Abstract

The history of mankind is one of innovation, especially our great economic leaps over the past two centuries (Fu and Gong, 2011). The Renaissance in the 14th century shattered backward thoughts by introducing new thinking. The navigation rush in the 15th century expanded the bounds of human civilization. The scientific revolution, which began in the 16th century, laid the foundation for the technological revolution. The capital market, which was born in the beginning of the 17th century, made financial activities a widespread phenomenon in society. The Industrial Revolution, which began in the 18th century, gave a great impetus to economies around the world. Although current economic theories and other doctrines fail to explain all these phenomena perfectly, many scholars have identified a common factor – innovation – in the chain of historical events (Chen, 2017b).