Ray Jardine invented Friends. But Mark Vallance and Wild Country played a vital role in successfully bringing them to the market, a key part of any innovation.
Somewhere I have an old Mountain magazine with a great interview with Jardine, in part about his climbing (he was of course one of the top climbers of his day, doing the FA of The Phoenix etc.) as well as about inventing friends (he was an engineer in his professional life). He used to climb with the homemade prototypes on a bandolier under his shirt so that others couldn't see them. I have a vague memory of him taking the idea to American gear manufacturers and being rejected, before taking the idea to Wild Country. I have no idea if that's my memory playing tricks though.