A brief journey through the history of innovation

You may not have noticed yet, but innovation is so important in human life that it is the basis of human history itself. It was like this with writing, with the wheel, with electric lighting, with the internet, in short, inventions act as rungs on the ladder of human evolution.

Today, with the technological revolution, innovations have multiplied and are advancing for all sectors of society. In the market it is possible to see a series of digital products that are accelerating the way in which business is done. They are software that uses artificial intelligence, GPSs, Internet of Things and a series of other innovations with the purpose of helping companies sell more.

But how about we travel a bit through the history of innovation?

The first stop is in prehistory. It was during this period that one of the greatest inventions of mankind was created. It's about the wheel. This simple object is so important in our history that from 7,500 years ago, to this day, it is widely used in society. There are several uses of the wheel. The most used, however, is to facilitate movement. In one way or another, practically all modes of transport use some system that contains the wheel. An innovation that remains useful for millennia.

If we go a little further in time, we have the creation of writing. But, before talking specifically about this invention, let's understand a bit what society was like at that time.

The man at that time had the characteristic of being nomadic and, little by little, with the emergence of agriculture and livestock, he began to have a fixed residence. The first cities were formed in the Fertile Crescent, a region of the Middle East known to be home to the greatest civilizations of the Ancient Age.

Cattle farming was common at this time. To record how many oxen heads a farmer had, it was necessary to begin to make the first traces of the writing. Then, with the cattle trade between people, it was necessary to standardize these traits and then for a first alphabet to be created it was not difficult at all. It was an evolution.

The first alphabets were created in Mesopotamia, the region where Iraq is located today, by the Sumerians. Other types of writing were created in the Fertile Crescent, such as the Phoenician cuneiform, which gave rise to the Greek and Latin alphabets, and also the famous Egyptian hieroglyphics.

An innovation that enabled the discovery of the New World

On our tour of history, we will now find ourselves in the era of the Renaissance. The Middle Ages gradually gave way to the Modern Era. All the knowledge of antiquity that had been stifled by medieval obscurantism returned with force. The most traditional universities in Europe began to emerge. New products that came from the East, direct to the European courts, marked the resumption of trade. And with commercial activities, navigation played a predominant role.

It was necessary to find new trade routes and, to do so, it was necessary to navigate through unexplored waters. This was only possible thanks to an Eastern innovation, the compass. With it, navigators were able to cross oceans and find lands they never imagined existed. Compasses were used for years until much of the 20th century, then their need diminished after the invention of GPS.

Innovations to see time and space

Before the invention of the clock, time was measured based on the positioning of the Sun and on some objects, such as the hourglass, for example. There is a little controversy over who invented the watch. Some claim to have been the Orientals, while others consider Pope Silvester II to be the father of this innovation.

To observe space outside the Earth, Galileo Galilei invented the telescope. With it, the scientist made numerous discoveries that redefined the way in which our planet was thought to be inserted in space. Today, we have countless telescopes, some of which, like Hubble, are outside the Earth, recording the universe with their powerful lenses.

The invention of the printing press

Since we are in the Modern Era, let's talk about an innovation that was one of the pinnacle of technology in its time, the press. Before it was invented, books had to be duplicated manually, through copyists. If there were any type of disaster or tragedy caused by a war, for example, there was a risk of losing the entire content of a work forever.

Thus, in the middle of the 15th century, Gutemberg invented technology capable of reproducing works. With it, the first informational pamphlets appeared, which later evolved into newspapers, magazines and the entire communication system present in the contemporary world.

How about leaving the past a bit and talking about the innovations of the present and future?

We have already talked about the wheel, the sewage systems, the writing, the telescope, the press... We would be able to extend this article until we get tired of talking about inventions. But how about we now portray the innovations that are happening today.

The world in the 21st century is undergoing a true revolution. We are in society 4.0. We went through what some experts call “digital transformation”. Men in the main urban centers have on their smartphones a true extension of their homes or workplaces. And speaking of work, work activities ceased to be carried out within a physical space, such as a factory or office, and moved to virtual locations. It is possible today to work from a bank, in a square, or in a Café, or at the Hotel, in short, there are no physical limits to work.

Innovation with the internet and digital transformation

All of this was only possible thanks to the invention of the internet. With it, new and new innovations are emerging every day. To focus only on the specific area of work and services, we have the emergence of various software to make life easier for people. Contract automation systems and electronic signatures are part of the life of today's citizens and will do even more for future generations.

New generations of professionals are coming to the market knowing how to work with everything digitally. So why should we re-teach them how to work analogically. The future belongs to digital tools. Technological platforms that facilitate manual processes, transforming them into more agile and easier ways of providing a particular service, are gaining more and more space in the market. An example of these platforms is Clicksign Automation, an innovation to make life easier for those who work with many contracts and have to repeat the same procedure every time, such as collecting data from the party that will close a deal with you.

And why are Clicksign Automation and electronic signature important?

Electronic signature and Clicksign Automation are important, because it's about digital transformation coming to document management. Using technology, the number of trees cut down for paper manufacturing is drastically reduced. And we know that for the world to be sustainable for future generations, it must undergo an important stage of renewal.

The way of life must be changed, we must spend less paper, consume responsibly and look more at our forests. With electronic and digital tools for document management, we are contributing to this change.

It's the future being made today, before our eyes, through innovation.