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The Journey of Innovation

From Incremental to Radical Innovation and High-Tech Innovation Cascades: The Case of Biotechnology

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Foundations of Economic Change

Part of the book series: Economic Complexity and Evolution ((ECAE))

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Abstract

This paper argues that innovation has itself evolved, from the slow, path-dependent, and foreseeable world of technological trajectories, to the less predictable world of innovation cascades, after incorporating the analysis of radical innovation in the last three decades. Innovation cascades are long series of radical innovations in one or in related technological domains. Two types of innovation cascades are distinguished in the paper: those emerging before the Industrial Revolution and the modern high-tech ones. The previous innovation cascades usually petered out fairly soon by lack of institutional support, as inventors and innovators were individuals or companies trying out their luck in the market place in a less than friendly environment. Present day innovation cascades benefit from numerous innovating firms, research universities and government laboratories, science, technology and innovation policies, increasing numbers of countries investing in R&D and innovation, as well as reduced costs of access to information, communication and transportation. Today’s innovation cascades tend to be more extended through time and space. Their systemic effects are also more widely diffused in global terms.

A previous version of this paper was presented to the International Schumpeter Society conference, Jena, Germany, 25–30 September 2014. I gratefully acknowledge the many comments I received in that session.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Monoclonal_antibodies_for_tumors, the list of 71 antibodies approved or being developed against tumours.

  2. 2.

    http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/tecstc/classes_clstc_gd.htm (for US patents)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UQAM, Montréal, Canada

    Jorge Niosi

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  1. Jorge Niosi
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Correspondence to Jorge Niosi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany

    Andreas Pyka

  2. Department of Economics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Uwe Cantner

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Niosi, J. (2017). The Journey of Innovation. In: Pyka, A., Cantner, U. (eds) Foundations of Economic Change. Economic Complexity and Evolution. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62009-1_12

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