An important distinction, made by social and biological scientists alike, is that between invention and innovation. Invention is the creation of something new, while an innovation is a successful invention…a transformative sort of newness. Both are essential for evolutionary processes in technology, biology, and social systems, and both have long been of interest to SFI.

We believe that just as Darwin’s Theory describes evolutionary processes in biology, so too might a Theory of Innovation describe the emergence and survival of novelty across the technological, social, and biological domains. The origins of life and of multicellularity, the evolutionary dimensions of social and cultural change, the drivers of technological change, the transformation of knowledge systems, the development of complex societies, the role of energy in human development, and the formation of ecological and social networks are just a few of the themes that animate our research.

As we seek quantifiable parallels across these diverse systems, we ask—what are the factors, the processes that come together to create innovations? Where does novelty come from? Like all SFI science, our research aims beyond the metaphorical. Through empirical, modeling, and theoretical research, we seek a quantitative, possibly predictive theory of novelty.

David Sherrington

Hajime Shimao

Ashley Teufel

Constantino Tsallis

Tamara van der Does

Sander van der Leeuw