Advancing Knowledge in Technological Innovation : Innovation Mapping Model

Organizations and entrepreneurs use innovation-mapping models to map their innovation patterns, detect dominant innovation types and explore new areas where they can focus their future innovation projects at. The objective of this paper is to propose a new mapping model that can map more innovation areas or dimensions and overcome the gaps existing in the current mapping models. This new model will contribute to the advancement of the knowledge in innovation classification and mapping, which in turn shall enhance knowledge in engineering education scope. The analysis of the current innovation mapping models revealed many gaps and potential improvement areas. For example, current mapping models are not capable to map all combinations of innovation dimensions, and they are not capable to show the sustainability attributes of the innovation as well. To propose a new innovation-mapping model, a literature review on the innovation types, and the currently used classification and mapping models was conducted. The area of innovation for sustainability was also discussed and analyzed, and based on that, a new mapping model was proposed. The new proposed model is capable to model one, two, three, and four-dimensional innovation types. It is also capable to map the degree of novelty and sustainability attributes in innovations. For future research, it is suggested to test the validity and ease of use of the proposed model in different industries.