Digital transformation and new dynamics of the triple helix model

Abstract

This paper is intended to be an extension of innovation studies on the complexity of technological change and its relationship with the dynamics of the triple helix actors. Therefore, the research question is how to reduce the complexity of digital transformation from the point of view of innovation actors for a faster and more effective adaptation of their strategies? To answer that question, this paper conceives digitization as a ‘new technological path’. The complexity of digitization is assumed as the clearest expression of current technological change. The speed, dynamics and strength developed give technological change a character of domination. These characteristics have a transforming power on the actors that form the triple helix. Specifically, the objective of this work is to characterize the dynamism of the theoretical approach to technological change by making a longitudinal analysis of the development of digitization. The theoretical analysis allowed the identification of a set of variables, which modifies the way the actors are organized in triple helix model and can generate new arrangements in the interaction process. Also, it was observed that the variables identified are distinctive from other innovation variables in the approaches of Schumpeterian and neo-Schumpeterian actors. The results of this work were achieved using qualitative analysis through the MAGG methodological approach that made it possible to systematize and classify longitudinally different theoretical perspectives on the dynamics of technological change. A theoretical contrasting method was relevant because it allowed us to identify these variables.