Science Research Management ›› 2023, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (9): 1-9.

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Disruptive technovation: Origins, integrated framework, and prospects

Qu Guannan1,3, Chen Kaihua1, Chen Jin2,3   

  1. 1. School of Public Policy and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
    2. School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; 
    3. Research Center of Technological Innovation, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
  • Received:2022-09-07 Revised:2023-06-27 Online:2023-09-20 Published:2023-09-09
  • Contact: Kai-Hua Chen

Abstract:   In the new era, disruptive technology-centered competitions between major powers and their enterprise innovation strategies have aroused great concern. It is of great importance and urgency to systematically explore the theoretical basis and core conceptual framework of disruptive technovation to help the realization of national strategies such as "high-level self-reliance of science and technology".Nevertheless, the existing research on disruptive technovation is faced with significant challenges, such as the vagueness of concepts, fuzziness of theoretical boundaries, and lack of integration of framework. To fill this gap, we conducted our research in three main phases:Firstly, from the perspective of the evolution of the technology-oriented innovation paradigms, this paper systematically reviewed the theoretical origins and boundaries of disruptive technovation. In this way, we identified the core of disruptive technovation research as the exploration of the nature and pattern of the emergence and diffusion of disruptive technologies. Furthermore, we pointed out the similarities and differences between disruptive technovation and related paradigms by highlighting the technology-centered characteristics and rules. Thus, we built the theoretical basis for analyzing disruptive technovation in this section.Secondly, based on the methods of literature induction and theoretical deduction, an integrated conceptual framework of disruptive technovation covering was proposed. In this framework, a new technology’s disruptiveness could be captured by three main dimensions. The first is Technological Novelty. This phase depicts the technological change of the focal technology compared to the mainstream ones. The second phase is Technological Superiority which represents to what extent a focal technology is functionally competitive rather than the mainstream ones. The final phase is named Technological Externality. We use this phase of characteristics to link disruptive technovation to social demands and national development. Furthermore, we developed a system of the research issues of disruptive technovation. Specifically, we divided disruptive technovation research into four streams: first, the Acquisition stream focus on the emergence patterns and search modes of disruptive technologies; Second, the Identification stream takes the screening and prediction of disruptive technologies into consideration; Third, the stream of Adoption and Diffusion mainly explore the process of disruptive technovation by which an enterprise uses disruptive technologies to enter an existing market or develop a new market.Finally, the paper analyzed the opportunities, constraints, and challenges of disruptive technovation in China under the situation of “competition between major powers” and looked forward to the future trends of disruptive technovation practice and studies under the complex international environment and new development pattern.

Key words: disruptive technovation, disruptive technology, integrated framework, innovation paradigm