Politics - Economics - Anthropology - Technology - Business Models
It’s a fascinating phenomenon when industry leaders invent groundbreaking technologies but ultimately fail to capitalize on them.
A classic example is Kodak, which invented the first digital camera in 1975. Despite this groundbreaking innovation, Kodak chose to focus on its traditional film business. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that digital cameras began to outsell film cameras, signaling the end of an era for Kodak. Companies like Sony, Canon, and Nikon led the digital camera revolution, investing heavily in R&D and shifting their strategies early to embrace digital photography. Their willingness to adapt allowed them to dominate the market that Kodak helped invent but failed to lead.
For much of the twentieth century, major technological breakthroughs were tightly interwoven with military needs. Take the internet, for example. In the late 1960, the U.S. Department of Defense launched ARPANET through its Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). The first successful message was sent in 1969 between computers at UCLA and Stanford. Designed to create a resilient communication network during the Cold War, ARPANET eventually evolved into today’s global internet.
