Meaning of innovation in the wealth creation process Is there a formal definition or measure of wealth that captures the notion that with improving technology "life gets better"? 

A stupid example of what I mean would be the invention of the iPhone. I know that with the iPhone new markets were and new profit possibilities were created and in that sense the economy got richer. That effect could be measured by let's say the GDP. 
But apart from that I can now watch Netflix on the bus or text people everytime, everywhere. So personally my life got a whole lot more pleasant. 

Also is there an accepted connection between innovation and "wealth" in the sense that I described above?

Cheers,
FL
The extra benefit to you, beyond what you pay for your iPhone and for your Netflix subscription, is called consumer surplus and in theory this could be aggregated across all consumers who take advantage of this innovation

It is difficult to measure:  again in theory it could be done by judging how much more individuals would be willing to pay until they were indifferent between purchasing or not purchasing