Title: An innovation ontology for idea forecasting and measurement

Authors: Andrew N. Forde; Mark S. Fox

Addresses: Department Industrial and Information Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, BA 8120, 5 King's College Rd., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G8, Canada ' Department Industrial and Information Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, BA 8120, 5 King's College Rd., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G8, Canada

Abstract: Before managers are able to forecast the utility of an idea, there must be a common definition and basis for measuring the potential radicalness of an idea. In this paper, we introduce an ontology to represent an innovation and derive properties that can be used to define and measure an ideas potential to be classified as a radical or incremental innovation. Our proposed ontology captures the concepts of an incremental or radical innovation, and further concepts to support the grouping of innovations. We begin with an extensive review of the literature and identify the categories of innovation, from this group we apply competency questions that allow us to define properties that are the basis for valuing an ideas utility, and classifying an innovation.

Keywords: innovation management; ontology; semantic web; open innovation; radicalness; incrementalness; innovation properties; innovation categories; knightian uncertainty; classification; utility.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2023.131541

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2023 Vol.44 No.2, pp.141 - 185

Received: 18 Jan 2021
Accepted: 21 May 2021

Published online: 19 Jun 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article