Research meeting of the Science, Technology and Policy Studies section, University of Twente, with Tim Schweisfurth, who will give a presentation followed by questions and discussion. For more information please contact e.schiweck@utwente.nl
You are welcome!
ABSTRACT
Whereas most research focuses on product and process innovation (Schumpeter innovation types 1 and 2), scholars have only recently started to investigate innovation where an existing solution is recombined with new problems and needs (Schumpeter innovation type 3). This latter type of innovation is called exaptation and is based on artifacts in use being repurposed for a different use. Breakthrough innovations that represent exaptations are Viagra (a antihypertensive drug being applied to treat erectile dysfunction, the CD-ROM (an audio technology being used to store large chunks of data, or shockwave lithotripsy (an aviation technology being used to destroy kidney stones).
Exaptation accounts for a large share of innovative activity. Large scale estimations are missing, but evidence from the pharmaceutical sector indicates that 33% of innovations may be exaptations (Andriani et al. 2017). A pre-analysis of FDA’s medical device data used in this project showed that close to 10% of medical devices are exaptations. Despite its importance for economic growth, exaptive innovation has received much less attention than other types of innovation. However, firms can actively drive exaptation by ascribing new functions to a given technology and coupling new uses and application fields to existing technology. The aim of this paper is to further understand the patterns of firm’s strategic exaptive innovation behavior. Specifically, we investigate which factors drive a firm’s decision to exapt and where firms find new application fields.
Tim Schweisfurth, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Management, University of Twente