What are Innovative Opportunities?

Abstract

To better understand and explain processes of economic transformation, this paper proposes a new concept, “innovative opportunities”. Our interpretation of opportunities is based on an understanding of innovation in a business context, stressing perception and uncertainty during the choices involved in innovation processes. Based on Schumpeterian views of economic transformation, innovative opportunities refer to a set of different elements within the processes whereby actors identify, act upon and realize new combinations of resources and market needs to try to benefit from their future economic potential. To better understand and explain such processes, the proposed conceptualization of “innovative opportunities” consists of three elements: (1) economic value; (2) mobilization of resources; and (3) appropriability, which goes beyond existing types of opportunity conceptualizations found in the literature. The concluding discussion returns to the question of how this view of innovative opportunities modifies the existing understanding of innovation activities and industrial dynamics, and helps us identify new areas of research.Technological opportunities, entrepreneurial opportunities, economic value, resource mobilization, appropriability,

Knowledge-intensive innovative entrepreneurship integrating Schumpeter, evolutionary economics, and innovation systems

“…Some specific contributions within the evolutionary tradition have focused on the role of knowledge in entrepreneurship and new firm formation (Loasby 1999;McKelvey 1998). In particular, entrepreneurs create new knowledge over time (Metcalfe 2002) and change the opportunity sets available through the interaction with the context and the development of new knowledge (Holmén et al 2007;Holmén and McKelvey 2013). Knowledge can be seen as new combinations (Krafft et al 2014;Antonelli et al 2010), closely linked to entrepreneurship and the cognitive basis of knowledge (Cantner 2016;Cantner et al 2016;Göthner et al 2012;Stuetzer et al 2014).…”

“…Opportunities tend to emerge over time, as they are identified and tested in the market place. In particular, innovative opportunities can be defined as Bthe possibility to realize an economic value inherent in a new combination of resources and market needs, emerging from changes in the scientific or technological knowledge base, customer preferences, or the inter-relationships between economic actors ( Holmén et al 2007). …”

Aplicação da Criatividade para Gerar Projetos de Inovacao: O Caso Prático de uma Estrategia Didática

“…Holmén et al (2007), in turn, support the concept that the opportunity is the probability of verifying an intrinsic potential economic value in a new arrangement of resources and market needs arising from changes in the basis of scientific and technological knowledge of new consumption traditions, consumer preferences or inter-relationship among economic players. Lee and Venkataraman (2006), cited by Fernandes (2012), argue that the opportunity identification can be understood as a chance for an individual (or a team) to provide some new value to the society, often introducing innovative, modern and original products or services, through a new company.…”

“…The word opportunity is defined in the dictionary as the quality of being timely for something, a favorable occasion, appropriate to enable or motivate something, or also a convenience for something (Ferreira, 1988). To Holmén, Magnusson and McKelvey (2007), it is a concept widely used in several areas, which, although it has yet vague and imprecise definition, somehow, it is related to the choice that the authors make towards innovation. Thus, it will be seen the definition of the word 'opportunity' according to some authors' view in order to situate the understanding of the issue.…”

Firms Navigating Through Innovation Spaces: A Conceptualization of How Firms Search and Perceive Technological, Market and Productive Opportunities Globally

“…Still, a key aspect of understanding innovation spaces is the role of firms, and explicitly that firms must search for new innovative opportunities, and search for solutions to their technical and market problems (Holmén et al 2007;Laursen 2012). So, one answer as to why firms must search is related to the types of knowledge involved in invention and innovation as well as the particular role of learning.…”