Social Networks: Effect on Innovation

While searching for articles on effect of social networks on innovation, technological developments, I have come across this paper (How can researh networks improve innovation process, 2007)  by Mats Wilhemsson (Royal Insitute of Technology, Sweden). 

The paper talks about the importance of collaboration in innovation networks in the very success of the innovation process. “Scientists who collaborate with each other are more productive, oftentimes producing ‘better’ science, than are individual investigators”

According to Acs, Z., 2000. (Regional Innovation, Knowledge and Global Change. Pinter, London.) networks are also associated with a greater degree of innovativeness. Hence,

innovative networks generate more knowledge, better innovations, and, therefore, higher profits and more wealth. One of the implications that was talked is that innovation hubs can play an important role and both increasing the quality of the research and increase the innovativeness, especially outside the largest metropolitan areas and in markets where the IT sector is strong.

Another article (Spatial and Social Networks in Organizational Innovation) presents a review of the knowledge bases of social network and spatial layout theories, and reports on a preliminary study of the effects of spatial layout on the formation and maintenance of social network

structure and the support of innovation.

Strong networks of people or organizations always tend to exchange ideas for the betterment of their organization and to make them more efficient. This kind of network is "Fault tolerant". It remains impact if one node of this innovative network fails. For a small individual input, the output from the network can be surprisingly innovative. This is called Multiplier Effect.

The following article (by Dr. Luke Pittaway, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Lancaster University Management School) talks about the point that those firms which do not cooperate and which do not formally or informally exchange knowledge limit their knowledge base on a long-term basis and ultimately reduce their ability to enter into exchange

relationships.

(Networking and Innovation: A Systematic Review of the Evidence)

Almost all of the above articles argue in support to the viewpoint that social networks play a very significant role in innovation process in organizations.