2. Background and approach

2.1 Background to the study presented

The study presented in this article was carried out as part of a post-doctorate in cognitive science at Télécom École de Management (TEM) in 2011, under the supervision of C. Petitmengin (TEM/Archives Husserl). The Institut Télécom's Fondation Télécom funded this study as part of the "Futur et ruptures" program, set up to support exploratory research projects in emerging fields. The exploratory nature of the study presented here lies in the fact that it consists of an initial "first-person", or "experiential", investigation of technical invention, i.e., in the fact that it seeks to understand the cognitive processes of inventors on the basis of what they perceive.