Introduction

The processes of continuous and avalanche-like growth of scientific knowledge, predetermining the formation of new competencies and technologies, act as a driver of profound changes in the economy, expressed in the accelerated spread of technologies of the current technological order and the formation of prerequisites for the transition to a new technological order. Depending on the level of scientific and technological development and political and economic situation, national economies form the priority areas of technological development, in which they strive to occupy leading positions.

To realize the goals of scientific and technological development, tools are needed that define methods, techniques, methodologies, and principles for creating products that meet both the priorities of scientific and technological development and are in demand by various sectors of the economy and by mass consumer. The choice of such tools is a complex issue, because it is necessary to take into account the interests of the state and state corporations, business, the scientific community, and consumers. At the same time, the significant cost of such promising projects necessitates the integration of significant amounts of resources, primarily financial.

Technology platforms are one of such instruments of scientific and technological development that have demonstrated their effectiveness over the past decades at the local and global levels of the economic space (Chursin et al. 2016; Chursin and Tyulin 2018; Tyulin and Chursin 2020).

Under a technology platform, the authors of the article mean a special type of business model and a mechanism for organizing an innovation process based on a system of innovations inherent in a specific, relatively stable network that unites representatives of the state, business, science, and education around a common vision of scientific and technological development and common approaches to the development of new innovative technologies. Based on the technology platform, interrelated processes of creating value for consumers in various sectors of the economy are being developed.

This understanding of a technology platform is consistent with the general concept of the innovation triple helix, representing the relationship of key players and stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem, such as university, government, and business (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff 1995). This concept is currently being actively developed (Ranga and Etzkowitz 2013; Carayannis and Campbell 2009; Carayannis et al. 2012; Park 2014) and serves as a universal theoretical platform for analyzing both theoretical and applied aspects of interaction between representatives of science, state, and business in creation and implementation of innovations for balanced sustainable development at the local and global levels of the economy (Carayannis and Dubina 2014; Dubina 2015; Dubina et al. 2017).

The main advantage of large technology platforms is their ability to accumulate significant resources (financial, technological, information, etc.), allowing a large amount of fundamental research, on the basis of which radical innovations arise. Radical innovations are encouraged by the emergence and strengthening of the inter-sectoral and multidisciplinary nature of modern technologies, their penetration into new markets in a new capacity. These trends lead to radical innovations, new growing markets, industries, and activities (Chursin et al. 2016).

In modern conditions of the new economy (economy of creativity, knowledge, and innovation), innovation and radically new products and services appear less as a result of successive linear processes occurring in the development departments of an organization from the moment of shaping the product idea to bringing it to the market but more as a result of cross-functional interactions between different areas of knowledge within a technology platform, where the processes of managing innovations and creating radically new products require competencies that go far beyond one subject area (Dubina et al. 2012; Tyulin and Chursin 2020).

In recent years, in economic research and practice, the concept of “cross-industrial innovation” has been widely used, the model of which describes the systematic tracking of knowledge, concepts, and technologies from relatively distant industrial sectors in the innovation process, ongoing within an industry technology platform (Kühnle 2015; Akberdina et al. 2020; ).

In contrast to the closed linear model and the model of open innovation (Chesbrough 2003; Chesbrough and Bogers 2014), the cross-industrial innovation model (Hahn 2015) promotes the creation of new products and services at the border of different areas of knowledge with the transition of industry competencies to the cross-industry level (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
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Model of cross-industrial innovation. Source: Based on (Kühnle 2015)

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The article has the following structure. In the next section, as an example of the development of a technology platform, the aerospace industry is considered a driver of the knowledge and innovation economy. Section 3 presents the network organizational and industry structure of a technology platform; Section 4 examines the processes of dynamic development of a technology platform in the context of cyclical economic processes based on N. Kondratieff’s concept; in Sections 5 and 6, respectively, conceptual and formalized economic and mathematical models of the coordinated development of a technology platform and its sub-platforms are proposed. In the final part of the article, the relationship between the growth of intellectual and innovative potentials with a change in technological structures is shown, and general conclusions are drawn.

An Example of the Development of a Technology Platform as a Driver of the Economy of Knowledge and Innovation

As an example of a technology platform, let us consider the aerospace industry, which has historically been a key driver of the modern cross-industrial innovation process. Today, the list of radical technologies, products, and services based on the development of space programs is very wide: computer, magnetic resonance, positron emission tomographs, equipment for hemodialysis, defibrillators, artificial hearts, physiotherapy equipment, scanners for screening luggage and cargo, solar panels, special materials for clothes of hazardous industries’ workers, etc. (Karash 2013).

The process of creating radical products based on technology platforms of the aerospace industry is still valid today, being the driver of the development of the entire aerospace industry. For example, space information (Earth remote sensing technology) also possesses the potential to generate radical innovations, which is the basis for creating radically new products—satellite services that are able to solve the economic problems of consumers with sufficient accuracy—thereby contributing to the development of the economy of industries and regions. The inter-sectoral competencies formed within the technology platforms of the aerospace industry consist in the ability to solve complex economic problems on the Earth by processing and analyzing space information, as well as for the projections (forecasting). Such cross-industry competencies include various components: competence in the field of satellite data acquisition and processing, competence in solving a specific problem in any sector of the economy that is not directly related to space, competence in the field of mathematical and economic modeling and forecasting, etc. As a result of synthesis of various components of the inter-sectoral competence, there is a systemic effect that leads to the emergence of cross-industrial radical innovation in the aerospace industry as the basis for radically new satellite services, supplied to consumers on different terms and conditions providing them with a base for economic development and competitiveness through the application of high-tech satellite services (Vlasov and Chursin 2016).

The demand for such cross-industrial innovations and their ability to become a radical product and take a dominant position in the market largely depend on the efficiency of processes, occurring within a technology platform and related to the accumulation of innovative potential and the formation of a pool of inter-sectoral key competencies that determine the creation of competitive advantages of radically new products (Tyulin et al. 2019; Chursin and Tyulin 2018).

Network Structure of a Technology Platform

According to our research, the main factor in creating radically new products aimed at long-term satisfaction of needs is the continuous growth of the innovative potential of the technology platform participants, associated with conducting a large volume of fundamental research, developing a set of radical competencies, technologies, and equipment based on these studies, and improving management methods.

Acceleration of the accumulation of intellectual potential in the world, its implementation in the form of radically new products and services that change markets and their needs, leads to the development of technology platforms, their broader positioning at the inter-sectoral level, and, ultimately, to the formation of a network structure of a technology platform consisting of a core and independent (possibly related) sub-platforms. The core of such a network structure is inter-sectoral cross-industrial competencies influencing the creation of a radical product in sub-platforms, which determines the economic development of the entire industry to which the technology platform belongs (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
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Network organizational and industry structure of a technology platform. Source: Elaborated by the authors

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At the same time, radical products of the technology platform act as a driver of economic growth and development of the industry due to the following factors:

  • Traditional drivers of economic sectors do not provide the necessary effect to ensure their dynamic development; therefore, there is a need to search for new sources of stimulating growth.

  • Acceleration of the development and adoption of new technologies leads to a reduction in the lifecycle of innovations that underlie the competitiveness of goods produced and sold in the market, which leads to increased competition in the sales markets and forces manufacturers to qualitatively improve or create fundamentally new products based on the development of radical innovations and use of acquired and developed competencies.

Processes of Dynamic Development of a Technology Platform in the Context of Cyclical Economic Processes

The analysis of economic development shows the cyclical processes at the macro and micro levels. The development of technology platforms requires consideration of a number of economic laws and factors such as the cyclical development of innovations, products, organizations, and production scale effects (Tyulin and Chursin 2020).

N. Kondratieff (Kondratieff 2014) created the economic theory of long waves, large cycles of the conjuncture. He pointed to the polycyclic nature of economic dynamics. Kondratieff identified the relationship between economic cycles and cyclical processes in other spheres of society; i.e., he approached the issue of cyclical development of the economy in the most comprehensive and thorough way. Therefore, in our opinion, N. Kondratieff’s cycles can be best interlinked with the development of scientific and technological progress and the cyclical nature of innovations.

The structure of N. Kondratieff’s cycles is quite known and includes a growth stage (phases – recession and rise) lasting about 20–30 years, and a downward stage (phases – recession and depression)—a period of long predominance of low economic conditions of about 20 years, when low business activity dominates despite temporary rises, as a result of which the world economy is developing unstable, temporarily falling into deep crises (Kondratieff 2014; Alexander 2002). The processes of increasing crisis phenomena are well demonstrated on the basis of long economic waves (see Fig. 3). The first—upward—phase of a long economic wave is characterized by intensive scientific and technological development, when there are significant transformations in engineering and technology, based on the advanced achievements of fundamental science. The technologies being created are focused on meeting future needs, which are fully manifested at the peak of a long wave. However, historically, the peak phase is synchronized with the manifestation of the effect of socioeconomic transformations, when against the background of high consumer demand, there is a significant increase in government demand.

Fig. 3
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Long economic wave. Source: Elaborated by the authors

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At the post-peak phase of a long economic wave, there is an increasing economic turbulence, leading to local crises, the overcoming of which is associated with the use of existing competencies and only a slight improvement of existing technologies and their widespread introduction into products with a stable demand. However, the products created using these technologies and competencies can no longer be focused on future needs. During this period, the intensity of local economic crises increases, and a global economic crisis sets in (a depression phase of a long economic wave), accompanied by a significant slowdown or complete cessation of world GDP growth. However, during this period, a global socioeconomic paradigm that underlies the upward phase of the new wave is being formed.

According to Kondratieff’s theory of cycles, a new round in the development of the economy cannot begin without new innovative solutions, since there are no incentives and impulses for the growth and development of the economy, and outdated ineffective methods of production remain (Kondratieff 2014; Alexander 2002).

However, innovation is very rarely born independently and suddenly, and this requires the availability of new results of fundamental research, appropriate technical and technological groundwork, and stimulating innovation activity of the state, organizations, and other participants of technology platforms. In fact, all these events, one way or another, are integral elements of the process of dynamic development of technology platforms. This means that it can be argued that the rise of large Kondratieff’s cycles is due to the activation of innovative processes, happening inside the technology platforms.

This conclusion is confirmed by the existing statistical data on the development of long economic waves and technological orders (Alexander 2002; (Khalturina and Korotaev 2009). The diffusion of innovations is completely synchronized with the growth stage of Kondratieff’s cycle and reaches saturation in the highest peak of the cycle (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4
figure 4

Diffusion of innovations along the rise of Kondratieff’s economic activity cycles. Source: Based on (Khalturina and Korotaev 2009)

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Therefore, we can conclude that the success of the state policy of scientific and technological development depends entirely on the synchronization of actions of all participants of the technology platform during periods of depression and revival, when there is a synergistic effect of increasing the positive economic effect from the introduction of innovations in the creation of new radical products.

With the growth of resource support for innovative processes of a technology platform, the development of competencies, and the accumulation of intellectual and innovative potential, the pace of development of innovations is accelerating, which entails smoothing of waves of economic development by increasing the pace of development and innovation efficiency while reducing the period of their implementation.

In this regard, it is possible to formulate the postulate that, starting from a certain period of time, the undulating process of economic cycles with high fluctuations (a long period of reaching the peak of development by technologies of the new technological order and long phases of revive, rise, recession and depression) is transformed into a linearly growing process by reducing the time of development of technologies of the new order and leveling the phases of economic recession and depression due to the effect when new radical innovations managed to achieve their development at the initial points of the economic recession of the previous wave as a result of the exhaustion of the potential of existing technologies. This happens under the influence of radically new scientific and technological achievements as a result of the continuous dynamic development of technologies and the change of their generations in the conditions of constant growth of innovative potential and accumulation of competencies, including radical ones, in the world economic system.

This constant development of technologies as a result of extensive basic scientific research can smooth out fluctuations in economic development, and the slowdown in economic growth will lead not to acute crises, but to small economic recession, which can be overcome in a short time due to the emergence of radical innovations that stimulate the development of both the industrial and consumer segment.

This postulate can serve for the further development of the theory of technology platforms that provide the potential for economic growth and development due to the anticipatory satisfaction of needs as a result of the creation of radically new products and services due to the rapid growth of innovative potential and the development of radical competencies.

Technology Platforms and Sub-platforms

The organizations which are the core of a technology platform face an urgent need not only to develop existing competencies but also to create new radical competencies that can provide high competitive advantages for the products being developed due to their uniqueness and the ability to meet future needs on the market. Such new competencies should form the basis of R&D aimed at developing radical innovations that, on the one hand, qualitatively modernize the production and technology base of an organization and production processes and, on the other hand, change the entire system of production and management of economic activities of an organization due to changes in the principles of building such systems.

Under these conditions, the main driver for overcoming the crisis is the creation of radical competencies that stimulate the development of a technology platform according to the network principle and, on their basis, radical products that can create new markets or be dominant in existing ones.

Continuous processes of scientific and technological development can ultimately lead to the transformation of sub-platforms into independent technology platforms with their own core of inter-sectoral cross-industrial competencies (Fig. 5). Each newly formed technology platform is a source of radical products that meet unsatisfied needs. At the same time, the emergence of new technology platforms determines a new vector of development of industries.

Fig. 5
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The process of allocating new technology platforms. Source: Elaborated by the authors

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Formalization of Coordinated Development of a Technology Platform and Its Sub-platforms

Modeling mechanisms of interaction between participants of the triple innovation spiral, enterprises, and corporations (including those representing different sectors of the economy) and the development of technology platforms and sub-platforms can be carried out using approaches and methods of game theory (Baniak and Dubina 2012; Dubina 2011), both on the basis of formalized economic and mathematical game-theoretic models and experimental game models (Chursin and Shevchenko 2017; Carayannis and Dubina 2014; Dubina 2015).

Let us give a formal description of the mechanisms underlying these procedures for the coordinated development of a technology platform and its sub-platforms. The task of optimal management of the development of a technology platform is set, taking into account the active behavior of sub-platforms that strive to achieve their own goals and act in the scientific, technological, and innovative process of the main platform.

Let П0 (the main technology platform) strive to achieve the highest value of efficiency f 0(xi, u), which can be understood, for example, as the contribution of radical products of a technology platform to the growth of economic sectors, where u represents the innovation potential of the core of the technology platform and xi is the innovation potential of sub-platforms, xi∈X, x = (x1, . . . , xn ). Sub-platforms, in turn, strive to increase their own efficiency f i (x i , ui ), i = 1, 2, . . . , n. Let us consider several possible mechanisms for the coordinated development of the main technology platform and its sub-platforms.

Mechanisms of the 1st type (direct one). The main technology platform does not manage the development of the innovative potential of sub-platforms, but freely provides them with the competence and knowledge of its own core. The best values of control variables are determined from the solution of the problem:

$$ {G}_1=\underset{u\in U}{\sup}\underset{x_i\in {B}_i^1(ui)}{\min }{f}_0\left(x,u\right), $$

where B1 is the set of optimal controls for the innovative development of sub-platforms.

$$ {B}_i^1=\left\{\left.{x}_i\in {X}_i\right|{f}_i\left({x}_i,{u}_i\right)=\underset{y_i\in {X}_i}{\max }{f}_i\Big({y}_i,{u}_i\Big)\right\}. $$

Mechanisms of the 2nd type (with feedback). The main technology platform relies on the use of the innovative potential of sub-platforms in the formation of its own optimal control strategy and formulates it as a function\( {\tilde{u}}_i={u}_i\left({x}_i\right) \). Then

$$ {B}_i^2\left({\tilde{u}}_i\right)=\left\{\left.{x}_i\in {X}_i\right|{f}_i\Big({x}_i,{u}_i\left({x}_i\right)\left)=\underset{y_i\in {X}_i}{\sup }{f}_i\right({y}_i,{\tilde{u}}_i\Big)-{\delta}_i\left({\tilde{u}}_i\right)\right\},{\delta}_i\left({\tilde{u}}_i\right)\ge 0, $$

is the best guaranteed result (operational efficiency) of the main technology platform.

$$ {G}_2=\underset{\tilde{u}\in \tilde{U}}{\sup}\underset{x_i\in {B}_i^2\left({\tilde{u}}_i\right)}{\operatorname{inf}}{f}_0\left(x,\tilde{u}\right), $$

The value of the effectiveness of sub-platforms in this case is determined from the condition\( \underset{\left({s}_i,{u}_i\right)\in {D}_i}{\sup }{f}_0\left(x,u\right),\kern0.5em {D}_i=\left\{\left.{x}_i\in {X}_i,{u}_i\in {U}_i\right|{f}_i\left({x}_i,{u}_i\right)>\underset{x_i\in {X}_i}{\max}\underset{u_i\in {U}_i}{\min }{f}_i\Big({x}_i,{u}_i\Big)\right\}, \)where the efficiency L = max min fi(xi, ui) of the sub-platform i is guaranteed.

As a result of the action of such mechanisms, a sub-platform can be separated into an independent technology platform, as shown in Fig. 5, and the increase in the efficiency of sub-platforms shown using an economic and mathematical model determines the increase in the efficiency of the entire industry as a whole.

Conclusion

As radically new technologies and competencies generate the potential for new independent technology platforms for creating radical products, a new technological structure may develop in the future. In this regard, it is possible to form a chain of development of the impact of the growth of innovative potential and competencies accumulated by the world community on the change of technological orders (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6
figure 6

Relationship between the growth of the intellectual and innovative potential of the world community with a change in technological orders. Source: Elaborated by the authors

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Based on the above, it can be noted that the growth of innovative potential and the accumulation of radical competencies of the world community creates conditions for an accelerated change of technological orders by stimulating the development of radically new technologies. And this process is becoming more and more dynamic. Technology updates and new solutions cover an increasingly short period of time.

The rapid emergence and development of radical innovations is provided due to the accumulation of intellectual potential formed by developing and emerging knowledge and competencies that stimulate faster achievement of the point of intellectual explosion, where new technologies are born, as well as the creation of resources for their implementation at a faster pace, resulting in a more dynamic development of innovative potential.

With the growth of these investments, the development of competencies, and the accumulation of intellectual and innovative potential, the pace of development of innovations accelerates, which entails smoothing out waves of economic growth as a result of an increase in the rate of development and efficiency of innovations while reducing the period of their implementation.

At the same time, the retention of economic and competitive positions in the market by a developer (manufacturer) is largely due to the development of their innovative potential and the introduction of high rates of innovation with a constant renewal of the product line, focused on meeting the future needs of society.