Managing changes to integrative technologies the case of biophotonics

Abstract

During the last decade, a paradigmatic change from specialised technologies to more integrative technologies took place. This change means, that not only cooperation between scientists from different disciplines is necessary, but the merging of organisational routines, cognitive frames and knowledge from technological paradigms with different historical roots, application patterns and 'cultures'. Biophotonics is an example necessitating the integration of competences from biotechnology, optical industries and medical devices and still being in a state of market forecasts. The paper presents an overview of recent approaches in the US, Germany, France and the UK with different political frameworks and private institutional settings. It is an analysis of which institutional solutions are chosen to overcome the barriers to integration, the prerequisites of change in incumbent companies and the relevance of internationalisation. The theoretical analysis is based on an innovation system model integrating organisational learning theories.