¹CRORA (Centro di Ricerca sull' Organizzazione Aziendale), Bocconi University, Milano, Italy

Correspondence: Anna Grandori, CRORA (Centro di Ricerca sull' Organizzazione Aziendale), Bocconi University, viale Isonzo 23, Milano 20135, Italy. Tel: +39 02 5836 2633/2637; E-mail: anna.grandori@unibocconi.it

Abstract

Campbell drew a parallelism between traditional processes of adaptation and cognitive processes of ''trial and error' and indicate in the blind variation, selection and retention model 'the' general template of creative processes. This comment positions the article on exaptation by drawing a parallelism between natural processes of exaptation and the cognitive processes of discovery. It is indicated that the multifunctionality and multipurposedness of resources, actions and artifacts permit processes that are simultaneously more creative and less error prone than those traditionally envisaged, and therefore better able to model and sustain innovation in unstructured problems.