innovons

An innovon (plural innovons) is a term used in speculative physics and science fiction to denote a hypothetical elementary particle or quantum associated with creative processes or the emergence of new ideas. The name is derived from “innovation” and the -on suffix typical of subatomic particles.

In theoretical discussions and certain works of fiction, innovons are imagined as bosonic quanta that couple to information networks and social-technical systems. They are sometimes posited to be massless or very light and to interact weakly with ordinary matter, while enabling rapid transfer or amplification of novel configurations—conceptually serving as carriers of novelty. Some models treat innovons as mediating leaps in technology, culture, or organizational learning, effectively shaping the rate and direction of innovation within a system.

In practice, there is no empirical evidence for real-world innovons, and their status remains speculative. They are primarily used as a metaphor to explore questions about how ideas spread, how breakthroughs occur, and how collective intelligence might operate. Critics warn that the concept risks conflating metaphor with physics and can obscure the complexities of social, economic, and cognitive factors that drive invention. Despite this, the term appears in certain thought experiments and in science fiction to illustrate how discrete units of novelty could interact with networks to produce emergent change.