Learning from crisis: repurposing to address grand challenges

ABSTRACT

We highlight that institutions may encourage or discourage organizations to engage in the repurposing of technologies and value chain linkages for attaining financial goals and responding to social needs and challenges. Based on evidence from several examples of repurposing and collective action during the recent COVID-19 health crisis, we try to learn and infer, how institutions can create an environment that fosters repurposing beyond crisis situations. Our evidence, accordant to Chris Freeman's argument on the success of nations to catch up and maintain technological and trade competitiveness, suggest that multiple institutional factors may influence a country's ability to design and implement solutions through technological repurposing. We discuss the implications of this result and future research directions.

KEYWORDS:

• Exaptation
• repurposing
• collective action
• institutions
• COVID-19
• national systems of innovation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.