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Chapter 12: Type 2 innovation fields: design by drastic technological change and by regenerating functions

Chapter 12: Type 2 innovation fields: design by drastic technological change and by regenerating functions

pp. 273-287

Authors

, Mines ParisTech, , Mines ParisTech, , Mines ParisTech
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Summary

The second type of innovation field involves regenerating functions. It covers a variety of relatively classic situations such as the use of promising technologies, reforms to functions, renewals in competencies, front-end functions or, more generally speaking, forms of ‘innovative D’. It entails issues such as developing innovative technologies, solving recurrent problems, moving away from ‘amateur’ solutions, inventing ‘creative compromises’ (Weil 1999), launching technical ‘monsters’ and creating alliances and new interfaces between functions. In all these situations, the key focus is on knowledge production.

However, there are restrictions to such explorations as the aim is to limit the impact on the object to be designed, to avoid challenging neighbouring functions and to change the object's identity as little as possible. The context is similar to the design of complex systems, where one of the challenges is precisely to separate out, confine and reuse known solutions and avoid spreading constraints. The exercise entails renewing knowledge whilst changing only a minimum number of the object's attributes.

Examples of δC-ΔK

The predominant feature of δC-ΔK is an expansion in knowledge which has a significant impact but is mainly confined to value. This ‘intuitive’ situation has had wide coverage in economic literature and in the history of science and techniques. There are numerous examples of technical changes in an apparently stable functional perimeter, such as the change from cathode ray tubes to flat screens, from silver film to digital film photography, from steam to electric railways, from iodine lamps to transistors, from wind-up to quartz watches and from gas to electric lighting. […]

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