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Innovation

Innovation an Epistemic Exploration?

The Most General Term: The introduction and integration of novel elements into an economic or socio-technical system such that system performance is altered in a persistent and consequential way.

Note:

  • A generic definition of innovation characterizes the resulting system state, not the generative dynamics that produced it.
  • The processes that generate this state—research, recombination, learning, adoption, coordination, scaling, institutional alignment—must be analytically differentiated.
  • “Innovation” is therefore a retrospective classificatory label, not a causal mechanism. Causal explanation requires decomposition into distinct dynamic processes.

Guiding Questions:

  • What is the use of the term innovation?
  • How should the term itself be evaluated?
  • Which ontic elements does the term refer to?
  • What criteria—if any—allow us to distinguish innovation from adjacent concepts such as invention, technical change, learning, or adoption?

References

  • Taylor, S.P. (2017) What Is Innovation? A Study of the Definitions, Academic Models and Applicability of Innovation to an Example of Social Housing in England. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 128-146. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2017.511010
  • Godin, Benoît (2008). Innovation: the history of a category Working Paper. Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Centre Urbanisation Culture Société, Montréal.
  • Lorenz, Robert. "What is innovation?: Insights and perspectives on the term'innovation'." International Journal of Technology Intelligence and Planning 6.1 (2010): 63-75.
  • Edwards-Schachter, Mónica. "The nature and variety of innovation." International Journal of Innovation Studies 2.2 (2018): 65-79.