Physical and digital innovation in shipping: Seeding, standardizing, and sequencing

Abstract

Two innovations within shipping are analyzed. (1) Containerization, an analog innovation that commenced about 50 years ago, created a new system for the handling of global trade and drove shipping costs to the point of financial irrelevance. (2) Sea traffic management is an EU digital innovation in process that aims to revolutionize the shipping business. We identify the seed innovation, which in each case initiates a standardization process and a series of sequenced and coordinated innovations that created a new transport system in one case, and are planned to fashion a smarter system in the second. We conclude with some research questions on seed innovations and the sequencing of innovations for new system emergence.