Seed selection for technology innovation diffusion in complex networks

At present, the competition between enterprises is increasingly fierce. If the enterprise wants to obtain the competitive advantage, the innovation is an effective means; innovation is the basis of an enterprise’s survival and development: all enterprises strive to improve their competitiveness through innovation; however, the effects of innovation diffusion will eventually restrict their development. This study, using a complex network approach, establishes a nonlinear technology innovation diffusion cascade model aimed at identifying the best seeds to foster the process of technology innovation diffusion by searching for the important nodes scattered throughout different communities to spread technology innovation and achieve the maximum diffusion effect. Through an analysis of simulated and real networks, we found that our method can both improve the speed of technology innovation diffusion and enhance the diffusion effect, which can provide advantages to enterprises and help promote innovation.