100 MAJOR SWEDISH TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS, FROM 1945 TO 1980

An inventory of the most successful technical innovations in Sweden during the period 1945-1980 has been made. A hundred of them have been selected. Each of them has reached an economic turnover in excess of 20 million Swedish crowns per year ($3.5 million). Analyses of the innovations, the innovators and the companies have been made. The innovation frequency, that is, the number of innovations per year, shows a continuous increase of about 5 percent per year during the period. The gestation period, that is, the time between making the invention and introducing it on the market, varies greatly but has an average value of about seven years. No long-term change in the gestation time could be determined. The increase in economic turnover per year for the innovations can be described by a double logarithmic distribution. For a fourth of the innovations the economic turnover per year is at least doubled each year. Also, there is a clear correlation between the number of patents and the number of successful innovations in a company. On the average there are 1.5 innovators per innovation, the number increasing during the period 1945-1980 from 1.3 to 1.8. The proportion of foreigners among the innovators is about 6 percent, somewhat less than the proportion of foreign workers in the manufacturing industry. Only one woman is found among the 137 innovators. The ages of the innovators at the time of the invention is relatively high, on the average 40 years, but shows considerable variation. The education of the innovators is relatively high with two-third of them holding an academic degree and one-third of them holding a higher academic degree. Only 5 percent have only elementary school or similar background. The 100 innovations alone account for 5 percent of the economic value added in Swedish industry. Eighty percent of the innovations have been conceived in and developed by existing large companies. The distribution between various branches of industry correlates well with R&D expenditures in the respective branches. Twenty percent of the innovations have been the basis for new company formation. The role of universities in the innovations is a dominating one in medical innovations, but less important in other branches of industry. © 1991.