Toward a revised theory of technology cycle for knowledge-based technologies: An empirical analysis of microprocessor, mobile cellular, and genome sequencing technologies

Abstract

Does the innovation process of knowledge-based technologies differ from the process of industrial technologies? Do knowledge-based technologies need a new theory of technology cycle? These are the two key questions that are examined in this paper. First, the characteristics of radical innovation from a longitudinal study of knowledge-based technologies of genome sequencing, mobile cellular, and microprocessor are analysed. And then, the results are compared to the similar research findings reported earlier from industrial technologies such as glass and cement technologies. The role of radical innovation in knowledge-based technologies is discovered to have become so critical that it deserves a new designation of ‘super’ radical innovation. Consequently, a revised theory of technology cycle incorporating the concept of ‘super’ radical innovation for the knowledge-based technologies is presented. Copyright © 2019 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.