In the mid-18th Century, the modern economy started to take shape. While limited to the invention of the factory system and the boom in the textile sector for the first decades, the Industrial Revolution brought unprecedented social and economic changes. Marking, in the words of prominent historian Eric Hobsbawn, “the most fundamental transformation of human life in the history of the world”, the innovative dynamism and legacy the industrial revolution created is alive and well today. In this episode of Innovation Matters, Professor Emma Griffin explains what prompted and upheld the industrial revolution and the innovative dynamism it paved the way for – and what we can learn from history on how to sustain innovative dynamism today and in the future.
Emma Griffin is professor of modern British history at the University of East Anglia and President of the Royal Historical Society.