The article aims to discuss social and technical aspects underlying the debate on innovation. It is noted that the Schumpeterian tradition of innovation analysis underestimated cultural and political factors within technological paths. Over the last decades, many tendencies have dedicated to cross economic and social aspects in studies on innovation and knowledge production and diffusion. Studies concerning innovation systems and environments have rebuilt the focus on innovation, posing that management and organization of networks and knowledge flows provide a better understanding of technological and economic activities. But such tendencies have overlooked the technological questions concerning innovation, specially the study of technical objects and sets. The main objective of this article is to outline the need for an articulation of both technical and social aspects on innovation.
Innovation; Innovation Environments; Technology; Technical Objects