Technological innovation is important for competitive success through new products and more efficient processes. It benefits society through improved goods and services, effective resource use, better healthcare and transportation, though it can also create negative externalities like pollution. The document discusses strategic management of innovation, showing that most ideas fail to become successful new products. It also shows product development cycles can take from 8 months for incremental improvements to over 3 years for new-to-world products. Later chapters will discuss formulating innovation strategy, implementation, and managing new product development teams and processes.