Richie Etwaru is the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer at Mobeus. Some years back he compiled a list of little known and surprising things about innovation, among them were:

LOSING YOUR EARS: In the 1600s, the punishment for being an “innovator” was getting your ears chopped off. You were seen as a troublemaker.

FIRST PATENT EVER: On 31 July 1790, Samuel Hopkins was issued the first patent for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertiliser.

WORST INNOVATIONS: TIME’s 50 worst innovations listed in 2010 included Hair in a Can, Parachute Jacket, Venetian Blind Sunglasses and the Segway.

WORD OVERUSED: In 2012, The Wall Street Journal reported companies mentioned some form of the word “innovation” 33,528 times in annual reports, a 64 per cent increase from five years before that. 

PATENT WARS: In 2012, both Google and Apple spent more on patent litigation than on R&D – $20 billion in the smartphone industry alone in two years.

CHINA ON THE MOVE: In 2013, China’s State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) granted 

more patents than any other patent office in the world, including the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

LIPITOR WINS: The cholesterol-lowering drug, used to help reduce heart attack and stroke risk, represents the most valued patent in history.

LEFT/RIGHT OF FIELD: A study of the top 50 game-changing innovations over a 100-year period showed that nearly 80 per cent of them were sparked by someone whose primary expertise was outside the field in which the innovative breakthrough took place.

AND A DRUM ROLL PLEASE: In April 2008, a patent was granted to the youngest person, ever. A British lad named Samuel Thomas Houghton was just five years old when he was issued a patent for a “Sweeping Device with Two Head” invention. Two years earlier, he had watched his father sweep the yard using two different brooms, one to gather up the leaves and twigs, the other to sweep the finer debris. So, the youngster strapped them together with a rubber band.

His father was so impressed he filed a patent application, naming Sam as the sole inventor. A spokesperson for the UK Intellectual Property Office said they had “never come across anyone as young as Sam who has been successful in their application and believe he is the youngest yet”. Patents can last up to 20 years, so Sam will have until 2028 to develop and market his product. But his father said that it had been about letting Sam have some fun and teaching him in the process about innovation.