Technological exaptation and crisis management: Evidence from COVID-19 outbreaks

One of the key issues in the field of technology analysis and innovation management is how new technologies origin and evolve in the presence of environmental threats. We confront this problem focusing on emerging innovative solutions to cope with unexpected and harmful problems posed by crises and needing a rapid, effective response. We specifically analyze the patterns of critical innovations to cope with new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that is generating public health and economic issues worldwide. Accordingly, in the context of the theory of technological exaptation, we adopted a narrative approach examining vital innovations that ended up treating COVID-19 even though they were originated to treat other diseases (more or less distant from the COVID-19 domain), as the antiviral drug Remdesivir and the antirheumatoid arthritis drug Tocilizumab. Results reveal that technological exaptation, especially if characterized by a longer exaptive distance, is a potential driving force of innovation to cope with COVID-19 in the short-term and other similar issues. On this basis, we provide propositions for a more general crisis model of innovation. This study adds a new perspective that may be helpful to explain the evolution of innovation in the presence of crises, considering technological exaptation in a context of environmental threats.