Common Features and Distinctions Between High Technology and Innovation

Abstract

The goods, which are positioned on modern global markets as innovative and high-tech products, occupy more and more segments, owing to the contemporary modifications of the innovation diffusion theory and the ways of its implementation on high-tech markets. However, the meaning of the term “high technology” and “innovations” is quite disputable. An identification of the ontological characteristics of these definitions is of particular interest and practical value in terms of the transformation of a scientific and methodological framework for control of innovation diffusion in conditions of invariance on the market of high-tech information technology. Therefore, the author’s article is aimed at the identification of the above-stated definitions and generalization of their distinctions. Methodology. The methodology of the article is based on the theoretical researches of Ukrainian and foreign scientists, which are synthesized, systematized, and analysed to identify the distinctive features of “high tech” and “innovations”. One of the critical methodological tool, represented in the research, is an application of frequency analysis using online service “Google Books Ngram Viewer”, which enabled us to compare frequency of references in scientific researches of the term “innovations” and “high technologies” as well as to compile analytical database of the research. Results. As a result of the author’s study, it has been established that the frequency of using the term “innovations” is continuously increasing and the definition itself has a huge variety of interpretations. This paper suggests generalizing the innovations as the implementation of the new idea, which produces widespread and long-term changes. As distinct from innovations, a term “high technology” means the narrower spectrum of radical changes. Although it has a few names, such as “high-technology”, “high tech”, “high-tech”, “hi-tech”, which, besides technology, can have other functionality. Practical implications. The presented results make it possible to develop more efficient communication channels for innovation diffusion, more precisely to identify innovators and mechanisms of their involvement in corporate activities, alternative forms of innovative activities in corporations. Value/originality. As a result of the study, it has been proved that technologies have common features with radical technical innovations, such as high science intensity, enhanced efficiency. Nevertheless, while being distributed on the market, innovation becomes a commodity and high technologies remain the same until the creation of state-of-the-art technologies. On this basis, it is possible more precisely to introduce innovations of IT companies according to information technology market segments.