Untitled - Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego

Chapter 4
A STUDY OF INNOVATIVE TRENDS
IN TRANSPORT
(Jan Burnewicz)
4.1. Introduction
One of the oldest challenges before mankind is to be able to move efficiently in
all spatial dimensions. To reach valuable and useful goods located in different
places, man had to devise more advanced forms of movement than walking,
carrying or dragging things. This required inventions giving man the possibility
of using mechanised techniques of movement, which used such key solutions as
sliding or rolling on land, sailing on or under water surface or flying or hovering
in the air. Of greatest significance were inventions which made the creation of
large-scale transport systems possible, and this depended on the emergence of
a number of complementary inventions and innovations 1 as well as on the level
of funding needed to implement them, on their operating costs and on the
availability of specific energy carriers.
Innovative activities in transport often fail. A commercial success is viable
only if specific requirements and market demand are taken into account while
new ideas are sought. Innovation projects are also likely to fail if they are based
on structures which are excessively large, take a lot of resources, land and energy,
and are difficult to operate.
Experience has it that innovation in the way we move in space is more difficult
and less spectacular than changes in the image or production methods of
consumer goods and services. Since the train, the car and the aircraft were invented,
no breakthrough transport technologies have emerged. There seems to
1 The invention of the car, for instance, was not only the building of its body, but the integration of
ideas for propulsion (a well-performing engine), the wheels (tyres), the steering system, the brakes,
the lights, etc. The same applies to the bicycle, despite its lesser complexity.
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