A new framework to understand the technological innovation process

Purpose – This paper seeks to provide a conceptual framework to understand the complex technological innovation process from a cognitive perspective. Design/methodology/approach – A cross‐disciplinary literature survey from multiple academic disciplines such as business management, philosophy, and psychology coupled with professional experience was employed to conceive the framework. Findings – The framework can be a starting‐point for researchers to initiate research in the design of technological innovation systems, change management and organizational restructuring. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this paper is that the framework has been qualitatively validated in two publicly held R&D intensive organizations in India. Practical implications – Senior managers from industry can initiate competence building using the managerial concepts employed in the framework. By leveraging the intellectual capital of the organization, intellectual property, including new products and processes, can be developed, which in turn improves business performance. Originality/value – This paper introduced a framework to describe the innovation process. Two new constructs are introduced to account for the complexity and the uncertainty in the innovation process.