Koen Frenken

Toward a Systematic Framework for Research on Dominant Designs, Technological Innovations, and Industrial Change

The concept of a dominant design has taken on a quasi-paradigmatic status in analyses of the link between technological and industrial dynamics. A review of the empirical literature reveals a variety of interpretations about some aspects of the phenomenon such as its underlying causal mechanisms and its level of analysis. To stimulate further progress in empirical research on dominant designs, we advocate a standardization of terminology by conceptualizing products as complex artifacts that evolve in the form of a nested hierarchy of technology cycles. Such a nested complex system perspective provides both unambiguous definitions of dominant designs (stable core components that can be stable interfaces) and inclusion of multiple levels of analysis (system, subsystems, components). We introduce the concept of an operational principle and offer a systematic definition of core and peripheral subsystems based on the concept of pleiotropy. We also discuss how the proposed terminological standardization can stimulate cumulative research on dominant designs.

The Spatial Evolution of Innovation Networks: A Proximity Perspective

We propose an evolutionary perspective on the geography of network formation that is grounded in a dynamic proximity framework. In doing so, we root the proximity concept in an evolutionary approach to the geography of innovation networks. We discuss three topics. The first topic focuses on explaining the structure of networks. The second topic concentrates on explaining the effects of networks on the performance of actors. The third topic deals with the changing role of proximity dimensions in the formation and performance of innovation networks in the longer run.

Spatial scientometrics : towards a cumulative research program

We propose a research program to analyse spatial aspects of the science system. First, we provide a review of scientometric studies that already explicitly take the spatial dimension into account. The review includes studies on (i) the spatial distribution of research and citations, (ii) the existence of spatial biases in collaboration, citations and mobility, and (iii) the citation impact of national versus international collaborations. Then, we address a number of methodological issues in dealing with space in scientometrics. Finally, to integrate spatial and non-spatial approaches, we propose an analytical framework based on the concept of proximity. A proximity approach allows for combining hypotheses from different theoretical perspectives into a single framework.

Variety and niche creation in aircraft, helicopters, motorcycles and microcomputers

Evolutionary theories of economic development stress the role of variety as both a determinant and a result of growth. Our empirical understanding of the role of variety, however, is still limited. We propose two variety measures, one based on entropy and one based on Weitzmans maximum likelihood procedure. It is argued that the two measures are complementary since they highlight different aspects of variety. Entropy is based on frequencies and indicates the statistical variety, while Weitzmans measure is based on the distance between products, and indicates the degree and structure of differentiation of a population. We apply the measures to product characteristics of four technologies (aircraft, helicopters, motorcycles, and microcomputers). The results on the three transport technologies show classic evolutionary specialisation patterns that can be understood on the basis of niche theory. In these cases, the changes in variety are related to changes the scope of services a technology can deliver analogous to the size of a habitat of a biological species. The results on microcomputers call for another explanation, since we found that variety decreased while the scope of services increased rapidly. In this case, the rapid fall in costs per unit service decreased so rapidly that the lower end of the market continuously disappears when the higher end of the market is extended. The results on microcomputers call for extending niche theory including the rate of change in costs.

Technological innovation and complexity theory

Complexity theory has become influential in recent models in social science. In the context of innovations and new technologies, most applications have focused on technology adoption and technology diffusion, whereas the topic of the innovation process has received less attention. This paper discusses three families of complexity models of technological innovation: fitness landscape models, network models and percolation models. The models are capable of analysing complex interaction structures (between components of technologies, between agents engaged in collective invention) while avoiding ‘over-parameterisation’. The paper ends with discussing the methodological challenges and critiques regarding the application of complexity theory that remain.

R&D portfolios in environmentally friendly automotive propulsion: variety, competition and policy implications

In this article, we analyze R&D portfolios in environmentally friendly automotive propulsion including alternative fuel options. We argue that at the current stage of development, substitution of conventional car technology by a new automotive propulsion technology may lead to premature lock-in of suboptimal technology. To avoid such lock-in, one should value the variety of current R&D activity that enables organizations to learn from multiple options and to create spillovers between options. We further argue that the existence of technological variety is not a sufficient condition to avoid lock-in. Organizational variety is also required to sustain competition and avoid the dominance of few firms that possibly enforce a suboptimal technology within the sector. To assess whether recent developments in R&D have led to both technological variety and organizational competition, we analyze United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patents in low-emission vehicles (LEVs) during the period 1980–2001 using entropy statistics. Results show that both technological variety and organizational competition have increased steadily since the early nineties, suggesting that premature lock-in is unlikely to occur. From an environmental policy evaluation perspective, we consider the findings as a positive evaluation of the 1990 Californian Low Emission Vehicle program.

Proximity and Innovation: From Statics to Dynamics

Balland P.-A., Boschma R. and Frenken K. Proximity and innovation: from statics to dynamics, Regional Studies. Despite theoretical and empirical advances, the proximity framework has remained essentially static. A dynamic extension of the proximity framework is proposed that accounts for co-evolutionary dynamics between knowledge networking and proximity. For each proximity dimension, how proximities might increase over time as a result of past knowledge ties is described. These dynamics are captured through the processes of learning (cognitive proximity), integration (organizational proximity), decoupling (social proximity), institutionalization (institutional proximity), and agglomeration (geographical proximity). The paper ends with a discussion of several avenues for future research on the dynamics of knowledge networking and proximity.

Related Variety, Unrelated Variety and Technological Breakthroughs: An analysis of US State-Level Patenting

Castaldi C., Frenken K. and Los B. Related variety, unrelated variety and technological breakthroughs: an analysis of US state-level patenting, Regional Studies. This paper investigates how variety affects the innovation output of a region. Borrowing arguments from theories of recombinant innovation, it is expected that related variety will enhance innovation as related technologies are more easily recombined into a new technology. However, it is also expected that unrelated variety enhances technological breakthroughs, since radical innovation often stems from connecting previously unrelated technologies opening up whole new functionalities and applications. Using patent data for US states in the period 1977–99 and associated citation data, evidence is found for both hypotheses. This study thus sheds a new and critical light on the related variety hypothesis in economic geography.

Scaling trajectories in civil aircraft (1913-1997)

Using entropy statistics we analyse scaling patterns in terms of changes in the ratios among product characteristics of 143 designs in civil aircraft. Two allegedly dominant designs, the piston propeller DC3 and the turbofan Boeing 707, are shown to have triggered a scaling trajectory at the level of the respective firms. Along these trajectories different variables have been scaled at different moments in time: this points to the versatility of a dominant design which allows a firm to react to a variety of user needs. Scaling at the level of the industry took off only after subsequently reengineered models were introduced, like the piston propeller Douglas DC4 and the turbofan Boeing 767. The two scaling trajectories in civil aircraft corresponding to the piston propeller and the turbofan paradigm can be compared with a single, less pronounced scaling trajectory in helicopter technology for which we have data during the period 1940–1996. Management and policy implications can be specified in terms of the phases of codification at the firm and the industry level.

Interdependencies, nearly-decomposability and adaptation

In this paper we discuss some limitations that selection mechanisms face when the entities subject to selection are complex systems of interdependent elements. We briefly present Kauffman’s NK model which addresses this problem in biological systems. It is argued that, contrary to the myopic search behaviour, underlying biological fitness landscapes, social organisations are not bound in their search dynamics. This amounts to say that the problem of finding optima on a fitness landscape can be decomposed in many different ways. Following work by Page (1996), we present some measures of the complexity of a fitness landscape in terms of the complexity (size) of the algorithm that decomposes the problem most accurately, while still being able to locate the global optima with full certainty. We then extend this measures to allow for nearly-decomposability in a sense close to Simon (1969). Finally we study some evolutionary properties of populations of agents characterised by different decompositions of the same given problem.