New innovations and products come to market all around us A new Hyperloop transportation system by inventor and engineer Elon Musk Airbnb Uber Justin’s peanut butter cups and a superfast cell phone charger are just a few examples Every day it seems like another biggest best can’t-live-without-it product arrives on the market Some of these goods and services become popular popular and create a solid consumer following Others fizzle and disappear from the market A device created by eighteen-year-old high school student Eesha Khare for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair could turn into one of the next big things Khare identified a problem engineered a solution and built a product that anyone who owns a cell phone could use a super-fast charging system In the process she won the second second place Young Scientist Award and received a 50,000 cash prize Khare said I developed a new supercapacitor which is basically an energy storage device which can hold a lot of energy in a small amount of volume This tiny device has the ability to charge a cell phone in about twenty to thirty seconds Wouldn’t every cell phone user think this was a handy invention Entrepreneurs and innovators as well as the busi nesses organizations and agencies that they envision and design are what fuel the free market economy At the heart of this market economy a system also called capitalism are the entrepreneurs who produce what they wish and the 4 INTRODUCTION
Elon Musk is a successful entrepreneur and the founder lead designer and CEO of SpaceX Musk’s company is dedicated to manufacturing spacecraft like this Dragon V2 consumers who decide how much of their income to save how much to spend and what to buy This system of free enterprise establishes a cycle of sorts entrepreneurs and innovators discover new solutions to old problems find new ways to do old tasks and develop new products In turn consumers choose from these new creations and purchase what they want for themselves and their families The people who aspire to be entrepreneurs often say that they have a passionate goal to achieve or they dream of creating something to help make people’s lives 5
better Entrepreneurs need the finances to support their new ideas Setting out to create new products or services is not without risk Not all new startups survive In fact many successful successful entrepreneurs have experienced failure This very failure may be what spurs them onward to work harder and succeed at a second or third attempt There are a growing number of people interested in becoming entrepreneurs Statistics show that in the United States a new business is started every minute Some experts predict that more than half of all American workers will be self-employed by 2020 This trend demonstrates that entrepreneurship entrepreneurship and innovation are crucial for the market economy 6 Innovation and Entrepreneurship
CHAPTER ONE INNOVATION OR INVENTION In the United States entrepreneurs inventors and innovators play an important role in the economic system of capitalism or the free market economy People depend on others to produce produce goods and services such as iPhones wireless internet or the morning cups of coffee they enjoy in their lives WORK FOR A BOSS OR BE THE BOSS Every day millions of people report to jobs where they work hard for their bosses and earn a paycheck People at factories factories companies schools hospitals organizations offices and many other types of places make products or provide services that are purchased and used by others At the same time there are individuals who earn money by working for themselves 7
