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Innovation, Technology, and Society

Innovation, Technology, and Society is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 18.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the concept of social innovation, emphasizing interdisciplinary research networks, innovation policy, sustainable development, knowledge engineering, digital social innovation, organizational innovation, empowerment, urban development, and innovation theory. The papers cover a wide range of topics related to the societal impact of innovation and the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in driving social change.

  • Social Innovation
  • Interdisciplinary Research
  • Innovation Policy
  • Sustainable Development
  • Knowledge Engineering
  • Digital Social Innovation
  • Organizational Innovation
  • Empowerment
  • Urban Development
  • Innovation Theory
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
18.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+34%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Innovation, Technology, and Society research?

By volume, Germany and Austria publish the most (1.9k and 161 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Germany 1.9k works
  2. 2 Austria 161 works
  3. 3 Switzerland 144 works
  4. 4 United States 123 works
  5. 5 United Kingdom 57 works
  6. 6 China 43 works
  7. 7 Italy 43 works
  8. 8 Netherlands 39 works
  9. 9 Finland 27 works
  10. 10 Denmark 27 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Germany: 73.7%Austria: 6.4%Switzerland: 5.7%United States: 4.9%6 others listed: 9.4%74%largest
Germany1,862 · 73.7%Austria161 · 6.4%Switzerland144 · 5.7%United States123 · 4.9%6 others listed237 · 9.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Innovation, Technology, and Society research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Wuppertal publishes the most Innovation, Technology, and Society research, followed by TU Dortmund University and Universität Hamburg.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of WuppertalGermany 35 works
  2. 2 TU Dortmund UniversityGermany 33 works
  3. 3 Universität HamburgGermany 26 works
  4. 4 Technische Universität BerlinGermany 26 works
  5. 5 University of KasselGermany 25 works
  6. 6 RWTH Aachen UniversityGermany 24 works
  7. 7 University of Duisburg-EssenGermany 23 works
  8. 8 München KlinikGermany 22 works
  9. 9 University of BremenGermany 21 works
  10. 10 Goethe University FrankfurtGermany 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Innovation, Technology, and Society?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Innovation, Technology, and Society include Florian Fischer, Niklas Luhmann and Eric von Hippel.

  1. 1 Florian Fischer United States 7k citations
  2. 2 Niklas Luhmann Germany 2.3k citations
  3. 3 Eric von Hippel United States 2.1k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Innovation, Technology, and Society research done?

The largest centres of Innovation, Technology, and Society research in 2022–2025 are Berlin (Germany), Munich (Germany), Vienna (Austria) and Hamburg (Germany).

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Berlin Germany 161 works
  2. 2 Munich Germany 100 works
  3. 3 Vienna Austria 85 works
  4. 4 Hamburg Germany 77 works
  5. 5 Stuttgart Germany 74 works
  6. 6 Essen Germany 57 works
  7. 7 Dortmund Germany 53 works
  8. 8 Cologne Germany 52 works
  9. 9 Frankfurt am Main Germany 50 works
  10. 10 Münster Germany 41 works
See Innovation, Technology, and Society on the map

Where is the best place to study Innovation, Technology, and Society?

Among universities, judged by research, Technische Universität Berlin, University of Stuttgart and TU Dortmund University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 24.23%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Technische Universität Berlin: 26, 25.7%University of Stuttgart: 19, 27.2%TU Dortmund University: 33, 26.3%Ruhr University Bochum: 18, 22.8%Universität Trier: 8, 39.3%Universität Hamburg: 26, 21.3%Friedrich Schiller University Jena: 12, 24.0%University of Bremen: 21, 15.7%Philipps University of Marburg: 14, 36.1%University of Wuppertal: 35, 3.9%University of Stuttg…TU Dortmund UniversityTechnische Universit…Ruhr University Bochum
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Technische Universität BerlinGermany 76.825.7%28.0×26 +172.9%
2 University of StuttgartGermany 72.927.2%19.9×19 +228.3%
3 TU Dortmund UniversityGermany 72.126.3%46.2×33 +77.7%
4 Ruhr University BochumGermany 68.922.8%16.6×18 +176.9%
5 Universität TrierGermany 66.639.3%39.0×8 +164.9%
6 Universität HamburgGermany 66.421.3%17.5×26 +42.2%
7 Friedrich Schiller University JenaGermany 65.924.0%20.8×12 +187.0%
8 University of BremenGermany 65.115.7%33.1×21 +139.2%
9 Philipps University of MarburgGermany 64.636.1%21.4×14 +38.6%
10 University of WuppertalGermany 64.03.9%90.3×35 +169.2%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Innovation, Technology, and Society research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 34% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2023. The fastest-growing topics are Innovation, Technology, and Society.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.