Variedad en paradigmas tecnológicosinnovación e invención del disco artificial

Abstract

This article analyses the evolution of technological paradigms across the innovation and invention stages of the technological innovation process. The vehicle is the case of the evolution of artificial disc, a surgical implant employed in the treatment of degenerative disc disease, which is the first source of pain and disability in western countries. Designs of artificial disc can be classified in two technological paradigms, with different cost and outcome in their development. The results show that both, invention and innovation activities, increase their intensity in response to a growing demand. However, variety of inventive and innovative efforts behaves in different manner: while inventive efforts evolve in similar manner in both technological paradigms along the whole period, innovation efforts deal only with the development of less risky paradigm, although its functionality was suboptimal. Only when market signals point to a big increase in demand, innovation activities assume the development risks of the functionally optimal paradigm.