Linear model of innovation
Encyclopedia
The Linear Model of Innovation is an early model of innovation that suggests technical change happens in a linear fashion from Invention to Innovation to Diffusion.
It prioritises scientific research as the basis of innovation, and plays down the role of later players in the innovation process.
Current models of innovation deriving from approaches such as Actor-Network Theory
or Social shaping of technology
provide a much richer picture of the way innovation works.
Current ideas in Open Innovation
and User innovation
derive from these later ideas.
Also known as ‘Traditional Phase Gate Model’, under this model, product or services concept is frozen at early stage so as to minimize risk. Also innovation process in enterprise involves series of sequential phases/steps arranged in such a manner that the preceding phase must be cleared before moving to next phase. Thus a project must pass through a gate with the permission of gatekeeper before moving to the next succeeding phase.
Criteria for passing through each gate, and the person at each gate are defined beforehand. The gatekeeper examines whether the stated objectives for preceding phase have been properly met or not and whether desired development has taken place at the preceding phase or not?
Two versions of the linear model of innovation are often presented:a)"technology push" model;b)"market pull" model.In the period 1950s-Mid-1960s the industrial innovation process was generally perceived as a linear progression from scientific discovery,through technological development in firms,to the marketplace,Rothwell (1994)The stages of the "Technology Push" model are:
Basic science→Design and engineering→Manufacturing→Marketing→Sales
In the period Mid 1960s- Early 1970s emerges the second-generation Innovation model,referred to as the"market pull"model of innovation.According to this simple sequential model, the market was the source of new ideas for directing R&D,which had a reactive role in the process. The stages of the "market pull " model are:
Market need-- Development-- Manufacturing--Sales.
The linear models of innovation supported numerous criticisms concerning the linearity of the models.These models ignore the many feedbacks and loops that occur between the different "stages" of the process Shortcomings and failures that occur at various stages may lead to a reconsideration of earlier steps and this may result in a new innovation. A history of the linear model of innovation may be found in Godin Benoit (2006)http://sth.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/31/6/639
Current models of innovation deriving from approaches such as Actor-Network Theory
Actor-network theory
Actor–network theory, often abbreviated as ANT, is a distinctive approach to social theory and research which originated in the field of science studies...
or Social shaping of technology
Social shaping of technology
According to , "Central to Social Shaping of Technology is the concept that there are `choices' inherent in both the design of individual artifacts and systems, and in the direction or trajectory of innovation programs."If technology does not emerge from the unfolding of a predetermined logic or...
provide a much richer picture of the way innovation works.
Current ideas in Open Innovation
Open Innovation
Although the idea and discussion about some consequences date back at least to the 60s, open innovation is a term promoted by Henry Chesbrough, a professor and executive director at the Center for Open Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, in his book Open Innovation: The new...
and User innovation
User innovation
User innovation refers to innovation by intermediate users or consumer users , rather than by suppliers ....
derive from these later ideas.
Also known as ‘Traditional Phase Gate Model’, under this model, product or services concept is frozen at early stage so as to minimize risk. Also innovation process in enterprise involves series of sequential phases/steps arranged in such a manner that the preceding phase must be cleared before moving to next phase. Thus a project must pass through a gate with the permission of gatekeeper before moving to the next succeeding phase.
Criteria for passing through each gate, and the person at each gate are defined beforehand. The gatekeeper examines whether the stated objectives for preceding phase have been properly met or not and whether desired development has taken place at the preceding phase or not?
Two versions of the linear model of innovation are often presented:a)"technology push" model;b)"market pull" model.In the period 1950s-Mid-1960s the industrial innovation process was generally perceived as a linear progression from scientific discovery,through technological development in firms,to the marketplace,Rothwell (1994)The stages of the "Technology Push" model are:
Basic science→Design and engineering→Manufacturing→Marketing→Sales
In the period Mid 1960s- Early 1970s emerges the second-generation Innovation model,referred to as the"market pull"model of innovation.According to this simple sequential model, the market was the source of new ideas for directing R&D,which had a reactive role in the process. The stages of the "market pull " model are:
Market need-- Development-- Manufacturing--Sales.
The linear models of innovation supported numerous criticisms concerning the linearity of the models.These models ignore the many feedbacks and loops that occur between the different "stages" of the process Shortcomings and failures that occur at various stages may lead to a reconsideration of earlier steps and this may result in a new innovation. A history of the linear model of innovation may be found in Godin Benoit (2006)http://sth.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/31/6/639