| Summary: | <p> The 1960’s space race in the United States gave rise to a unique culture of innovation embodied by an engineering class of professionals (Wisnioski, 2009). As knowledge workers, engineers were applying niche knowledge to solve big problems in the world (Kasdan, 1999). The result of their efforts in utilizing specific knowledge (i.e. esoteric knowledge) would become the basis for advanced development and production technology (Kasdan, 1999). One byproduct of this era is the advancement of engineering methods and computational mechanics (i.e. simulation) used to solve difficult, but semi-generalizable physics and engineering problems (Sinha, Paredis, Liang, & Khosla, 2001). However, sharing knowledge involved in engineering methods and esoteric knowledge (McMahon, Lowe, & Culley, 2004), as a whole, is difficult and a limiting factor in progressing similar large-scale, innovations (Alic, 1994). The response from organizations hoping to capitalize on developing esoteric technologies may turn to fostering a culture of innovation (Zairi and Al-Mashari, 2005). While research suggests innovation can be cultivated within an organization based on proposed frameworks and attributes (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010), an examination of lived-experiences of leaders, whose mission is to seek out the development of new esoteric technology, may provide rich insight into how cultures of innovation actually operate (Jucevi?ius, 2010). Therefore, this study proposes that a study of esoteric technology providers, beyond a contextual inquiry, may provide insights into how cultures of innovation may lead to new breakthroughs in technology and possibly an enabler to the next space race.</p><p>
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