The 6D’s Of Digital Innovation Progress: A Technology Innovation Theory By Peter Diamandis

Have you heard of the 6D’s of technological progression? If you work in digital innovation or entrepreneurship, you need to be aware of this new school of thought proposed by Peter Diamandis in his book “Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World”. 

As you can tell by the title, the 6D method isn’t simply about generating profit, it’s about driving meaningful innovation too – something that we’re passionate about at ENO8.

We’re breaking down the 6D’s, so that you can understand the predictable path that new technology goes on when being adopted. It’s not an easy ride, but these 6D’s of progress remind us not to give up…

What Are The 6D’s Of Technology Innovation Progress?

In his book, Diamandis guides the reader through the natural progression of innovative technology. He looks at how digital technology works through certain stages before being fully adopted and having a pervasive impact worldwide. Diamandis has calculated the 6 most important aspects of digital innovation, which embody the chain reaction of tech progression.

By understanding the 6D’s, we can have a better understanding of digital innovation and be more aware of which stage our innovative idea is at. This helps to reduce innovation lethargy and boost productivity as we allow our tech opportunity to reach its potential.

The 6D’s of Technology Innovation Progress as defined by Peter Diamandis, are:

Digitalization

As we have seen in the past with technology, once something goes digital it has the capacity to take off. Once you provide digital access to an idea or product, you can reach new audiences and your product gains the ability to “grow exponentially” as Diamandis notes.

Deception

Although the initial stages of the development might seem huge to the entrepreneur or companies housing the idea, often the Initial exponential growth is seen in tiny increases (.01 to .02). This is where Deception comes in – the initial progress goes largely unnoticed (much to the frustration of those involved).

Disruption

This is where the magic starts to happen. In this stage, innovators have to hold onto the masts, because the market is about to get disrupted. In the modern world, this disruption happens so frequently that there is a lot of room for innovation and growth when it occurs. In the disruption stage, either an entirely new market is created, or an old one is overturned. 

Demonetization

In this stage of the 6D’s of progress, the major assets in the industry become free due to the adoption of technology. We’ve seen this in industries such as music, videos, reading, communication and education. 

Dematerialization

After the original product is demonetized, often the complete evolution of the original product occurs. An example of this would be the evolution of the alarm clock, camera, notebook, and phone into one smartphone. Initially these kinds of products are created at a very high cost, with the need for a lot of improvement.

Democratization

In the final stage of innovation, the costs of production and adaptation drop so low that everyone can afford it. At this point the technology becomes widespread and everyone can use it in such a way that their lives become easier and the product becomes an everyday application. A great example of this is the Apple iPhone.

Digital Innovation With Purpose

If you’re interested in digital innovation with purpose, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you want to share your ideas on this topic, or discover how you can push your company’s innovative ideas forward, you can get in touch to share your thoughts.

Plus, if you’re looking for more content on this topic, why not head over to YouTube to discover what Peter Diamandis has to say about his 6D’s theory?