ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a description of the organizational structures for technology innovation that emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century, beginning with R&D activity, followed by the advent of the start-up – venture capital (SVC) system in the second half of the twentieth century, and then industrial platform system at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The R&D system is characterized by the organization of fluxes of capital and knowledge, producing new technologies and a general knowledge useful for further R&D activity. The SVC system is characterized by small companies carrying out R&D, as well as development of business models for new technologies financed by venture capital with the objective of selling, rather than exploiting, the technology and refinancing new start-ups with the returns. The industrial platform system is composed of owners and their partners, supported occasionally by peer producers, and developing new technologies that are supplied to peer consumers with an exchange of information and knowledge useful for the development of further new technologies. A comparison of these three organizational structures shows that the SVC system is more suitable for radical innovations with large returns on investments, while the R&D system is more suitable for innovations with lower radicality and lower returns. The industrial platform system has found applications in the ICT field, but it might evolve in the future in other technological fields to form a complex system of generation of innovative ideas, financing, development, and relations among platforms and firms needing technological advances.
