How Innovation Happened Historically

What drove technological and scientific development in different societies before there were professional scientists and research labs?

Today we think of innovation and research as simply equipping some labs with advanced scientific instruments, hiring a bunch of smart scientists and engineers, pouring in research funding and popping out patents and inventions.

Yet for most of human history, technological progress has happened in a very different way. In fact, I will claim these ways are still more important than the caricature of scientific research I just sketched out.

From reading history, I have settled on seven broadly defined factors which dictate technological progress:

• Trade — Through trade with other towns and civilizations, one gets exposed to new ideas and technologies.
• War & Conquest — The Roman Empire is a good example. It acquired numerous innovations from conquered Greece. These ideas and technologies were spread to new territories that Rome conquered such as Spain, France, and Britain.
• Immigration — Skilled craftsmen, artists and intellectuals whether Huguenots or Jews have played a major role in transporting knowledge, skills and technology from one…