# Disruptive Innovation in Traditional Clusters:
## 4 Radical Innovation and Disruptive Technologies  
We will try to analyze and link the concepts of radical or disruptive innovation. The idea of radical innovation draws from the Schumpeterian concept of creative destruction, which was defined in the late 1970s. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [33] introduced the concepts of incremental versus radical innovation. These authors [34] classified innovation according to market knowledge and technological capabilities. They distinguished between revolutionary innovation, which makes technological capabilities obsolete but preserves market knowledge; and architectural innovation, where both technological and market capabilities become obsolete. Radical innovations are fundamental changes that represent revolutionary changes in technology. These represent definite departures from existing practice [35] and entail substantial changes and discontinuities [36; 37]. A theoretical model of innovation should consider three kinds of variables: (a) the distribution of knowledge, including the depth and diversity of knowledge and extent of exposure to information obtained from external sources; (b) attitudes of the organization's management and the value they place on change; and (c) organizational structure, including the effects of centralization upon adoption behavior [38]. However, \"innovation includes both major and minor changes\" [39]. An extremely  
Figure 1: Productivity and added value of Italian and Spanish companies versus their worldwide competitors. Referenced from [28] with permission. major change is called a radical innovation, although it is interpreted as radical in a technological sense. It is usually the case that in the early stages of a new industry, radical product innovation is the prevalent mode of innovation. However, it often has little if any economic impact, because product design is still in flux and the market is uncertain. Radical innovation is a significant kind of change that represents a new technological paradigm. This implies that the codes developed to communicate changing technology will become inadequate [40]. Radical change creates a high degree of uncertainty in organizations and industry. It also sweeps away significant parts of previous investments in technical skills and knowledge, designs, production techniques, plants, and equipment. The supply side does not necessarily delimit the change. It comes from a change on the demand side and in organizational or institutional structures. The standard definition of radical innovation incorporates four primary dimensions: technology uncertainty, technology inexperience, business inexperience, and technology costs [41]. Radical innovation has also been associated with discontinuities. Technology evolves through periods of incremental change punctuated by breakthroughs that either destroy or enhance a firm's competences in an industry. In general, competence-destroying discontinuities are initiated by new firms, while those enhancing competence are initiated by existing firms [37]. Leading companies stay close to their customer demands. Thus, technology changes that damage established firms are not radically new or challenging from a technological view, but either: (a) present different performance attributes, previously not valued or known by existing customers; or (b) the value attributes may improve at such a rapid rate that the new technologies can invade those markets [42]. Other authors have analyzed how radical innovation is conducive to breakthroughs in their innovation context [43]. Recent theories postulate that market demands offer complementary explanations for technology disruptions [44]. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the ecosystem will influence technology substitution and disruption [45]. Disruptive technology was analyzed in two seminal articles [42; 46]. These authors defined disruptive technologies as those which \"bring to a market new value propositions\". They distinguish disruptive technologies from sustaining technologies.