Elon Musk: Cross-Fertilizing Ideas Between Fields Is a Superpower for Innovation

Elon Musk: Cross-fertilizing ideas between fields is a superpower.

“I do find a good source of innovation is that if you read about a whole bunch of fields, you can cross-fertilize ideas from one field into another.

Take SpaceX and Tesla. The automotive industry is very good at manufacturing. In terms of manufacturing complex machines at volume, the automotive industry is the best.

The rocket industry, the space industry, is very good at advanced materials and making things very light.

So, taking advanced materials and mass optimization concepts from the space industry, applying them to automotive, and taking automotive mass manufacturing techniques and applying them to space was like a superpower.”

United States Military Academy West Point, August 16 2024