An agent-based model of exaptive processes

A key problem in research on innovations is that of understanding their origins. In thispaper, we propose that radical innovations are created by a process of ’exaptation’, andwe introduce a dynamical model that describes how it may happen. In particular, ourmodel is focussed on the interplay between artefact innovation and attributions offunctionality. We propose that the explicit representation of artefacts and categories easesthe understanding of the exaptation phenomenon, seen in this context as a shift in termsof ‘leading attributions’ and allows the identification of the elements favouring theemergence of innovations.