John Thackara has strikes an interesting chord in his editorial for Doors East, that technology as the driver of innovation is a thing of the past, for successful innovation we must understand the emerging needs of people and change the way we design.
Why do we need new design strategies for the internet? The history of Doors is about discussion of that question. Since 1993, we have seen what the internet can do – but it remains unclear what it, and otherf[sic] new technologies, are for.
If tech-push is indeed over as a driver of innovation, as we believe, a new model of innovation is needed if we are to exploit the broadband communications, smart materials, wearable computing, pervasive computing, and connected appliances, that weÃre unleashing upon the world.
This model of innovation appears to have been adopted by the "leading schools of thought" (Media Lab, CMU, Interaction Design Institute IVREA, Interactive Institute). Kristoffer ?berg has a great entry about integrating new technologies into everyday life.