Technology Innovation on the Innovation spectrum

In this blog, we focus on one of the four staging posts that we identified in describing a spectrum of innovation in Blog 1.

Technology Innovation

For most of us, when we hear the word “innovation”, we immediately think of Technology Innovation. Technology Innovation is a change in a tool or object that opens the possibility of new outputs from the use of that tool or object.

Academic exploration of innovation often starts and ends by considering Technology Innovation. But socio-technical studies’ scrutiny of examples and case studies shows that there is a dynamic interplay between technologies, actors, institutions, and networks required for Technology Innovation to succeed. This interplay can have economic, social, and environmental consequences; consequences that demonstrate the pivotal role of technological innovation in shaping society. Take for example the large language models such as Chat GPT; these generative AI technologies make ‘chatbots’ more efficient and offer routes to support and enable a wise range of people to participate in debates, but they also bring ethical, educational, political, economic, social, and cultural concerns.

Examples

Renewable Technology Development:

Progress in renewable energy technologies, such as the widespread use of solar panels, advancements in wind power, and innovations in energy storage system are all technology innovations which offer routes to decarbonise energy consumption.

Facilitating human communication and interaction:

The field of communication is advancing rapidly, with more data being shared and connections being made following significant technology innovation in areas such as 5G technology and virtual reality.

Getting from Place to Place:

In the realm of transportation, the technology innovations of electric drive trains support increasing adoption of electric vehicles and autonomous driving technology will herald further shifts in mobility.

Technological advancements often consist of a multitude of interconnected Technology Innovations; each breakthrough contributes to a tapestry of progress, shaping the future beyond individual domains.

And Technology Innovation rarely stands alone. The next blog will move along the innovation spectrum to explore Process Innovation.