Knowledge Flows Percolation Model - a New Model for the Relation between Knowledge and Innovation

The present paper proposes a new way of thinking regarding the relation between innovation and knowledge using a Physics-borrowed model, trying to prove whether knowledge resources can "flow" (be percolated) in a network or a grid, in order to be transformed in technological innovation. In the Knowledge Flow Percolation Model centre, human beings are seen as thinking electrons, both consuming and generating knowledge flow. Through the inter-dependent actions of individuals, knowledge circulates inside different types of organisations, allowing functioning and innovating in order to obtain competitive advantages. The model can be extended also at a national level, and some assumptions of self similarity appear in this process of extension. The model must be seen as a proposal for the research community and as a basis for future observations regarding the importance of knowledge flows in innovation.