Virtual Areas of Innovation

The life style of today has influenced the fundamental elements of setting up, developing or working with innovation and innovative business activities.

The First Generation of innovation environments can be condensed in the phrase “Science Push”. The main idea of starting the trend of innovation environments and science parks was to catapult the science and research into the market.

The innovation philosophy of a Second Generation of innovation environments was  „Demand Pull‟. Research results and techno-scientific findings were regarded as „raw materials‟ for the innovating firms.This means in fact that the result on the market of an innovative idea is what is the main force.

The Third Generation of innovation environments was a combination of science-industry-government relations. What determinates the Third Generation is that they are developed deep inside the tissue of an urban area. In this way the Third Generation innovation environment operates as a „catalyst‟ of innovation activities and supports the environment of the local culture of innovation.

More in depth illustrating and explaining the activities that introduced the Innovation Environment Generations: the First, Second, Third can be also read in one of the Bearing previous blog article Third Generation (3G) Innovation Environment.

The model in the illustration shows the set of activities that are the object of the work in an innovation area or science park. This model shows the approach and the steps needed to steer the innovations all the way to the market.

Today, when the virtual becomes the determinant of the 21st century the technological possibilities give other perspectives and possibilities for the field of innovation environments as well. They now have the possibility to become virtual places. What would that mean for the future in the spatial philosophy behind innovation?

In a BBC article titled Forget Silicon Valley, meet Silicon Bali one can evidence and feel the shift in the trends for research and development and consequently as well in the science park development.

The technology has enabled the existence of the virtual space for developing the business. This virtual space looks really heavenly. The virtual space is though not imaginational; it has materialized itself into the inspiring, beautiful, existing locations in the countries all around the world. The locations of these type of virtual innovation environments are scattered as points in the widest possible areas.

What are then the boundaries of this concept of virtual locations? Boundaries of the virtual locations are not to be seen as an area determination, but rather as a phase, activity determination. One can align this as one range of the activities in the previously shown model.

This type of virtual innovation environment has rather important and strong advantages in the early stages of setting the start-ups. Still, the research element stays within the domain of the urban pulsation close to universities, transportation, tools, stakeholders etc. Also, the more fragile elements of establishing and more to this, servicing of the well established business stays within the range of urban very fast and demanding lifestyle.

The stages of creativity in the innovation process are best aligned to the slow pace lifestyle, but the execution stays in the domain of the fast changing world.