![]() Microwaves only made their breakthrough with the emergence of single and double-earner households in the 1980s. “There was actually no demand for what microwave ovens made possible – a decoupling of preparation and consumption as well as a rationalisation of food preparation,” said Bauer. Expensive and unwieldy, cooking had another significance then. But the first “Radarange” microwave flopped spectacularly when it launched on the market in 1947. Microwave ovens promised to heat food and drinks in minutes using an electromagnetic field and seemed like a great idea at the time. Although it has been operating on the 30-kilometre stretch between Pudong Airport and Shanghai since 2004, hopes for lucrative follow-up orders from China have long since been dashed. Yet, the development took decades and when the Transrapid eventually launched on the market, it was unable to compete with expanded air traffic and was outstripped by the wheel-rail concept behind Germany’s rapid ICEtrain. At the time, the proponents of the new, forward-looking technology believed that a magnetic train capable of speeds of up to 500 km/h could easily travel the Hamburg-Berlin route in an hour. Hailed as a marvel of German engineering, the fascinating Transrapid once held great hopes. Type 2: Failing to keep up with competitors Cargolifter AG was left with a huge shipyard, which is considered the world’s largest self-supporting building, and is now used as a tropical amusement park. Founded in 1996, the company filed for insolvency in Brandenburg in 2002 after being unable to meet the rising costs of the development despite considerable state subsidies. Cargolifter AG had set its sights on transporting up to 160 tons of freight with its “Cargolifter” zeppelin. Several decades later, a renewed attempt failed to revive the airship. The hydrogen filling had ignited and claimed 35 lives. The 1937 catastrophe that befell the “Hindenburg” in Lakehurst near New York marked the demise of the airship. Steering the airship borne by a gas filling and propellers was no easy task especially in stormy weather and gale-force winds. The Zeppelin, hailed as a revolution in aviation, was simply too dangerous. Type 1: Flops triggered by technical problems from Helmut Schmidt University on the issue, presented the top five typologies of failure “which run like a recurring pattern through the entire economic history” at the Körberforum in HafenCity in late March. “The project succeeds only when the innovation has recouped the costs of its development.” However, timing is not the only cause of flops. This is precisely the basis of Bauer’s definition of failure. Some ideas experience a renaissance, but do not always earn a profit for the company behind the innovation. Reinhold Bauer, a technology historian, noted: “Success is the exception when developing new technical products.” However, failure does not have to be permanent. ![]() Around 80 to 90 per cent of all attempts at innovation fail. An idea can be exceptional and apparently have the potential to change the world, but if the time is not right, innovation does not stand a chance. ![]()
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