White Spaces Innovation in Sweden - Innovation policy for ... - Vinnova

WHITE SPACES INNOVATION IN SWEDENFigure 4.2 Radical Complexity in the Gutenberg Printing InnovationSource: Lane (2009)A significant amount of path dependence was carried over from manuscript copyingto book printing. Peter Schöffer, Gutenberg‟s apprentice, tried to simplify the illustrationprocess, notably by only offering text-illumination in three colours for black, redand blue letters. But the medieval idea that initial capitals should be illuminated, albeitfrom a simpler palette, persisted. To allow illuminated letters, Johann Fust, goldsmith,lawyer and investor in Gutenberg‟s venture developed a system of inserting into thepress metal characters to shape the areas to be illuminated. This process constituted oneof the more novel technological innovations of press-based printing but it was complicatedand expensive. Accordingly, simplified illumination by hand remained commonpractice until the eighteenth century, an indication of innovation involving reverse adjacency.On the other hand, the Mainz Psalter was the first printed book to give the dateand place of printing and the printers‟ names. Nevertheless, as comparison of the twomodels in Fig. 4.2 reveals, much also changed in a relatively short time. The key role ofcopyist-illustrator was demoted to that of anachronistic adjunct to the new process. Thepower of the church, in the main, to be the key driver and repository (through universities)of manuscripts declined in favour of, on the one hand, affluent private clients and,82