What is innovation? Laying the ground for a philosophy of innovation

Vincent Blok*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this article, I reflect on the nature of innovation to lay the groundwork for a philosophy of innovation. First, I contrast the contemporary techno-economic paradigm of innovation with the work of Joseph Schumpeter. It becomes clear that Schumpeter’s work provides good reasons to question the techno-economic paradigm of innovation. Second, I contrast ‘innovation’ with ‘technology’ and identify five differences between the two concepts. Third, I reflect on the process-outcome dimension and the ontic-ontological dimension of innovation to develop four characteristics of the phenomenon of innovation. These four characteristics move beyond the techno-economic paradigm of innovation and highlight, first, the importance of its process dimension understood as ontogenesis, second, the outcome of innovation, and third, the importance of the ontological dimension of innovation, which is considered adjacent to its fourth characteristic, i.e., the ontic level of the outcome of innovation. After drawing conclusions, a research agenda for future research is provided.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)72-96
Number of pages25
JournalTechne: Research in Philosophy and Technology
Volume25
Issue number1
Early online date13 Oct 2020
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Keywords

  • Innovation
  • Ontogenesis
  • Philosophy of technology
  • Schumpeter
  • Technology

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