Final answer:
Incremental innovation refers to gradual improvements and refinements made to products over time, enhancing efficiency, user experience, or performance. I
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of product innovation that results in gradual improvements and refinements of products over time is known as incremental innovation. This approach involves making modest changes to an existing product or process to enhance it. Unlike more radical forms of innovation that can completely alter a product or service, incremental innovation focuses on improving the design and functionality in more subtle ways, leading to enhancements in efficiency, user experience, or performance.
Incremental innovation is connected with technological change, which is a combination of invention—advances in knowledge—and innovation, allowing existing inputs to produce more or higher quality, as well as different and altogether new products. It can be seen as a response to an increase in demand or shifts in consumer preferences. Technological improvements do not appear to run into diminishing returns over time, especially considering that new technologies can often be applied across the economy with very low marginal costs.