Technological cognition and co-adaptation in mesoeconomic plexuses

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new approach to technological knowledge based on the concept of mesoeconomic plexus conceived as the fundamental analytical unit of the meso level. We consider this entity as a complex adaptive system, in which technological cognition and innovation are emergent phenomena. In order to substantiate this hypothesis we examine the link between industrial organisation and knowledge generation and diffusion at the meso level, and we look at cognition as an evolutionary process and, more specifically, the generation of new technological knowledge and its intersubjective systemisation through competitive and mutualistic co-adaptation respectively.