Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter introduces the study of organizational inventions in Renaissance Florence and clarifies how inventions reshape entire social networks rather than simply improving existing practices. It establishes a clear distinction between innovation and invention by adopting contemporary definitions that focus on originality and transformation. The chapter documents how cross-network spillover and recombination actively drive the emergence of new organizational forms in economic, kinship, and political domains. It presents a coherent causal narrative where sequential developments in merchant banking, kinship evolution, and political factionalism reinforce one another through dynamic interactions. Finally, the chapter summarizes the empirical evidence and theoretical framework that underpins the subsequent detailed analyses of organizational evolution in the book.</jats:p>