Final answer:
Innovation is the process of creating something new that can be applied profitably and involves improving existing products or processes. Intellectual Property Rights, including patents, support innovation by protecting the innovator's exclusive rights for a limited time.
Step-by-step explanation:
The process of creating something new that can be applied profitably is referred to as innovation. Innovation involves incrementally or radically modifying an existing product, system, or process to improve it. This contrasts with invention, which is the creation of a new idea or method, and reproduction, which pertains to the creation of offspring by organisms. Intellectual Property Rights play a significant role in innovation by providing an incentive for the development of new technology. Patents grant the inventor exclusive rights to make, use, or sell their invention for a limited period, often 20 years, allowing them to potentially earn monopoly profits and recoup research and development investments.