Behind the Scenes of an Invention. An experiential Description of the technical Invention Process.

This paper describes the lived experience which accompanies the technical invention process. Explicitation interviews with inventors enabled us to identify a process which is iterative, recursive, composed of a macro- process and micro-processes and structured around the permanent oscillation between several levels of awareness of the idea. The description of the micro-process’ stages led us to detect the “pre-reflective”or “unrecognized” strategies which accompany the genesis of a technical idea, which is nevertheless unpredictable. Inventors notably show two crucial skills: the ability to be attentive to their own lived experience and the ability to switch between several modes of attention.