Disruptive Innovation and a Global Marketplace

Abstract

This article explores the increasingly global dimension of the advent of disruptive technologies into the assistive technology industry

Full text

1/23/2017 Disr uptiveInnovationandaGlobalMarketplace|ENTELIS
http://www.entelis.net/en/node/339 1/2
DisruptiveInnovationandaGlobalMarketplace
SubmittedbydavebanesonThu,12/15/201611:13
TheAcce ssible and Assistive Technol ogyi ndustryi sund ergoinga period of intense
change ,butitremainschal lengi ngtopredictthei mpactandoutcome softhatchange.
Traditional provi dersface an uncertaino utlook and mustseek ways toresp ond and
regain control asexterna linflu encesi mpactupo nboth design and business models,
driven bytrends intechno logyde signa nduse,p ublicpolicy,changi ngasp irationso f
themarketandapub licfundingcrisis.
It has often been  said that chan ge is the o nly constant, and  therefore some
commentatorssuggestthatthi sperio dofcha ngeis nodi fferenttothose experien ced
in the pa st.Ho wever, whil stw e may have  seen techn olog y shift significa ntly in the
past,we have not previou slyfaced the combinedi mpactof suchshiftwith chang ing
busine ssmod els, Itis this combinatio ntha toffers both threats and opportun ities for
thedevelo pmentofAssistivetechnolo gy.
UnderstandingDisruption
Christense n (1997 ) defined d isruptive techn ologi es as those that di splace an
establish ed techno logy,sh aking up  and ind ustry, or wh ich offer a grou ndbreaki ng
product thatcreatesa comple telynew indu stry.H edefin edne wtechno logyi ntotwo
categorie s: sustaining  and disru ptive. The former is foun ded up on increme ntal
change to a prove no re stablished tech nology.Whereas disruptive tech nology may
seekto"wipetheslatecle an"offeringanentire lynewmeansoffulfil linganee d.
In many cases e xisting suppli ers tend to favour sustai ning technol ogies, founded
upon the ir knowl edge of wh at has proven  effective in the pa st, they evolve
technolo gies ad ding feature s or functional ity. Such co mpanies may struggle to
recogni se and re spond to such  disruptive tech nolog ies, and may o nly seek to
replica tesuchinn ovationo ncetheirma rkethasbee ndisrup ted,placin gthecompa ny
atrisk.
DisruptionintheATindustry
Therea remany examples ofdisrup tionoccu rringwi thinthe ATi ndustry.Someofthe
mostobviousha veseenashiftfromdedicated hardware devicestosoftwaresolutio ns
based u pon tabl ets and mobi le phon es. Increasing ly, solutions for those wi th
communica tioni mpairmen ts,low vision, and hearing loss are built upon mobil ean d
portable  platforms, and the more radica l are inn ovating thro ugh wea rable
technolo giesand theinternetofthings.
Alongsi dethis,we can observe an equa llyi mportantd isruption tobusiness model s.
Traditional lyATusers purchase dtheirsolutio nswi tha single large upfron tpayment,
major updates were purchased as needed .Becauseofthe level ofin itiali nvestment
required, such payments were often funded through purchases made by public
bodie s.In effect,oftenthe “user” and the “customer” were separate. Current model s
involve movingtolo winitial investment,within apppurchasesorsubscrip tionmodel s
fundingongoing use and upgrades.This combination of technology and business
modelcha ngeisthebasisofdisruptiontotheassistivetechn ologyind ustry.
DisruptionandtheGlobalMarke tplace
Innovation is driven from models ofde velopme ntwhe reATcompa nies work closely
with famili ar organ isations such  as those uni versities wh o develo p intellectual
property, and then l icence i t on an ope n or propriety basis. But, as glo bal
demogra phics shift towards a n increasin g aging a nd disable d popula tion, we are
observingnewinnovatorsandentrepreneursemergingoutsideoftraditionalhubsof
expertise andexp erience.Glo bally,wesee therapid growtho fbothIPexplo itationat
universi ties a nd publicl y fund ed business in cubation facili ties. Man y of these a re
supportin gnew approa chestothep roduction ofassistivetech nolog ies.Thisdi versity
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1/23/2017 Disr uptiveInnovationandaGlobalMarketplace|ENTELIS
http://www.entelis.net/en/node/339 2/2
davebanes'sblog 
ofne wpl ayers operating beyo nda nytrad itional networks presen tsthe industry with
freshchallenges.Theyounginnovatorsengaging indevelopmentarelookingagain
athowneed saremet,ratherthanconsideri nghowcurre ntsolutionscanbe improved.
Theyareentirel ywillin g,andmotivatedby“wip ingtheslateclea n”.
RespondingtoRiskandOpportunity
Respon ding to thi s, is a challe nge to the in dustry. Whil st we can reco gnise the
opportun ityfor radica li nnovation to bene fitpeo ple with a disabil ity. Wecan eq ually
observethethrea tstothestatusquo .
Toaddre ssboth,theindustryneed storespondpositive lyandproactive ly.Indica torsof
riskofdisruption include :
1.Changi ngmarketexpectationsofdevices
2.ChangingTechnologytrends
3.Change thataddressescostimperative s
4.IncreasedCommunityengagement
With the chang ing bu siness mode l, the relation ship be tween supp liers and
consumers ischan ging.L owini tialin vestmentand subscriptio nsofferspeo plewitha
disabi litythe opportunitytosele cttheiro wnsolutions andse lffundthese withou tthe
need fortargetedpu blicfund ing.Ascustomers theyactaspa rtofthatcommunitythat
provide  both produ ctfeed back and w ider beha vioural da ta that will in fluence any
futuretechnologiesdeveloped.
Howeve r,a second tier of communi tyen gagemen teme rges.The i ndustry needs to
look wi dely at in novations from e merging re searchers, wh o may choose  to
dissemin ateo utside ofe xisting acade micn etworks with amu chg reater focusu pon
creating pro ductsra therthan writing resea rchp apers. New ways for the industry to
engag ewiththed evelop ersofpotentialproductswi llben eeded ,reflectingchan gein
the way you ng entrepreneu rs promote their produ cts. These could in clude initial
contact activities su ch as “spee d dating” i ntroducin g devel opers and  distributors to
each othe r,seeki ng ini tial in terest upon w hich di scussions ca n be ba sed. With the
scale of po tential sou rces of innova tion, there is li kely to be a  role for “trusted
intermedi aries”to producesummaries ofactivityfrom around theglo be,and toshare
thisdatawithbo thsuppl iersan dinno vators.Theuse ofonl ineco nferencing facilitie s
offer the oppo rtuni ty for deve lopers to pitch id eas from any loca tion  to in terested
partiesacrossthewo rldatlowcostandrisk.
Summary
Aswe look ahead weca nsee thatthe relationsh ipsbetween innovators, distributors
andco nsumersisinflux.Those companie sando rganisatio nsthatwil lbebe stsuited
to benefit from these  changes w ill lo ok at new wa ys of engagi ng and  investing i n
innova tion,whilstrecog nisingamuch closerandintima terelationsh ipwithenduse rs.
Ultimately,we maysee new research consortia formed,ne wbusi nessese stablishe d
and the e xisting in dustry contracting, un dergoin g acqui sitions and  mergers and
finding new wayso fdeliveringbo thgood sand associated services tothei ncreasing
potential market.Whilst somemay findthis toogrea tastep totake,others will thrive,
althoug htheirportfoliomaylookradical lydifferentinthefuture.
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