Intellectual capital of IT companies in the development processes of innovative technologies and digital transformations: Historical and genetic analysis

In the context of digital transformation development, the role of IT companies, which contribute to the creation, implementation and development of innovative technologies, is growing. However, taking into account that innovation formation in the economy is a long-term process, it provides for a systematic study, particularly from a historical point of view, therefore the purpose of this article was to conduct a historical-genetic analysis of the IT sphere and the role of its intellectual capital in the processes of emergence and development of innovative technologies. A systematic and comparative analysis was used in the article to conduct a historical-genetic study of the intellectual capital of IT companies within the framework of the theory of technological structures and the innovation theory of the Austrian-American economist and historian of economic thought Joseph Schumpeter. The analysis was carried out to trace the emergence of the IT sphere. In the course of the study, the main achievements of the IT sphere have been analysed, the basic innovations in the IT sphere within the framework of innovation waves, their role and importance have been described, the role and influence of intellectual capital in these processes have been analysed. Starting with the fourth innovation wave, when the first developments in intellectual capital appeared, a parallel historical-genetic analysis of the IT sphere and intellectual capital has been conducted. The correlation of innovations emergence in the IT sphere with the stages of Joseph Schumpeter’s innovation waves and the reason for the reduction of their duration has been revealed. It has been discovered that the implementation of digital transformations and related innovative technologies strongly depends on the quality of the intellectual capital of the IT sphere, which concentrates intellectual efforts when creating solutions aimed at accelerating various economic and management processes. The results of the conducted research provide a more systematic idea of the origin of the intellectual capital of IT companies and its connection with the development of innovative technologies and digital transformations, which has both theoretical and practical significance