Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Home
  • Home
Article
  • Access
  • Open access

A Conceptual Framework for Breakthrough Technologies

  • Andreas Makoto Hein (a1) and Juliette Brun (a2)

Abstract

Breakthrough technologies introduce a radically new capability or a drastic performance improvement. However, the existing engineering design literature does not specifically pay attention to them. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for breakthrough technologies, aiming for a more detailed characterization of breakthrough technologies. First, based on a literature survey, we reflect on the relationship between breakthrough technology and innovation. In addition, we explore the relationship between breakthrough technologies at the component and system level. Next, we propose a conceptual framework with dimensions in which breakthroughs may occur and the corresponding expansion of concepts and knowledge, drawing from C-K theory. We subsequently apply the framework to the case of a laser sail-propelled interstellar probe. We conclude that the relationship between component and system-level breakthrough technologies requires further exploration. Furthermore, the coupling between the breakthrough technology and market breakthrough in the form of a new business model seems interesting for future work.

    •

      • Send article to Kindle

      To send this article to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about sending to your Kindle. Find out more about sending to your Kindle.

      Note you can select to send to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be sent to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

      Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

      A Conceptual Framework for Breakthrough Technologies
      Available formats
      ×

      Send article to Dropbox

      To send this article to your Dropbox account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Dropbox.

      A Conceptual Framework for Breakthrough Technologies
      Available formats
      ×

      Send article to Google Drive

      To send this article to your Google Drive account, please select one or more formats and confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your <service> account. Find out more about sending content to Google Drive.

      A Conceptual Framework for Breakthrough Technologies
      Available formats
      ×

Copyright

© The Author(s) 2019
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.

Corresponding author

Contact: Hein, Andreas Makoto, CentraleSupelec, CentraleSupelec, France, andreas-makoto.hein@centralesupelec.fr

References

Hide All
Abernathy, W.J. and Utterback, J.M. (1978), “Patterns of industrial innovation”, Technology Review, Vol. 80 No. 7, pp. 40–47.
Atwater, H. A., Davoyan, A.R., Ilic, O., Jariwala, D., Sherrott, M.C., Went, C.M. and Wong, J. (2018), “Materials challenges for the Starshot lightsail”, Nature Materials, Vol. 17, pp. 861–867.
Chandy, R.K. and Tellis, G. J. (2000), “The incumbent's curse? Incumbency, size, and radical product innovation”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 64 No. 3, pp. 1–17.
Chandy, R. and Prabhu, J. (2010), “Innovation typologies”, In Wiley international encyclopedia of marketing, Part Vol. 5. Product Innovation and Management, Wiley.
Chanute, O. (1899), Progress in Flying Machines, Courier Corporation.
Constant, E. (1980), The origins of the turbojet revolution, Johns Hopkins University Press.
Crawley, E., Cameron, B. and Selva, D. (2015), Systems Architecture: Strategy and Product Development for Complex Systems, Prentice Hall Press.
Demil, B. and Lecocq, X. (2010), “Business model evolution: in search of dynamic consistency”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 43 No. 2–3, pp. 227–246.
Drexler, K. E. (2013), Radical Abundance, PublicAffairs books.
Fragola, J. R., Morse, E. L., Putney, B. and Diapice, J. (2010), “A practical top-down approach to assess programmatic risk for projects with low-TRL elements”. In European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP (Vol. 680 SP).
Garcia, R. (2010), “Types of Innovation”, In Wiley Encyclopedia of Management, Wiley.
Garcia, R. and Calantone, R. (2002), “A critical look at technological innovation typology and innovativeness terminology: a literature review”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 110–132.
Hatchuel, A. and Weil, B. (2003), “A new approach of innovative Design: an introduction to CK theory”, DS Vol. 31: Proceedings of ICED 03.
Hein, A., Jankovic, M. and Condat, H. (2017), “Breakthrough technologies: principle feasibility debates”, In 21st International Conference on Engineering Design 2017.
Hein, A., Long, K.F., Fries, D., Perakis, N., Genovese, A., Zeidler, S. and Armstrong, R. (2017), “The Andromeda Study: A Femto-Spacecraft Mission to Alpha Centauri”, ArXiv Preprint, 1708.03556, Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1708.03556
Henderson, R. and Clark, K. (1990), “Architectural innovation: The reconfiguration of existing product technologies and the failure of established firms”, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 9–30.
Hughes, T. P. (1993), Networks of power: electrification in Western society, JHU Press, pp. 1880–1930.
Huygens, C. (1680), A New Motive Power by Means of Gunpowder and Air, Royal Academy of Sciences.
Isaksson, O., Eckert, C., Borgue, O., Hallstedt, S.I., Hein, A., Gericke, K. and Öhrwall Rönnbäck, A. B. (2019), “Perspectives on Innovation: The Role of Engineering Design”, In 22nd International Conference on Engineering Design, Delft, Netherlands.
Knoll, D., Golkar, A. and de Weck, O. (2018), “A concurrent design approach for model-based technology roadmapping”, In Systems Conference (SysCon), 2018 Annual IEEE International (pp. 1–6). IEEE. In 2018 Annual IEEE International Systems Conference (SysCon) (pp. 1–6).
Kotsemir, M. (2013), “Innovation concepts and typology–an evolutionary discussion (No. WP BRP 05/STI/2013)”, Higher School of Economics Research Paper, Retrieved from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2221299
Lubin, P. (2016), “A Roadmap to Interstellar Flight”, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Vol. 69 No. 2–3.
Mankins, J. (1995), Technology readiness levels, White Paper, Advanced Concepts Office Office of Space Access and Technology NASA.
Masters, B. and Thiel, P. (2014), Zero to one: notes on start ups, or how to build the future, Random House.
McGrath, R.G. (2010), “Business models: A discovery driven approach”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 43 No. 2–3, pp. 247–261.
Merriam-Webster Inc. (2004), Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary, Merriam-Webster.
O'Connor, G.C. and Rice, M.P. (2013), “A comprehensive model of uncertainty associated with radical innovation”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 30, pp. 2–18.
OECD. (1991), The nature of innovation and the evolution of the productive system. technology and productivity-the challenge for economic policy.
Osterwalder, A. (2004), “The business model ontology: A proposition in a design science approach”. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/download/30373644/thebusiness-model-ontology.pdf
Pahl, G., Beitz, W., Feldhusen, J. and Grote, K. (2007), Engineering design: a systematic approach, Springer.
Rice, M., Colarelli O'Connor, G., Peters, L. and Morone, J. (1998), “Managing discontinuous innovation”, Research Technology Management, Vol. 41 No. 3, pp. 52–58.
Rose, D. J. (1971), “Controlled nuclear fusion: Status and outlook”. Science, Vol. 172 No. 3985, pp. 797–808.
Sahal, D. (1981), Patterns of technological innovation, Addison-Wesley.
Sauser, B., Verma, D., Ramirez-Marquez, J. and Gove, R. (2006), “From TRL to SRL: The concept of systems readiness levels”, In Conference on Systems Engineering Research, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Smaling, R. and de Weck, O. (2007), “Assessing risks and opportunities of technology infusion in system design”, Systems Engineering, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 1–25. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sys.20061/abstract
Song, X.M. and Montoya-Weiss, M.M. (1998), “Critical development activities for really new versus incremental products”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 124–135.
Suh, E. S., Furst, M. R., Mihalyov, K. J. and de Weck, O. (2010), “Technology infusion for complex systems: A framework and case study”. Systems Engineering, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 186–203.
Teece, D. J. (2010), “Business models, business strategy and innovation”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 43 No. 2–3, pp. 172–194.
Teller, A. (2013), “Google X Head on Moonshots: 10X Is Easier Than 10 Percent”, Retrieved April 22, 2017, from https://www.wired.com/2013/02/moonshots-matter-heres-how-to-make-them-happen/
Vincenti, W. (1992), “Engineering knowledge, type of design, and level of hierarchy: further thoughts about what engineers know”, Technological Development and Science in the Industrial Age, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 144, pp. 17–34.

Keywords

Metrics

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Abstract views

Total abstract views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between <date>. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed