Sparkplugs
Innovations are often attributed to lone geniuses. Reality is that no innovation is accepted until others agree that it is, and "pile on." (Inventors like Ford and Edison were also great promoters.) Geniuses look at problems differently; spark new kernel solutions; and enlist others to refine them.
By popular lore, Henry Ford is credited with the "automobile," and Thomas Edison with the light bulb. Reality is that both of those were invented long before they made their innovative contributions, which were to make them practical for everyone to use.
Ford headed a team that designed the Model T, and the tooling to make it. The design was simple and robust, using a minimum of parts, and the parts fit. That enabled the high volume assembly line, and the rest is history.
Edison (and his lab assistants) discovered a more efficient light bulb filament material and refined the process to make the bulb, but in addition they devised a power generation and distribution system that could put the light bulb in a house. That is, Edison invented the predecessor to today's system of electrical generation and distribution.
When both products and the environment are complex, lone invention, not really done much by Ford or Edison, usually involve many more people. Today in science, for example, a paper by a single author is not common. And in technology for instance, an automotive development project staff may consist mostly of software engineers who must integrate the new technology into the rest of the vehicle. And that's before considering the added factors needed to create products for life cycle performance; then recovery.