Lowering the digital barriers

There has never been a better time for innovation in the digital economy.

That's the conclusion of Lorraine Warren,researcher in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the School of Management at the University of Southampton.

According to Lorraine

1. Widespread access to broadband technologies

2. Smartphones that enable new forms of communication, handheld internet access and bespoke applications development

3. Software platforms that enable a high degree of networked connectivity and communication, such as blogs, wikis, twitter, Facebook, ning, youtube, flickr.

4. Readily available real-time geographical location data

5. Increasing availability of government datasets to the public, such as data from the Ordnance Survey in the UK

are all lowering the barriers to disruptive innovation.