Disruptive Technological Innovation Research Articles

Do you have a naïve forecasting model of the future?

PurposeThis paper addresses the increasingly rapid and disruptive changes caused by technology innovations impacting commercial real estate (CRE) and how leaders in today's CRE business environment can better anticipate, and even experiment with, disruptive technologies while maintaining current business assets and practices.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research is based in systems theory, through which the impact of disruptive technology innovation cycles on business models is described for tactical and strategic utility.FindingsThe advent of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is characterized by a convergence of multiple technological innovations including artificial intelligence, the Internet of things, smart buildings, autonomous agents, and automated decision-making. Industry 4.0 promises a future of discontinuities and disruptive innovation superseding the deployment of digital technologies enabled by Industry 3.0. Ambidextrous leaders need to maintain two concurrent foci: one on the current CRE business environment for incremental improvements and one on new opportunities made possible by the next technology innovation cycle.Practical implicationsBy anticipating the inflection points of nonlinear technology adoption cycles, CRE leaders can reduce risks and increase innovative opportunities as participants in the next disruptive cycle rather than falling victim to it.Originality/valueThis work examines CRE market disruptions caused by technology innovation cycles through the lens of systems theory. A connection is made between the nonlinear nature of technology disruption cycles within the CRE business environment and how CRE leadership can better anticipate and prepare for change through ambidextrous thinking.

Smart contracts: will Fintech be the catalyst for the next global financial crisis?

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the risks associated with smart contracts, a disruptive financial technology (FinTech) innovation, and assesses how in the future they could threaten the integrity of the global financial system.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach is used to identify risk factors related to the use of new financial innovations, by examining how over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contributed to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) which occurred during 2007 and 2008. Based on this analysis, the potential for similar concerns with smart contracts are evaluated, drawing on the failure of The DAO on the Ethereum blockchain, which involved the loss of over $60m of digital currency.FindingsExtensive use of bilateral agreements, complexity and lack of standardization, lack of transparency, misuse and speed of contagion were factors that contributed to the GFC that could also become material concerns for smart contract technology as its adoption grows. These concerns, combined with other contextual factors, such as the risk of defects in smart contracts and cyberattacks, could lead to potential destabilization of the broader financial system.Practical implicationsThe paper’s findings provide insights to help make the design, management and monitoring of smart contract technology more robust. They also provide guidance for key stakeholders on proactive steps that can be taken with smart contract technology to avoid repeating the types of oversights that contributed to the GFC.Originality/valueThis paper draws attention to the risks associated with the adoption of disruptive FinTech. It also suggests steps that regulators and other key stakeholders can take to help mitigate those risks.

Achieving disruptive growth & technical innovations: in & through the HR

With the transforming business and client requirements, organizations today are shifting towards developing technofunctional skills such as Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud, security, etc. Clients are looking for creative solutions using disruptive technological innovations which would provide long term benefit and tackle the evergrowing issue of competition in the market. In order to develop transformative creative solutions, organizations have identified the need for recruiting a technically sound work-force and up-skill the already existing workforce. The HR function is the connecting link between the organizational values, vision and it's people. HR helps recruit the candidates which would be the ultimate fit for the role, retaining the most talented individuals with advanced skill sets and develop the skills required for the organization to achieve its goals. This paper unravels the importance of upskilling the human resource department of organizations, highlights how HR plays a pivotal role in the early adoption of the digital era in the organizations and can empower new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence. The research is a qualitative one that involves interviews from professionals from the HR industry of top tier firms, start-ups and literature review in the field of HR and Consulting. The study shall provide key recommendations to be followed by the organizations to be able to drive disruptive growth in organizations and create an impact through technological innovations in, and through the HR industry.

Transient Information Adaptation of Artificial Intelligence: Towards Sustainable Data Processes in Complex Projects

Large scale projects increasingly operate in complicated settings whilst drawing on an array of complex data-points, which require precise analysis for accurate control and interventions to mitigate possible project failure. Coupled with a growing tendency to rely on new information systems and processes in change projects, 90% of megaprojects globally fail to achieve their planned objectives. Renewed interest in the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) against a backdrop of disruptive technological innovations, seeks to enhance project managers cognitive capacity through the project lifecycle and enhance project excellence. However, despite growing interest there remains limited empirical insights on project managers ability to leverage AI for cognitive load enhancement in complex settings. As such this research adopts an exploratory sequential linear mixed methods approach to address unresolved empirical issues on transient adaptations of AI in complex projects, and the impact on cognitive load enhancement. Initial thematic findings from semi-structured interviews with domain experts, suggest that in order to leverage AI technologies and processes for sustainable cognitive load enhancement with complex data over time, project managers require improved knowledge and access to relevant technologies that mediate data processes in complex projects, but equally reflect application across different project phases. These initial findings support further hypothesis testing through a larger quantitative study incorporating structural equation modelling to examine the relationship between artificial intelligence and project managers cognitive load with project data in complex contexts.

A Research on Disruptive Technology Innovation Potential Evaluation and Selection: Perspective of TRIZ

A Research on Disruptive Technology Innovation Potential Evaluation and Selection: Perspective of TRIZ

Diffusion of 3D Printing Technology

3D printing technology has been perceived as a disruptive technological innovation in many areas as it can revolutionize existing systems. It has many potential advantages in various areas such as medicine, aerospace and customized goods in terms of integrity, cost and speed. This study aims to visualize the evolution of 3D printing technology related patents by patent mapping, in the process, diffusion of 3D printing technologies to different business fields can be traced and evaluated. Patents represent the scientific knowledge that has been already commercialized or is ready to be marketed. The historical evolution and current framework have been demonstrated by using social network analysis on CPC codes of the related patents. Results of the study suggest that most technologies connected with 3D printing depend on B29C (shaping or joining of plastics; shaping of substances in a plastic state, in general; after-treatment of the shaped products, e.g., repairing.).

Disruptive technological process innovation in a process-oriented industry: A case study

Abstract By utilizing a unique methodology to the field of strategy (i.e., the complete participant method), we demonstrated that firms are able to identify a technology that can potentially disrupt the industry, expanding on the ex-ante capacity of disruptive innovation theory. In addition, the study identifies six challenges that a new entrant faces when developing a potentially disruptive technical process innovation. The study also suggests to prevent failure in the process of developing and commercializing a potentially disruptive process innovation, new entrants in a process-oriented industry need to acquire three antecedents and capabilities which have been formulated in three propositions.

IS AUSTRALIAN LAW ADAPTABLE TO AUTOMATED VEHICLES?

Recent deaths involving automated vehicles have sparked calls for legislative reform. Scholars argue that the law lags behind new and disruptive technological innovations. Autonomous vehicles are hailed as the next step in the shifting paradigm of disruptive technology. With the introduction of automated vehicles, changes will occur in many areas of law and society. These changes will impact notions of property, identity and the physical landscape of Australia, including the architecture of the future fleet of motor vehicles and the infrastructure surrounding mass road transport. The legal frameworks in Australia appear fairly well adapted to the introduction of automated vehicles as there are several structures in place to allow the law to investigate and adapt to new technology. This article seeks to outline some of the social and legal impacts arising from the introduction of automated vehicles. It is structured in three parts. First it outlines a brief history of automated vehicles. Then it considers some different areas of law intersected by the introduction of automated vehicles; criminal law, privacy law, personal injury and product liability. Finally, it reflects on some of the potential physical and social impacts surrounding the introduction of automated vehicles. It concludes with whether the Australian law is adaptable to this new and disruptive technology.

New approaches to customer experience: where disruptive technological innovation meets luxury fashion

Abstract Consumer behavior is shifting radically with the rise of e-commerce and new technologies. As a result, luxury retailers are forced to embrace a variety of technologies to keep their customers engaged. How do brands captivate shoppers and provide the customer experience that will satisfy their desires? Through dissemination of literature and case studies on examples from the industry, this paper presents a detailed discussion on the new approaches to customer experience in the luxury fashion industry, in the context of a modern economy that is highly shaped by disruptive technological innovations. The discussion includes two detailed case studies, focusing on two key themes that define contemporary customer expectations: the story – discussing customer’s desire to be immersed in the narratives behind catwalk collections, and the experience – discussing the use of technology to create a unique retail space through the use of online and mobile specific technologies. The first case study focuses on how new technologies provide brands with new opportunities to present their products through narratives. Using famous luxury retailers Dior, Givenchy and Prada as examples, the case study provides a detailed discussion on the use of virtual reality and augmented reality as tools that enable customers to project themselves into the story behind a catwalk show and become active characters in the narrative, through the use of technological devices. The second case study focuses on the importance of merging the online and the traditional brick-and-mortar store. “The Store of the Future”, by luxury retailer Farfetch is used as an example of how retailers make use of high-tech equipment, virtual reality and augmented reality not only to create a tech-powered interactive experience that will intrigue customers, but also to improve retail productivity by capturing customer data. The study adopts a qualitative research method to evaluate the validity of the concepts discussed in the Literature Review, using a sample of three in-depth interviews with industry experts, focusing on the use of technology to improve customer experience in physical retail spaces. Based on previously published research, it is estimated that the primary research will indicate that it is not the use of technology that drives the customer experience, but customer expectations that determine the adoption and adaptation of disruptive technologies to satisfy the shoppers’ requirements.

The limits of the business case for sustainability: Don’t count on ‘Creating Shared Value’ to extinguish corporate destruction

Creating Shared Value (CSV) is arguably the leading approach for articulating the business case for corporate sustainability. This article examines the potential of CSV to generate the transformative innovation that the cleaner production literature takes for granted as a core component of corporate sustainability in the future. The article's major contribution is to make a systematic case for skepticism towards CSV's capacity to deliver on the dream of transformative innovation that can crowd out and eventually eradicate ecologically destructive legacy businesses. The article's first contribution in support of this conclusion is to show that the range of examples of CSV in the field can be categorized either as "harm-reducing" or as "giving-back" strategies. In each case, these strategies have sought to "optimize" legacy businesses by offsetting or mitigating impact that is ecologically destructive. The second contribution is to show that the logic of CSV does not question the underlying premises behind legacy businesses. To that extent, we present the case of the German automobile industry to demonstrate that high achievement in the implementation of optimizing strategies is compatible with destructive trade-offs. The third contribution is to explain the systematic failure of CSV to generate transformative innovation that can extinguish destructive businesses. We argue that, while CSV can improve sustainability performance up to a point, the features of the resource allocation process that characteristically deprive disruptive technological innovations from successful investment will also, as a rule, effectively block transformative CSV innovation. The three arguments reinforce and collectively support the thesis: Don't Count on 'Creating Shared Value' to Extinguish Destructive Business.

The rise of graphene expectations: Anticipatory practices in emergent nanotechnologies

Graphene is a material consisting of ideally one layer of carbon atoms that has been claimed to enable a new wave of disruptive technological innovation. Similar to other techno-scientific fields, graphene research has been populated with far-reaching promises and expectations, and claimed to be subject to over-promising and hype. This article builds on a practice-based approach to understand how expectations contribute to the emergence of the techno-scientific field of graphene. We follow the anticipatory practices that constituted different arenas where expectations on graphene have been voiced, spread and assessed. These arenas relate to scientific, policy and market actors, and anticipatory practices reach from the circulation of promises in high-profile journals, via roadmapping to calculative practices that shape emergent markets. We investigate the specific forms of performativity that different practices create, and how these practices have contributed to the emergence and governance of the graphene field.

Disruptive technology and disruptive innovation: ignore at your peril!

ABSTRACTThis article reviews the far-reaching impact of some of the most potent disruptive technologies and disruptive innovations sweeping the world today like Digitalisation, Internet, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, 3D Printing and Renewable Energy to name a few. Industry aims to connect all production means to enable their interaction in real time thanks to technologies like Cloud, Big Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things. 3D Printing will radically change current manufacturing and construction practices. Renewable Energy will displace fossil fuels to a large extent. Education practices will be significantly impacted by the innovative applications of Information and Communication Technologies. Online business will dominate retail business. While new skills will be required, joblessness amongst large sections of the population will increase posing new socio-economic and political problems.

As inovações tecnológicas levam o jornalismo aos agentes autônomos artificiais

Nos últimos anos, inovações tecnológicas disruptivas inseriram radical tecnologização nos recursos comunicativos de massa, fazendo com que a sociedade aderisse de forma consistente na sua utilização e preferências. Tal transformação alterou fortemente os processos produtivos da área, especialmente no segmento do jornalismo, onde se consolidou uma densa automatização dos processos e, mais recentemente, Agentes autônomos artificiais passaram a controlar a apuração e redigem a própria notícia. Neste trabalho apontamos que os avanços na área da Inteligência Artificial incorporaram à realidade da produção jornalística os sistemas informatizados com os algoritmos e o Big Data que, somados à automatização crescente dos processos, reconfiguraram as lógicas produtivas com alterações nos modelos de negócios, requerendo novas habilidades e competências profissionais.

Impact of myopic decision-making and disruptive events in power systems planning

The delayed deployment of low-carbon energy technologies is impeding energy system decarbonization. The continuing debate about the cost-competitiveness of low-carbon technologies has led to a strategy of waiting for a ‘unicorn technology’ to appear. Here, we show that myopic strategies that rely on the eventual manifestation of a unicorn technology result in either an oversized and underutilized power system when decarbonization objectives are achieved, or one that is far from being decarbonized, even if the unicorn technology becomes available. Under perfect foresight, disruptive technology innovation can reduce total system cost by 13%. However, a strategy of waiting for a unicorn technology that never appears could result in 61% higher cumulative total system cost by mid-century compared to deploying currently available low-carbon technologies early on. Investment and policy decisions about low-carbon technologies have been affected by the promise of a ‘unicorn technology’ that may reduce emissions at low costs. Researchers show that such investment delays can have high implications on cost and emissions whether the unicorn technology materializes or not.

Exploring new organisational forms in English higher education: a think piece

This ‘think piece’ explores whether new organisational forms are now appearing within English Higher Education (HE). The growth of non-public funding streams and the extension of Degree Awarding Powers to alternative providers might encourage such shifts. We suggested the conventional Private Limited Company is not in principle the only alternative to the publicly funded HE Institution. One consistent national policy driver in strategies of English public management reform has been support for third sector orientated providers which may have had effects in HE. Our empirical conclusions about present organisational change patterns in the sector are, however, decidedly mixed. There is substantial but rather conventional M and A activity between publicly funded HE providers which does not add to organisational variety. A small cluster of for profits has entered the English HE market, alongside another small cluster of non for profits. One site showed evidence of a slight move to a professional partnership form, mixed with private equity. Staff owned mutuals seemed very weakly developed. These novel organisations are as yet generally small scale, with a few exceptions. There was initial evidence found of larger scale developments in a novel and hybrid organisational space which combines: recently founded social enterprises, disruptive technological innovation, new forms of on line learning, often supported financially by large philanthropic foundations connected to the high tech sector. Large foundations may emerge as important influencers which complement shrinking government funding. The virtual university is another organisational change to explore further, especially given the rise of ICT dependent inter university and international consortia, but is not necessarily friendly to third sector ideas and forms. Finally, we explore the wider and more international implications of our early work on English HE for future research.

Regulation Tomorrow: What Happens When Technology Is Faster Than the Law?

In an age of constant, complex and disruptive technological innovation, knowing what, when, and how to structure regulatory interventions has become much more difficult. Regulators can find themselves in a situation where they believe they must opt for either reckless action (regulation without sufficient facts) or paralysis (doing nothing). Inevitably in such a case, caution tends to trump risk. But such caution merely functions to reinforce the status quo and the result is that new technologies struggle to reach the market in a timely or efficient manner. The solution: lawmaking and regulatory design needs to become more proactive, dynamic and responsive. So how can regulators actually achieve these goals? What can they do to promote innovation and offer better opportunities to people wanting to build a new business around a disruptive technology or simply enjoy the benefits of a disruptive new technology as a consumer?

Threats to the Human Capacity of Regional Higher Education Institutions

In recent years, the sphere of science and education in Russia undergoes significant reforms. However, the existing framework guiding the development of the higher education contradict the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of Russia. These contradictions concern the conditions for building an integral system of personnel reserve and recruitment, which is necessary for the scientific and technological development of the country. The change of the funding model and the transition to two-tier higher education contribute to the outflow of talented youth to the cities where branded universities are concentrated. It creates threats to the human capacity of regional higher education institutions (both regarding staffing number, and regarding personnel reserve). Decreasing trend in number of students because of the federal budget appropriation and the existing system of per capita funding for regional higher education institutions are the threats for regional higher education. These threats can result in permanent reduction of the number of academic teaching staff and in potential decline in quality of education due to increasing teachers’ workloads. The transition to the two-tier model of university education has changed the approach to evaluating the efficiency of scientific research. The number of publications in the journals, which are indexed in the Web of Science and Scopus, has increased, but the patent activity of the leading higher education institutions has decreased many times. The ratio of number of articles to the number of the granted patents in the leading Russian universities significantly exceeds a similar indicator of the leading foreign universities. It can be regarded as «brain drain». Furthermore, this fact explains why the specific weight of income from the results of intellectual activity in total income in the majority of the Russian universities is close to zero. Regional higher education institutions need a strategy of innovative development. This strategy assumes the change in the system of financing of higher education and the evaluation of the efficiency of scientific activity to stimulate the creation of disruptive social and technological innovations. Further research can be devoted to the identification of the agents of influence on education and science and the development of a methodology for the assessment of damage from their activity.

Enlightenment of Disruptive Technological Innovation of DARPA

Enlightenment of Disruptive Technological Innovation of DARPA

Inter-organisational learning in cases of disruptive innovation

This paper explores why it often takes an inter-organisational learning effort to realise the practical potential of disruptive innovation. A pattern matching methodology is used to systematically compare a theoretical pattern of learning to an empirically derived pattern. The empirical pattern is developed from an archival case history of inter-organisational learning during the early stages of the personal computer industry. The results of this study suggest that in cases of disruptive technological innovation, a single organisation is not likely to have the capability to complete the entire learning process on its own. Instead, an inter-organisational effort is necessary with a different organisation taking the knowledge through each successive stage. This study challenges the unity and isolation of the single organisation that is often taken for granted in organisational learning and adds a time-based dimension to the study of inter-organisational learning through use of a longitudinal methodology.

Supporting Basic Research by Classification to Promote Whole-Chain Disruptive Technology Innovation

Supporting Basic Research by Classification to Promote Whole-Chain Disruptive Technology Innovation