Abstract
This thesis, addresses the convergence between several strings of current research in the quest for a better understanding of the co-dependency and co-evolution of the human being and her ability to innovate, organize and provide products and services through competitive firms. The introduction and development of the concepts “Innovation Health” and “Systems of Innovation Health” aims at capturing emerging interdisciplinary understanding of early childhood developmental health and human life-spanning developmental conditions, to the extent that they are relevant for economic change, knowledge- and innovation related theory and research. An overview and analysis of global demographic changes, as they relate to Innovation Health is provided. Further, an extended view or possible emerging Theory of the Knowing and Innovating Firm is proposed and elaborated. Furthermore, Stein’s effort in the early 20th century to create a new philosophy of the humanities and a model of the human being is revisited. Her ontology of association, community and the human being is introduced in the context of organizational economics and knowledge-based theories. Her philosophy and “emergentis” ontology is applied as the theoretical framework of Innovation Health and the entire research effort.