Technological Innovation In The Perspective Of Complexity

Technological innovation is a complex system and process and involves many factors and links that are not only great in number but also are different in nature. Simply linear addition of these factors cannot bring technological innovation, because it is non-linear summarization of many factors through matching and coupling. As far as each factor is concerned, it is not a unilateral linear process but a process of every factor's feedback and cooperation. Amplification of any links coupling distortion and matching errors through accumulation could lead to failure of realization of technology innovation.In this paper, we put the analysis of technology innovation in complexity perspective in order to grasp its complex evolving process on the basis of theories contained in complexity through external phenomena of technological innovation. And technological innovation is given a wider definition. That is, all of innovative factors constantly exchange material, information and energy with the external world, on the basis of which through the innovative media the main innovative parts make all the factors match correspondingly and each links coup with each other to generate a dynamic and practical activity and chaotic process. This constructs a self-organized structure model of technological innovation. The bottom of the model is sub-system of each factor through self-organization and the up is sub-system of each links These two systems both contact with the external world and constitute a united self-organized process. This visual model helps to analyze dynamic process. It explores technological innovation process'dependence on preliminary conditions, path-locked effect and uncertainty and instability resulted from the effect.It distinguishes innovative goal and innovative consequences and discusses these characteristics from two aspects: constructive and destructive. As for technology innovation, traditional reasonable hypotheses have their limitations, for it originates from the border of chaos. Therefore, it is necessary for us to analyze it by using chaos theory and form-separating theory in order to reveal its genuine process.