sure fellow commenters can expand the list, but Bell (private) and CERN (public) are neither universities nor exceptions.
- defterGoose 7y ago
  Where do you think all the researchers at CERN come from?

giovannibonetti 7y ago

So, say, the iPhone was not a groundbreaking innovation since it didn't come from an university?

rjyoungling 7y ago
I think the point they were making is that universities often create big breakthroughs and then companies put it together in a way such that it has commercial value. At least that's how I interpreted that comment. But Xerox PARC immediately came to mind, which was a breeding ground of innovation.
chongli 7y ago
The iPhone is not a groundbreaking innovation, it's a product. Like many modern products, it is extremely complicated with thousands of different components. Did Apple invent all of those components from scratch? No. Did Apple invent the key components that made the iPhone different from its competitors at the time? No. The capacitive touch screen was invented by Bent Stumpe at CERN [1]. The software technology that arguably made the iPhone possible, multi-touch, was developed by U of T, Bell Labs, and CMU. Steve Jobs visited CMU in 1985, though that obviously didn't translate into much back then. The actual multi-touch software that went into the iPhone was developed by FingerWorks founders John Elias and Wayne Westerman at the University of Delaware [2]. Apple bought FingerWorks and incorporated the technology into the iPhone. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-touch#History [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
- agumonkey 7y ago
  I think it's too strict of a definition. Assembling a tons of known knowledge into something that wipes a market (and zero history in it..) is not a normal event either. Maybe it's innovation at the consumerism layer.

grenoire 7y ago

I'm pretty sure fellow commenters can expand the list, but Bell (private) and CERN (public) are neither universities nor exceptions.

defterGoose 7y ago
Where do you think all the researchers at CERN come from?