The IT role in innovation

Innovation nowadays seems better described as the result of multiple interacting actors and in terms of a complex system where innovation is an emergent result. Innovation can also be portrayed as a product of the convergence of three spaces. One corresponds to the technological capabilities of a given moment. The second one comprises the business models that enable instrumenting and capturing value from these possibilities. And the third one describes the societal value, hence consumer acceptance of the product of last two. The confluence of these three spaces will determine the value of a certain proposition. Because interaction is progressively global and mediated through Information Technologies (IT), because companies are rapidly embracing Open Innovation and because new forms of connecting and socializing are invading our social life, the locus of innovation is poisoned to change from the Research & Development (R&D) departments to open organizations with diffuse boundaries and ultimately the Internet.