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This event took place on 14th December 2005
Berrill Lecture Theatre, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
15.30 Tea Berrill Caf?
16.00 Lecture Berrill Lecture Theatre
17.00 Reception Berrill Caf?
In this lecture, the nature of technology and its development is explored. It is argued that technology needs to be viewed in broad terms with important social and organisational dimensions as well as more specifically technical ones in order to understand how it develops. The argument is illustrated by reference to a range of examples including computers, robotics, factory automation, Information and communication technologies, smart products and e-learning.
Rather than a single linear model of innovation, technology development gives rise to a range of different patterns of innovation. Each of these models requires very different management treatments and is associated with quite different implications in terms of potential commercial and societal impact. These models include incremental versus radical innovations, product versus process innovations, user-led and configurational innovations, and sustaining versus disruptive innovations.
The field of innovation dynamics may be defined as the study of the governing principles underlying the range of innovation processes. It thus provides a guide for active intervention in terms of practical management at the enterprise level as well as policy at the sectoral, regional or national economic levels. The ultimate aim is to provide a deep understanding of innovation and how it contributes to economic and social welfare, an understanding that makes sense of the welter of empirical detail and experience.
Finally, some provocative observations are offered about the disruptive potential of e-learning for both conventional lecture-based education and the Open University's distinctive supported open learning approach. |
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 Click below to play the event (80 minutes) |
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