The DOI matches its Crossref record; 6 of the 6 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Technological innovation and complexity theory
Open accessAbstract
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.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications
Wasserman, S., & Faust, K. (1994) · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511815478 · Cited by 17,557
Interorganizational Collaboration and the Locus of Innovation: Networks of Learning in Biotechnology
Powell, W. W., Koput, K. W., & Smith-Doerr, L. (1996) · Administrative Science Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2393988 · Cited by 8,499
The Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution
Kauffman, S. A. (1993) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780195079517.001.0001 · Cited by 7,855
Technology as a complex adaptive system: evidence from patent data
Fleming, L., & Sorenson, O. (2001) · Research Policy · doi:10.1016/s0048-7333(00)00135-9 · Cited by 1,315
Balancing Search and Stability: Interdependencies Among Elements of Organizational Design
Rivkin, J. W., & Siggelkow, N. (2003) · Management Science · doi:10.1287/mnsc.49.3.290.12740 · Cited by 900
A Complex Network Approach to Urban Growth
Andersson, C., Frenken, K., & Hellervik, A. (2006) · Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space · doi:10.1068/a37418 · Cited by 67
Self-citation
Cited by
Complexity thinking and evolutionary economic geography
Martin, R., & Sunley, P. (2007) · Journal of Economic Geography · doi:10.1093/jeg/lbm019 · Cited by 490
NK model as a representation of innovative search
Ganco, M. (2017) · Research Policy · doi:10.1016/j.respol.2017.08.009 · Cited by 83
Geisendorf, S. (2010) · Computational Economics · doi:10.1007/s10614-009-9192-4 · Cited by 15
Metadata
- Authors
- Frenken, K.
- Venue
- Economics of Innovation and New Technology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2006-03
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 137-155
- ISSN
- 1043-8599 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-8364
- OpenAlex
- W2096375182
- Cited by
- 194
- References
- 6
- FWCI
- 9.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Technological innovation and complexity theory. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1080/10438590500141453
- The paper
- Frenken, K. (2006). Technological innovation and complexity theory. Economics of Innovation and New Technology. https://doi.org/10.1080/10438590500141453
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.
