The Innovation Hype Cycle
Graham am Sonntag, den 11. Juli 2010
While listening to a presentation by Gartner Inc. recently, I learned about the Gartner Hype Cycle. Gartner consults in the field of information technology, and they developed the hype cycle in the 1990s as a way to visualise the phases the media go through when reporting on a new technology. Gartner claims that, in 1999, they used this tool to predict the Internet bubble of 2000.
According to the Gartner model, media coverage of a new technology goes through five distinct phases:
- Trigger. The new technology is presented to the world, for example as a scientific discovery or a product launch.
- Inflated Expectations. In the second phase, a large amount of publicity generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations.
- Disillusionment. Technologies fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. Consequently, press coverage diminishes rapidly.
