EAGER: Innovation and Growth of Human Social Organizations from Cities to Corporations

Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe NM

Investigators

Abstract

This research examines the social, organizational and infrastructural factors that promote innovation and lead to economic growth. It has three main goals. The first is to establish metrics of innovation, economic growth and size of social organizations across scales using datasets from urban systems and corporations around the world and across times scales. The second is to establish the quantitative connection between the dynamics of innovation and growth, through in-depth studies of cities and firms, with a specific study of the temporal evolution of Boeing's Commercial Aircraft Division. The third is to discover and model mathematically the micro-scale processes and network structures resulting in scaling of economic productivity and innovation, including those leading to economies of scale and learning in production and increasing returns in innovation, with a specific study of the component processes within Boeing Commercial Aircraft Division. The project draws on a variety of academic disciplines and features a close collaboration with industry. Concepts and hypotheses from the social sciences will be tested via analytical techniques from physics and statistical theory applied to large and comprehensive databases of cities and firms. Intellectual merit: The research is based on a comprehensive, data-driven, quantitative study of innovation and discovery processes in social organizations that has the potential to generate transformative new insights on the general factors that affect the rate of innovation and growth. This project develops and tests theories of economic growth at the micro scale, relying on empirical data analysis, and in-depth case studies of a major corporation. The focus on the history and growth of Boeing and its processes of innovation, particularly on its technological and organizational breakthroughs, aging and scaling, and learning curves, is particularly unusual because of the access to detailed firm data. Broader Impacts: Although this research is inherently risky, it offers the potential to develop a predictive theory of the growth of social organizations applicable across scales. As such, it could provide new insights into the conceptual basis for organizational theory, economics, social sciences and complex systems. This, in turn, would have a substantial impact on training, education and R&D programs in the public and private sector.