Networks are a very important element supporting the rise of
technocapitalism. Networks typically
involve collaboration. For invention
and innovation, networks have become the means to collaboration, helping
diffuse knowledge, reproduce creativity, and pull together the resources needed
to undertake research.
Networks have become easier than ever to establish and join. The Internet, the Web and telecommunications
have allowed the creation of networks for most every social and economic
activity in existence today. Helping
this dynamic is the rapid decline in the cost of networking during the past
four decades, which helped provide easier access on a global scale.
The networked organization is typical of the emerging technocapitalist
era. Those organizations can be found
in sectors that are most typical of technocapitalism, such as biotechnology,
nanotechnology, genomics, bioinformatics, software and biorobotics. The survival of many firms in these sectors
depends on their network relations for research. As a result, for example, a proliferation of research
unit-to-research unit (R2R) network linkages has occurred in recent times, to
pursue collaborative projects and share research resources.
Some of this collaboration has led to networked alliances between
organizations. Such alliances are often
broad-ranging and may involve not only research activities, but also
production, marketing and service.
Research, however, is what usually pulls those alliances together, at
least in the sectors and organizations that are typical of
technocapitalism. Networked research
alliances often involve, for example, the co-ownership of patents derived from
collaboration, joint use of laboratory equipment and facilities, and the
sharing of revenues from discoveries.
Many of those alliances also help share the cost of research personnel
and materials, thereby saving the participant organizations resources that can
be redeployed to other activities.
Networks targeting research can also occur outside companies. The most important example of this
possibility is the Open Source movement for software design, which created the
Linux software kernels. This kind of
networked research includes thousands of software programmers, working
voluntarily in their spare time, with no compensation, to prepare code that
will then be made available to anyone freely in the Web. By making it available freely to anyone,
they practically guarantee that the software will be used and then improved, as
other software specialists expand and test the kernels, and correct flaws. By placing subsequently improved versions in
the Web, also available for free, it is assured that the process will continue
and be compounded. It may not come as a
surprise, therefore, that the software developed through this kind of networked
collaboration is often of higher quality than the one produced by software
companies that prevent free access to their code, or that closely guard it as
property.
How do networks support the rise of
technocapitalism?
Networks have supported the rise of technocapitalism by, first, growing
rapidly and linking diverse activities and organizations that are vital for
invention and innovation. A major force
behind this dynamic is the fact that the value of networks usually increases
exponentially as they expand, simply by including more participants and
facilitating access.
With networks, therefore, value increases with abundance. The larger a network becomes, the more
valuable it is likely to be. This
characteristic of networks is diametrically opposed to the centuries-old notion
found in economics, which assumes that value results from scarcity. That assumption, fundamental to that discipline
and probably its single most important precept, is therefore irrelevant for
networks.
With many networks, as the number of nodes increases arithmetically,
the value of the network may increase exponentially. This dynamic has been a vital force behind the rising importance
of networked firms and research alliances.
It has also contributed much to support continuous invention and
innovation, by helping reproduce creativity in faster and more effective ways.
Second, networks have helped technocapitalism emerge by diluting some
of the hierarchies and control structures that hinder invention and
innovation. Networks have helped
individuals and some organizations overcome those obstacles by bypassing hierarchies
and structures, allowing them to reach out and link up with potential research
partners and resources.
Some of the best examples of this dynamic can be found in the research
unit-to-research unit (R2R) and business-to-business (B2B) networks. The Internet and the Web have made these
linkages possible at low cost. As a
result, for example, new small firms with very limited financial means but
strong research creativity might be able to link up with numerous partners to
pool resources and cross-fertilize ideas.
Similarly, organizations requiring research outsourcing or supplies can
request proposals from other firms at very short notice, cutting down the time
and costs needed to find partners. This
practice is becoming a major support of continuous invention and innovation in
small firms, saving much time and resources that can be redeployed to improve
research productivity.
The dilution of hierarchies and control structures afforded by networks
can also provide greater flexibility to organizations. By networking with other small firms, many
organizations are able to structure their internal operations to better suit
their research as conditions change.
Thus, for example, the loss of key research personnel can be remedied by
redistributing tasks to members of a network.
This can allow a small firm to shift gears quickly and replace the
needed skills. Flexibility through
networking can also increase the diversity of interactions, to diffuse
knowledge and reproduce creativity faster by linking with many different
entities simultaneously.
Third, networks have
promoted decentralization and the devolution of functions. This characteristic has helped
technocapitalism emerge by making it possible for decisions to be made at
levels that are closer to research projects.
Very often, research personnel in direct contact with a project have a
better idea of what needs to be done.
By allowing those individuals more responsibility for decisions, it may
be possible to expedite and improve results.
Redistributing decision-making can also have an impact on creativity,
by providing more autonomy to pursue insights freely and quickly as they come
up. Some companies have even found it
beneficial to let some research groups operate outside the organization, much
as if they were on their own. This
practice can help creativity by allowing those groups to network with other
firms and researchers outside, gaining new knowledge that they might otherwise
not have access to.
Fourth,
networks tend to promote change on a continuous or systematic basis. Technocapitalism is about continuous,
systematic change. Networks serve this
need by growing, contracting, evolving, interlinking or phasing themselves out
to accommodate the needs of their participants.
To reproduce creativity and accumulate knowledge, few qualities are as
important today as the possibility of rapid adjustment. Networks allow this to occur by facilitating
knowledge, interaction and decisions.
The scopes of networks can, for example, change and adjust quickly to be
more supportive of creativity, by including new members with certain qualities,
by linking up with clearing-houses of new knowledge and patents, or by linking
up with other networks with compatible objectives and resources. As those adjustments occur, participants
also gain the possibility of modifying their scopes and objectives.
An important question that remains to be answered is to what extent
networks---and the features discussed here---will be taken over by
oligopolistic corporations. Will these
features mostly benefit small enterprises, and individual researchers, or will
they be taken over by large corporations with vast market power? On the answer to this question depends
whether networks may serve a liberating purpose---and support the new
technologies of technocapitalism to benefit humankind---or whether they will
become the tool of a few and very powerful corporations to impose their
priorities on us.
For publications on networks and related topics by this author, please
see the Publications
section of this website.
Copyright © Luis Suarez-Villa