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Updated: Jan 3, 2026

The Innovation Arena: A Method for Comparing Innovative Problem-Solving Across Groups
Published on: May 13, 2022
Are both necessity and opportunity the mothers of innovations?
Gili Greenbaum1, Laurel Fogarty2, Heidi Colleran3
1Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305gilig@stanford.eduhttps://giligreenbaum.wordpress.com/.
Abstract:
Baumard's perspective asserts that "opportunity is the mother of innovation," in contrast to the adage ascribing this role to necessity. Drawing on behavioral ecology and cognition, we propose that both extremes - affluence and scarcity - can drive innovation. We suggest that the types of innovations at these two extremes differ and that both rely on mechanisms operating on different time scales.
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