The
role of networks
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 firms.
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 included
thousands of software programmers, working voluntarily in their spare time,
with no compensation, to prepare code that would then be made available to
anyone freely in the Web. By making it
available freely to anyone, they guaranteed that the software would be used and
then improved, as other software specialists expanded and tested the kernels,
or corrected flaws. By placing
subsequently improved versions in the Web, also available for free, it was
assured that the process would 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 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 the hierarchies and control
structures that hinder invention and innovation. Established companies with substantial power often create
hierarchies and self-serving control structures that prevent new and more
creative organizations from entering a sector.
Networks help the new organizations overcome those obstacles by bypassing
hierarchies and structures, allowing the upstarts 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 that have allowed many small,
innovative firms to bypass the oligarchic powers held by large companies. The Internet and the Web have made these
linkages possible to any organization at very low cost. As a result, for example, small firms with
very limited financial means but strong research creativity can link up with
numerous partners to pool resources and cross-fertilize ideas. Similarly, organizations requiring research
outsourcing or supplies can request proposals from innumerable 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, 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 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 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.
For publications on networks and related topics by this author, please see the Publications section of this website.
Copyright © Luis Suarez-Villa