--- title: Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens | daily.dev description: An MIT materials science professor discusses his new book on how innovation actually happens, arguing it is a decentralized process rather than a controllable... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-wknoa2iiz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens | daily.dev og:description: An MIT materials science professor discusses his new book on how innovation actually happens, arguing it is a decentralized process rather than a controllable... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-wknoa2iiz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/wKNoA2IIz.png og:image:alt: Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An MIT materials science professor discusses his new book on how innovation actually happens, arguing it is a decentralized process rather than a controllable idea-driven event. Drawing on his co-invention of strained silicon at Bell Labs, which extended Moore's Law, and his later work leading international research programs at MIT, he outlines three distinct types of research investment - altruistic science, strategic research, and fundamental innovation - and explains why conflating them causes policy and funding missteps. He also discusses becoming 'T-shaped' through exposure to the full innovation process and calls for universities to serve as 'third places' connecting research, industry, and markets. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [New White House Science Strategy Points to a Quantum-Style Innovation Model](https://daily.dev/posts/new-white-house-science-strategy-points-to-a-quantum-style-innovation-model-v2el6ftu9) · The Quantum Insider · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [3 Questions: On the future of AI and the mathematical and physical sciences](https://daily.dev/posts/3-questions-on-the-future-of-ai-and-the-mathematical-and-physical-sciences-tvieufibv) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Ideas Aren’t Getting Harder to Find—Asterisk](https://daily.dev/posts/ideas-aren-t-getting-harder-to-find-asterisk-ads6lqxhn) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The eternal complement](https://daily.dev/posts/the-eternal-complement-pntxekmii) · OpenAI · 4 upvotes · 0 comments - [3Q: Why science is curiosity on a mission](https://daily.dev/posts/3q-why-science-is-curiosity-on-a-mission-snh7p1q6y) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-wknoa2iiz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-wknoa2iiz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-wknoa2iiz"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T19:59:44.818Z","dateModified":"2026-08-17T20:00:01.749Z","description":"An MIT materials science professor discusses his new book on how innovation actually happens, arguing it is a decentralized process rather than a controllable...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f1710db1f0f1da421688c71e33a6d260?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/f1710db1f0f1da421688c71e33a6d260?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/881e20a40aa44b12ba4bd27f5c14289d","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-wknoa2iiz","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens"}]} ```