# Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens

DevFeed: [Q&A: Rethinking how innovation happens](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/q-a-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-37979.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://news.mit.edu/2026/qa-eugene-fitzgerald-rethinking-how-innovation-happens-0817>)

Author: Jason Sparapani | Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Published: 2026-08-17T19:50:00Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [MIT AI News](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/mit-ai-news.md>)

Topics: [Materials science and engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/materials-science-and-engineering.md>), [implementation](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/implementation.md>)

Tags: [altruistic-science](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/altruistic-science.md>), [artificial-intelligence](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/artificial-intelligence.md>), [book](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/book.md>), [books-and-authors](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/books-and-authors.md>), [business-and-management](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/business-and-management.md>), [dmse](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/dmse.md>), [economics](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/economics.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [eugene-fitzgerald](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/eugene-fitzgerald.md>), [faculty](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/faculty.md>), [fundamental-innovation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/fundamental-innovation.md>), [future](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/future.md>), [innovation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/innovation.md>), [interview](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/interview.md>), [invention](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/invention.md>), [invisible-engine](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/invisible-engine.md>), [misconceptions](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/misconceptions.md>), [mit-and-masdar-institute-cooperative-program](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mit-and-masdar-institute-cooperative-program.md>), [mit-books-and-authors](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mit-books-and-authors.md>), [mit-dmse](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mit-dmse.md>), [mit-faculty-books](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mit-faculty-books.md>), [mit-faculty-interview](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mit-faculty-interview.md>), [moore-s-law](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/moore-s-law.md>), [q-a](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/q-a.md>), [research](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research.md>), [research-commercialization](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/research-commercialization.md>), [school-of-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/school-of-engineering.md>), [semiconductor-technologies](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/semiconductor-technologies.md>), [semiconductors](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/semiconductors.md>), [singapore-mit-alliance-for-research-and-technology-smart](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/singapore-mit-alliance-for-research-and-technology-smart.md>), [strained-silicon](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/strained-silicon.md>), [strategic-research](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/strategic-research.md>), [value-creation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/value-creation.md>)

## AI overview

MIT professor Eugene Fitzgerald discusses his book The Invisible Engine: Why Innovation Evades Control, drawing on research programs and his experience co-inventing strained silicon. He describes innovation as an intersection of science, economics, market applications, technology, implementation, and society.

## Source excerpt

In his latest book, Professor Eugene Fitzgerald examines the forces that turn breakthroughs into value -- and why innovation resists simple formulas.