Innovationology: A Transdisciplinary Philosophy for Transformative Knowledge and Ethics of Innovation

Abstract

Innovation is often analysed through economic or technological perspectives, yet rarely as a metaphysical, epistemic, and ethical process. This paper introduces Innovationology as a transdisciplinary philosophical framework that reinterprets innovation as a systemic and emergent phenomenon grounded in moral and cognitive dimensions. Drawing on philosophy of science, complexity theory, and ethics of technology, it proposes the Universal Innovation Equation (UIE)—a model capturing the dynamic interplay of knowledge, intelligence (human and artificial), context, potentiality, and ethical responsibility. Through comparative examples from Africa, Europe, and Asia, the study demonstrates how Innovationology supports a pluralistic, anticipatory, and ethically grounded understanding of transformative innovation. It argues that innovation is ontologically prior to technologies or institutions, representing a meta-force of transformation linking intelligence, creativity, and responsibility within an evolving planetary system.